Show HN: Pixel Art Generator Using Genetic Algorithm • Hacker News Board

Re: Show HN: Pixel Art Generator Using Genetic Algorithm

#11

Post by ponta17 » Sun, Jul 06, 2025, 11:15 PM UTC

FerkiHN wrote: post #2

Cool!

Thanks!

Re: Show HN: Pixel Art Generator Using Genetic Algorithm

#12

Post by ponta17 » Sun, Jul 06, 2025, 11:19 PM UTC

__loam wrote: post #6

Pixel art isn't just bucketing a higher resolution image into a lower resolution. If you're going to use that term, you should probably have at least a basic understanding of the medium.

Thanks for pointing that out. You're absolutely right. What I'm doing here is definitely not pixel art in the traditional sense, and I now realize the term may have been misleading. My apologies for that.

Re: Show HN: Pixel Art Generator Using Genetic Algorithm

#13

Post by ponta17 » Sun, Jul 06, 2025, 11:21 PM UTC

RugnirViking wrote: post #8

__loam wrote: post #6

Pixel art isn't just bucketing a higher resolution image into a lower resolution. If you're going to use that term, you should probably have at least a basic understanding of the medium.

This. I wasn't expecting much, having tried similar claiming algorithms and been disappointing. But even among those, the example image used here looks barely better than downscale and posterize

Thanks for the honest feedback. Totally fair

Re: Show HN: Pixel Art Generator Using Genetic Algorithm

#14

Post by ponta17 » Sun, Jul 06, 2025, 11:48 PM UTC

Evidlo wrote: post #5

How do you think your example would compare against a simple lowpass + downsampling? I think for most complicated pixel art, "reimagining" the image is necessary to keep it visually appealing and discernible at low-res, like in the examples here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixel_art

Thanks for your comment and the great question.

Lowpass filtering with downsampling is definitely a more efficient way to simplify images compared to my approach. This project is an experimental demo of a genetic algorithm evolving random pixel patterns to approximate a target image.

I agree that true pixel art often requires artistic "reimagining" to stay visually appealing. Thanks for your feedback!

Re: Show HN: Pixel Art Generator Using Genetic Algorithm

#15

Post by andy_nguyen » Mon, Jul 07, 2025, 5:16 AM UTC

[flagged]

Re: Show HN: Pixel Art Generator Using Genetic Algorithm

#16

Post by Bimos » Tue, Jul 08, 2025, 5:36 AM UTC

It looks like an unconstrained least square problem to me, which is convex and naive. Similar projects like reconstructing an image with transparent triangulars seems more interesting.