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I see lots of games with smooth edges characters and high res images, however when I try to reduce images to say 64x64 for my character I just get a pixelated mess. even if I start with a 64x64 canvas I get pixelated edges.

Should I be scaling with OpenGL? or is there some technique perhaps with photoshop or pixen that I am unaware of?

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    \$\begingroup\$ can you provide an visual example ? \$\endgroup\$ – tigrou May 3 '13 at 21:57
  • \$\begingroup\$ Related: Scaling down pixel art and vector art. \$\endgroup\$ – Anko May 3 '13 at 22:03
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    \$\begingroup\$ From your description, it would seem that the scaling algorithm you're using does nearest-pixel interpolation rather than the smoother Lanczos interpolation. Is that question about scaling down vector art helpful? \$\endgroup\$ – Anko May 3 '13 at 22:06
  • \$\begingroup\$ Yes that vector scaling answer is useful. Thanks for that. \$\endgroup\$ – Rhys May 3 '13 at 22:14
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Sounds like the scaling algorithm you're using isn't interpolating pixels.

Pictures are best explained with pictures:

scaling an image with different interpolations

It's the Major, first in full, then scaled down with Lanczos (left) and nearest-pixel (a.k.a. no interpolation) (right) to two sizes.

The same comparison, in 3x magnified:

detail view

Make sure the scaling you're using is resampling sensibly. For example, ImageMagick has a -filter Lanczos option.

It doesn't even need to be fancy Lanczos, in case your tools can't do it; cubic (leftmost) looks the same to me:

cubic on the left

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    \$\begingroup\$ Thanks for taking the time to answer and show examples images. Much appreciated. \$\endgroup\$ – Rhys May 8 '13 at 19:31

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