Pixaki

User Guide

Gallery

Start something new

Once you’ve launched Pixaki, tap on the 3/add icon in the top right. You’ll then see three options for how to create new artwork.

Artwork by Genuine Human Art, Toby Ryan, and Rick Payne.

Custom

Create a canvas of any size using the custom option. Use the keypad to enter a size in pixels — anything from 1 ✕ 1 px to 1024 ✕ 1024 px will work. The format is width first, then height. Tap and hold the delete key to quickly clear the current value.

Presets

Pixaki comes with a selection of convenient canvas size presets for you to choose from. There are three sizes for sprites, perfect for game artists. Then there's the canvas preset, which is the same aspect ratio as your iPad. Widescreen is good for full mock-ups of modern console and desktop games, or for use in video (modern pixel art games like Hyper Light Drifter use this resolution). There are also sizes based on classic handheld game consoles, great for demakes and retro mock-ups.

Import

Import allows you to import Pixaki files, animated GIFs, layered PSDs, and many other image formats to be edited in Pixaki.

iCloud Drive and Dropbox

To import from iCloud Drive, select the ‘iCloud Drive’ option, then select the file you'd like to import. To import from Dropbox, first make sure that you have the Dropbox app installed. Select the ’iCloud Drive’ option, then select ‘Locations’ in the top left. If Dropbox does not already appear in the list of locations, select ‘More’ and turn on Dropbox. Once Dropbox is selected, you can select the file you'd like to import and add it to Pixaki. You can also import from Google Drive, OneDrive, Transmit, and other document provider apps using a similar process.

Photo Library

If you've got an image in your photo library you want to bring into Pixaki, you can use import to start a new document with that image. Select the ‘Photo Library’ option, then select the image you'd like to import. Pixaki will automatically open your newly created artwork for you.

You can only import images that are smaller than the maximum size of 1024 ✕ 1024 px. You can use the Photos app to crop an image to be small enough to import, or use an image editing app such as Procreate (highly recommended) to resize the image.

iTunes File Sharing

iTunes File Sharing allows you to move files between Pixaki and your computer using iTunes. There’s more information about this on the Apple website. To import a file from File Sharing, select the ‘iTunes File Sharing’ option, then select the file you’d like to import. The file should be placed at the root and not in a folder.

Selection mode

Selection mode allows you to perform bulk actions to your documents. You can trigger selection mode by pressing the ‘Select’ button, or by long pressing on any document or folder. Once in selection mode, tap on a document or folder to select or deselect it. The buttons on the top left allow you perform the following actions:

Artwork by Genuine Human Art, Toby Ryan, and Rick Payne.

Artwork details

Tapping on any document in the gallery will take you to the artwork details screen. This screen shows more information about the selected document, and provides options for sharing and editing. Underneath the document name is displayed the resolution, the number of frames of animation, and the date and time that the document was last modified.

Artwork by Rick Payne.

Editing

To edit a document, either tap the 'Edit' button, or tap on the preview image.

Renaming

Tap the name to bring up the keyboard, where you can type in a new name.

Animation playback

If the document has multiple frames, a play button will be shown in the bottom left of the image. Tapping on this previews the animation at the correct frame rate without the need to open the document.

Other actions

The buttons in the top right provide access to some additional actions: