How CRT monitors shaped pixel art: a look at Karl Svensson's analysis
Habr has published a translation of a long article by Karl Svensson on how cathode-ray tubes (CRTs) affected pixel art. The topic is debatable, and I liked that the author disagrees with the simple explanation that “CRTs blurred everything.”
He starts with a popular TikTok video claiming that older artists accounted for CRT blur, which made rough pixel edges look softer. Svensson admits this is partly true, and agrees that modern blocky pixel art often turns into inaccurate nostalgia. But he points out that old hardware has many more aspects to consider. He still uses old CRTs regularly, so he turns off the software CRT filters in emulators, saying that none of them reproduce a real screen faithfully. A photo of a Commodore 64 on a Commodore 1084S monitor shows that the uneven pixel edges are visible on a CRT too.
Next he compares two C64 games. Maniac Mansion (1987) runs at 160×200 and looks angular, while Mayhem in Monsterland (1993) uses dithering and smoothing with the same fixed 16-color palette to imitate higher resolution and color depth. These techniques depend on CRT properties: slight blur, scanlines, and a little color bleeding.
The author considers the 16-bit era the golden age of pixel art: the Amiga 500, SNES, Atari ST, and Mega Drive. The Amiga could show 32 colors out of 4096, and graphics in games such as Silkworm or Ruff'n'Tumble gradually improved. He also covers CGA color tricks and explains that on VGA screens with a fine dot pitch, individual pixels are much more visible.
For me, the article was a good reminder: before adding “retro blur,” it is worth understanding which screen the original was drawn for.
Source: Habr
He starts with a popular TikTok video claiming that older artists accounted for CRT blur, which made rough pixel edges look softer. Svensson admits this is partly true, and agrees that modern blocky pixel art often turns into inaccurate nostalgia. But he points out that old hardware has many more aspects to consider. He still uses old CRTs regularly, so he turns off the software CRT filters in emulators, saying that none of them reproduce a real screen faithfully. A photo of a Commodore 64 on a Commodore 1084S monitor shows that the uneven pixel edges are visible on a CRT too.
Next he compares two C64 games. Maniac Mansion (1987) runs at 160×200 and looks angular, while Mayhem in Monsterland (1993) uses dithering and smoothing with the same fixed 16-color palette to imitate higher resolution and color depth. These techniques depend on CRT properties: slight blur, scanlines, and a little color bleeding.
The author considers the 16-bit era the golden age of pixel art: the Amiga 500, SNES, Atari ST, and Mega Drive. The Amiga could show 32 colors out of 4096, and graphics in games such as Silkworm or Ruff'n'Tumble gradually improved. He also covers CGA color tricks and explains that on VGA screens with a fine dot pitch, individual pixels are much more visible.
For me, the article was a good reminder: before adding “retro blur,” it is worth understanding which screen the original was drawn for.
Source: Habr
Comments 0
Leave the first comment, in any language.
Log in to comment