Photoshop extension...

[ganonbanned]

is there any photoshop extension that makes pictures look 8-bit?


I'd really like to find one, that'd be awesome.

[bicostp]

You could probably use the posterize function and indexed color/custom pallet modes to get the colors and pixelation right. After you crop and resize the picture to the right size, they should get you close. When you use Indexed Color, select the 'Custom" pallet and select the colors from a sample picture. (You can do this manually, or I bet you can find pre-made 8 bit pallets around the internet somewhere.)

However, if you want to simulate effects like the NES's 8x8 pixel pallet limit or the "pieces of clear cellophane glued to the screen" ZX Spectrum effect, you'll need more extensive work.

Or if you just want to make pictures blocky with no regard for authenticity for anything in particular, just use the Pixellate -> Mosaic filter. Select the filter, move the slider to where you want, hit OK. Boom. You're done.

These should help:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_vi ... s_palettes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mo ... B_palettes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_palettes

Some examples:

16 color Mac pallet, 640x480:

Just a flat-out resize and switch to indexed color.

Black and white, 512x342:

Played with the levels a lot to get the right contrast. (It's not easy to keep a 1-bit image from becoming an unrecognizable mess.)

56 colors, Game Boy Color resolution:

Posterize and switch to indexed color mode with automatic pallete. It's a heavy performing a stage dive. On fire. (Not Garry's Mod, it happened in-game.)

4 colors, Game Boy pallete:

Posterize and convert to 4 colors.

No special filters went into this, except the demoman pic, which was exported to a MacPaint file with a third-party export plugin so i could load it on Mini vMac and my SE/30.

[ganonbanned]

alright, thanks a lot, I'll play around with it a little and see what I can do.