Show HN: Pixel Art Generator Using Genetic Algorithm

24•ponta17•7mo ago

This project is a simple but fun demonstration of a genetic algorithm applied to image generation. It starts with a population of random images and evolves them over generations to resemble a target image. The output is an animated GIF that shows the entire evolution process.

Comments

FerkiHN•7mo ago

Cool!

ponta17•7mo ago

Thanks!

Evidlo•7mo ago

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

ponta17•7mo ago

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!

__loam•7mo ago

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.

RugnirViking•7mo ago

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

ponta17•7mo ago

Thanks for the honest feedback. Totally fair

ponta17•7mo ago

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.

u5wbxrc3•7mo ago

Interesting approach! The title is misleading though. I do not understand how this relates to pixel art. Pixel art is placing pixel on a constrained canvas and choosing colors on a limited palette which this does not seem to be. Maybe this could be considered blurring effect or image reconstruction/approximation?

ponta17•7mo ago

Thank you for your feedback! You're absolutely right. This should be image reconstruction using the GA algorithm.

Bimos•7mo ago

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.

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