Aseprite
File:Aseprite logo 128.png | |
![]() Aseprite screenshot | |
Developer(s) | Igara Studio S.A. |
---|---|
Initial release | 2001 |
Stable release | v1.2.30
/ October 26, 2021 |
Repository | |
Written in | C++ |
Operating system | Microsoft Windows, MacOS and Linux. |
Type | Raster graphics editor |
License | EULA, educational and Steam license |
Website | www |
Aseprite is a commercial image editor designed primarily for pixel art drawing and animation. It runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux, and features different tools for image and animation editing such as layers, frames, tilemap support, command-line interface, Lua scripting, among others. It is developed by Igara Studio S.A. led by the developers David, Gaspar, and Martín Capello.[1] Aseprite is open-source but is not free (neither libre nor gratis), and its source code and binaries are distributed under EULA, educational, and Steam commercial licenses. A free-to-use fork of the software, LibreSprite, was created by a third-party developers and it was distributed under the GNU license, but has now moved to a proprietary license.
History
Aseprite, formerly known as Allegro Sprite Editor, had its first release in 2001 as a free open-source project under GPLv2 license. This license was kept until 2016 with version v1.1.8,[2] when the developers moved it to a EULA license,[3] permitting others to download its source code, compile it, and use it for personal purposes, however forbidding its redistribution to third parties. After the license change, Aseprite binaries started to be commercialized on different online platforms like Steam, itch.io, and the project's website.
Until 2014, the project's code repository was hosted on Google Code and after was migrated to GitHub where it is hosted to date.[4] As of November 2021, its repository has 59 contributors and around 14 thousand stars.[5] From 2014 to 2021, Aseprite had 66 different releases.
Notable games such as Celeste used Aseprite for graphics and animations.[6]
Design and features
The main design purpose of Aseprite is to create animated 2D pixel-art sprites. Some of its features include:
- Layers and frames, with layer grouping and animation tagging;
- Pixel-art specific transformations and tools (pixel-perfect modes, custom brushes, etc);
- Animation real-time preview and onion skinning;
- Tilemap and tileset modes;
- Color palette managing, including 67 default palettes;
- Color profiles and modes (RGBA, indexed and grayscale);
- Non-square pixels;
- Command line interface (CLI) and Lua scripting.
Aseprite uses its own binary file type to store data, which is typically saved with .ase
or .aseprite
extensions. Different third-party projects were developed to support parsing of .ase
files in programming languages including C#,[7] Python[8] and JavaScript,[9] and in game engines like Unity,[10] and Godot.[11]
Images and animations can be exported to different file formats including PNG, GIF, FLC, FLI, JPEG, PCX, TGA, and bitmap.
See also
References
- ^ Aseprite, Aseprite, 2021-11-20, retrieved 2021-11-20
- ^ Capello, David. "Aseprite - New source code license". www.aseprite.org. Retrieved 2021-11-20.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Aseprite, Aseprite, 2021-11-20, retrieved 2021-11-20
- ^ Capello, David. "Aseprite - Migration problems from Google Code to GitHub". www.aseprite.org. Retrieved 2021-11-20.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Aseprite, Aseprite, 2021-11-20, retrieved 2021-11-20
- ^ celestegame. "Celeste — Tools". celestegame.tumblr.com. Retrieved 2021-11-20.
- ^ Whitley, Christopher (2021-10-15), MonoGame.Aseprite, retrieved 2021-11-20
- ^ Dormont, Florian (2021-09-24), This library, retrieved 2021-11-20
- ^ 🗺️ aseprite-atlas, oidoid, 2021-11-08, retrieved 2021-11-20
- ^ Hodler, Martin (2021-11-18), Aseprite-Importer for Unity, retrieved 2021-11-20
- ^ "Aseprite Wizard - Godot Asset Library". godotengine.org. Retrieved 2021-11-20.