Pixaki 3 (legacy) App Reviews

Would be 5 star. Needs a rotate function, and possible a better crop feature that allows you to be more specific. Otherwise love the app, easy to use and understand!

It has not been a year since my strife as a pixel artist; and this app is a most incredible opportunity. I am able to animate and draw like never before, and I have this app developer to thank for it. The one Glitch I encounter is – pen tool automatically changes to Eyedrop tool and selects color. It only happens when coloring naturally, yet has not ceased at being an issue. Additional (future) features I would love to see implemented are: Multilayer select option Rotation/resize tool, Manipulative selection tool and more shape selections. Typeface text tool.

I almost never write reviews, but I have to say: Pixaki is so, so great. I’ve been using it for several months for all of my pixel art, and it’s truly a delight. I’ve checked out a few other tools - aseprite, photoshop, etc. - and while they might have some useful features, nothing beats the simple, focused experience of creating pixel art with Apple Pencil and this app. I still have to use photoshop for splitting out and exporting layers, but that’s fine. Heartily recommend shelling out for this, even if you need to incorporate other tools into your workflow for game development or whateve else you do. It’s worth it.

Certainly the best pixel art app on iPad, at least that I have found—and I have looked. There are a few very minor annoyances here and there that other reviewers have pointed out, but the one I consider egregious enough to merit special mention is the lack of a lasso tool, which is something which, given the app’s price, *really* ought to be added in a future update. It’s quite a necessary basic feature.

its great and does everything i need it to, which is basic pixel art and pixels, but i’m excited to try out animations if i ever get to that point. things i think this needs: lasso tool, clipping layers, mirror canvas, possibly some minor filters, a better palette system (i can’t seem to create my own or add new colors for some reason) i feel there’s more but i’ll add them as i remember them!

Well worth it’s money. The app is very easy to use, and quite robust. The only issue is there’s just many simple quality of life improvements that could be made. Things such as better cropping, nudging, layer grouping, save all layers individually option, and trimming for example. Nothing deal breaking though. Currently to my knowledge there’s and issue with naming files beginning with a period (.), but after running into that issue myself have had the developer take care of the issue, and been assured he’s patching out the cause of the problem.

If you think this is the same app called a Pixaki with icon of a white cube and a light blue background, it is not. I thought this was the legacy edition rebranded. I hit buy thinking I might have used my moms account from family sharing, and it would kicking saying you already bought this, hit ok to download for free. However, obviously, that didn’t happen and finding the legacy edition is no longer available really irritates me. I just spent $25 on something I thought I had purchased. I really should have looked into it more before assuming it was the same app. I was thinking it must be the one I bought and they raised the price. While I blame two factors on this 1 star review: 1. Apple making previously purchased apps kick in once you hit buy on it. 2. The devs of this app not making it clear this is a different app. It is easy for one to think this is the old app that was discontinued. Even adding pro to make it Pixaki Pro would have been enough for me to realize it is different app than what I bought a couple years ago. I feel almost like I was baited into buying the app I thought I had already purchased. EDIT: Just want to say I love all the new features. I decided to raise it to three stars after deciding to not try to get refunded for accidentally purchasing this app. Also I am raising it because my 1 star review doesn’t reflect quality of the app which is amazingly good. I am keeping at three stars just because of my experience buying it despite it probably deserving a higher rating.

I need a tiling mode please

I use it every day professionally. It does almost everything I want, and I can work around the few features it misses. Definitely worth the price! Also, thank you so much for not being subscription based. We’re all paying Adobe too much every month already ;P Can’t handle any new monthly subs, but premium-based, we can save up for that!

It’s a great app but I need it to have a feature to snap the brush tool to the grid. Very happy they have a grid now to be able to use it I need to have my brush snap to it. Please add this feature.

This app has almost everything I want or need from a pixel art tool. There are two key tools missing though, lasso and resizing. There is no lasso tool to select just part of an image. For example, you want to move the arm up just a smidge. You would have to either redraw the arm or only move it in rectangular chunks. There is also no way to enlarge or reduce a selection in size. If these two functions are included this app would be absolute perfection.

I’ve really been enjoying this app for creating pixel based images and animations. It has a lot of great features and is easy to use. I had some issues early on with crashing, but it works very smoothly with the new updates.

The app works well, I like the user interface for the most part. My only complaint which makes this app not a perfect five stars is the size limit of 1024 x 1024 pixels per image.

This is easily the best app for pixel art on iPad for now, but I’d love to see it add a few more features of similar apps like aseprite (indexed color palettes, resizing) Reference images are helpful, but only so useful when you can’t get pixel-perfect scaling for those images. Copy/paste/selection works but it’s pretty buggy and needs some love and fixes. Most importantly for me, pixaki is missing basic png import functionality. Currently it’s 3 stars for its drawing; with import support and a few fixes and features this could easily be a 5 star apps with an update.

Using the eye dropper to choose a color only seems to use the selected layer. Since my layer has nothing in it, it only selects white or grey. I have a photo in a reference layer but if I select it so I can pick colors from it, a green orientation/transformation bar covers the bar at the bottom that has the color picker. EDIT: apparently the picker samples all layers except reference layers. It’d be great if it didn’t treat reference layers differently. You can’t nudge a pixel or selection by one or more pixels, which makes moving objects difficult. Drawing a shape beyond the bounds of the viewport doesn’t move the canvas, which is a real shame because zooming in for accuracy is pretty much necessary. This means you have to complete the shape in stages if it’s taller or wider than the current viewport allows. There doesn’t seem to be a way to quickly select an entire shape/a layer’s contents, so if you accidentally made a gigantic rectangle too wide by one or more pixels, you’re stuck having to draw a selection around the area you want. Pixaki is hands down the best pixel art app out there, but the bar is low and it has a ways to go to be incredible. I look forward to future updates. :)

It's not an inexpensive app but I can't imagine that pixel art editors are anything other than a niche market. It is clear that a lot of thought and work went into this. This is the new V3 version. The less expensive one on the App Store is V2. ➕❤️Palettes are exactly perfect for what I wanted. Already had the Dawnbringer palette loaded. ➕Layers and tools are good. ➕Paint bucket has an awesome replace this color option. ➕Now I can sprite while spending time with the family. Only nitpicks so far are: ➖ I seem to be missing something on reordering layers but I was able to get around this by cutting and pasting layers. ➖ Missed a click a few times trying to switch back to pencil from eraser but was able to undo easily. I am totally going to talk this app up when I finish building my new roguelike. 🗡😁🛡

Glad to see a new version. I love the ability to import photos and use them as a reference. Very fun. And the new animation feature is really nice. I wish you had stamp like brushes. Like brushes that would alternate pixels in a checkerboard pattern.

I honestly love using Pixaki for pixel art, almost to the point where I’d rather use it than a full-fledged computer. The only things I feel like it’s missing is support for scaling/resizing a selection and rotating, but otherwise it’s excellent.

Developing a game is hard enough as it is. When inspiration hits you, you need to be able to take advantage of that. While working on character design I have found myself grabbing my iPad and opening up this software a ton to start a mock up or "jot" down the idea quickly only to find myself finishing it and even animating it and using it. You can start to finish a design with ease. Very intuitive controls and the right tools needed for pixel art and animation. The only thing I didn't see was free rotation. I might be missing it but sometimes I want to skew the pixels or rotate to 45 degrees. Not just in 90 degree increments. Other than that A+.

Such a fantastic app, so glad I found it. Would love to see tiling, but overall it’s great. Fantastic for fully customized assets and animations.

I am really enjoying the application and recommend it to anyone interested in pixel art on the iPad. The experience is fantastic and improving with each update. The developer is extremely responsive and it's clear they're committed to the app. Thanks!

The app has crashed on me 2 times in a span of 5 minutes... Please fix!!

This is probably the most intuitive pixel art software on iOS. Totally fell in love with how powerful the tool is. Especially for a beginner I’m already loving it. I use Aseprite on PC as well and i have to say that Pixaki really keeps up. There are just a few things that are real essential that are missing. First would be a blur tool to get nicer textures and another is the magic wand tool which would make workflow on an iPad much easier. Definitely the best app on the market right now if you’re a veteran or a noob like myself. Keep it up! I’m using this app to make sprite sheets and characters for a game I’m working on!

I’m still feeling it out, I’ll give it 4 stars because I would recommend it, but at the same time there is some functionality I still want to see. It’s really good for setting up animation, but the movement and cut/paste features are clunky and imprecise. I want to be able to move my selection a single pixel by tapping on the screen like I can in Procreate.

Limit your layers and merge as much as possible. (Aug 18 2018) I need to thank Riser for devoting so much time and care in helping recover my Pixaki project. I expected the reason extended from too large a file; before being informed I had passed 1600 layers. We communicated over two weeks before the diagnosis. My art is now back on its quads; and I look forward to the future Pixaki holds. I give great thanks to the development team for their attention and devotion upon delivering this budding art application. (Aug 10 2018)I love Pixaki and have been using it for the past 3 months. Yet with the LARGE PROJECT I developed; I can NO longer OPEN or EXPORT. It CRASHES EMEDIETLY, and I assume it is because it contains 130+ frames; as all my other projects open without fail. This current art peice that I am locked out of is due at the end of August 2018. I feel lost and the most recent update has not addressed the issue. I humbly request assistance.

My needs for a pixel program are simple but, have been difficult to get in a single package. I'm a machine knitter and need to make patterns up to 200 pixels (Stitches) wide by up 1000 pixels. Then get the file into a PNG and send it to my 1983 machine. I needed and app that would let me trace a reference image, have a clear visible grid and good pixel by pixel painting. Pixaki met all those needs. With the manual and some messing about I had my first image looking good in an hour.. Other then a few gripes the program is excellent and worth the price. $25 is a high price for an IOS app but, I feel I got what I paid for. I tried 3 other pay apps before this and none quite worked for me. Very happy with this purchase.

I’ve tried other pixel art apps and this one is the best. My only wish is that they allow choosing a color from a source document. Once this is added, it’ll be a killer app.

Yo! Many moons have passed in search of the perfect pixel app. The search is over! Pixaki is WONDERFUL!!! I'm a full time pixel art animator. On PC I use Graphics Gale and a 12in Cintiq. I've become accustomed to this setup and anything less, app or hardware wise, feels like I can't draw the way I want. But now the new version of Pixaki is here! It has all the features I need to feel artistically comfortable and get real work done. Can't wait to unplug, walk to the lake, and pixel out a few animations in the sun! :D

I’m not a world-renowned pixel artist, but I was looking for an app I could use to teach myself all my iPad Pro (with an Apple Pencil). I use a few tutorials around the web, and Pixaki is just a great app for this. Lots of great tools, I can customize panels to save space, and there’s even animation support which I totally want to get into. Pixaki is just great. Get it.

Can’t resize layers Can’t select and move multiple layers Can’t import image into existing project

I wasn't aware of the previous versions of this app, but with version 3 it came to my attention and as an aspiring game developer, I'm thrilled to have found it. This app does for pixel art what Procreate does for drawing and painting. It's elegantly designed, feature rich and does what it does in a way like no other app I've found. Fantastic! I look forward to seeing how this develops moving forward.

Overall a really good app. However for the price, it feels incomplete. I'm hoping it's still in development because there are a lot of features it's lacking that I'd like to see both basic and advanced. Pros: Clean interface. Animation. Exports. Onion skinning. Seems to be fast. Color palettes. Cons: Lacking some basic features i.g. Pixel grid. Feels incomplete for the price. Wishlist: ***Pixel grid - both regular and isometric. **Color harmonies in the color palette.. Complementary, analogous, triadic, etc. Pixel perfect brush. Dithering and/or gradient brush.

Perfect for all things pixel art. Only thing I would love to see added is free rotation. Can’t say enough good things about this app.

I am not an experienced pixel artist, but have always had an interest in it and Pixaki has been the push I needed to get started. It pairs excellently with the iPad Pro and Apple Pencil to give you a full-fledged art creation tool. The ability to add and easily scale reference layers helped immensely when I was getting started. There is well-written online documentation for the entire app that can answer any question you may have, but with well-chosen iconography and explaination text within the app, documentation will not even be necessary. The learning curve is minimal. The price may give you pause when you first see it, but think of it this way: this is the only tool you'll need to create pixel art and animation for any project. To fulfill an entire career or realize a new hobby, the cost of entry is really not bad. Higher app prices enable independent developers to devote their full attention and allow us to get things like Pixaki.

This is an app that could be suitable for professionals if it had a few more features. Among the missing features, there is no bulk exporting for a folder. Exporting requires 3 or 4 clicks on each image, and waiting for the screen to load: if you are working on a project in which you have let’s say 80 images, that is a lot of time spent clicking and waiting for the same screen “share with...” to load. Please implement exporting of folders of images! More over, you cannot resize selections at all, and you cannot rotate selections other than 90/180 degrees (no manual fine tuning of rotation). We also need a tool to easily copy between different open projects - what if I Want to copy a layer from a project to another project? Impossible. At least give the option to import a png in a layer in an open project. At the moment you can only do this at the beginning of a blank project. If you could fix these few but important features you would have an app that would really suit pixel artists. Thank you for listening, would be happy to change the review if even one of these issues would be fixed.

Very well made. It's not easy to make something like this feel polished. This app is very simple and polished.

Use with iPad Pro 10. A+

It's easy to collaborate with friends and other artists. It gives you templates for the sizes you might want for specific purposes, but if you want to customize, it's flexible. When you need to emulate specific styles of pixel art found on retro consoles, it even provides accurate color palettes and the ability to add more. Import in reference images for learning or tracing. Then to top it off, it has the ability to animate your creation. This is the perfect solution for pixel art on the go. I even prefer it over working on my Mac with other software. Why? It's with me when inspiration strikes. At the beach, hiking mountains, at home on the couch watching Netflix... I can pick it up and have fun drawing. This art style can be a stress relieving practice in the beginning. It's addictive, easy enough to pick up and learn, but if you put in the time each day you'll have some of the coolest artwork around. Pixaki's frame by frame animation area is quite robust for it's purpose. Since the beginning of this app, animation was a personal request of mine. I mainly wanted it to sketch my friends as pixel art people and animate funny gifs to brighten up their day. Draw, animate, send. Instant mood lifter. Then as I became more obsessed with the intricate details of this art style, Pixaki allowed me to practice more since it is by my side everyday. Now I can make awesome original art or fan art of various video games, anime and movies... and it's thanks to Rizer for sharing in this same passion for pixel art and being a developer that cares. I highly recommend it. An absolutely essential app for every pixel artist.

Ok so In the latest update the devs asked for us to submit a review so I thought, these guys actually deserve one. This app is perfect, work amazingly well with an Apple Pencil and an iPad Pro. I have created a number of sprites and animations for small game projects I am working on and they are perfect. This is very user friendly, the app is a delight to use. With the newest addition of eye dropper allowing reference material colour to be taken, it’s one of the only things it needs. All I would like is drag and drop to folders images for folders and the app would be straight up perfect, it’s great but it if you want to make pixel art.

I’ve only spent a short amount of time with this app but I’ve already come away impressed with the level of polish compared to other pixel art apps I’ve tried. One missing feature I’d love to see is layer clipping in the future (unless it’s possible and the toggle isn’t well advertised) which would make shading higher pixel projects a lot less tedious. Excited to see where it goes!

This app is the best, everything about it is perfect ,get it now!!! I'm in love

I’m enjoying this app a lot, but running into issues with frequent crashes and losing a lot of progress. It seems to be a problem on and off and sometimes the app is completely not usable, crashing every minute or so.

Pretty awesome! Only major thing I would add would to be able to move common controls ABOVE my canvas so the distance to travel with my pencil is less dramatic. The developer has already addressed the rest of my prior comments and this app keeps getting better. If you do pixel art, give it a shot!