NOTE: The current version is rough around the edges. It needs improvement and refactoring of the source. That may come in time. For now, consider it a mostly working beta...
A GIMP plugin to help with creating tile maps and tile sets for games.
You can create a level map in Gimp (or other image editors) and use this plugin to help with tile de-duplication and tile set optimizing.
This plugin is not meant to replace tile set and map editors. Instead it aims to provide quick, in-workflow feedback without having to leave GIMP to analyze tiles in another application.
Download compiled executables here:
Features
- Optional Tile deduplication
- Overlay of Tile ID # on source image
- Click-to-highlight matching tiles on source image
- Estimates of memory usage for storing Tile Set and Map
- Use either Source Layer or Entire Image
- Variable Tile size
- Tile X/Y Flipping detection
- Export Tile Set as image -> new GIMP image
- Export Tile Map as text -> Clipboard (C array, RGBDS ASM)
- Works with indexed and 24 bit RGB images (including alpha masks)
OS binaries available for:
- Linux (GIMP 2.8+)
- Windows (GIMP 2.10.12+)
- The plugin is located under: Main Menu -> Filters -> Map -> Tilemap Helper
Native compile/install on Linux using below.
If GIMP & build tools not yet installed:
(example for debian/ubuntu/mint)
* sudo apt install gimp
* sudo apt install build-essential
* sudo apt install libgimp2.0-dev
Then:
* cd gimp-rom-bin
* make
Then copy the resulting "plugin-gimp-tilemap-helper" to your GIMP plugin folder, depends on version
Plug-in folder locations:
Linux: ~/.gimp-2.8/plug-ins , or ~/.config/GIMP/2.10/plug-ins
Windows: C:\Program Files\GIMP 2\lib\gimp\2.0\plug-ins
Guide for Cross-compiling to Windows on Linux
- Max number of tiles: 8096
- The Source Image or Layer must be an exact multiple of tile size in both dimensions
- Greyscale images are not yet supported. Convert to RGB or indexed first
- Map export prefix labels are saved to images as GimpParasites, so only persist across sessions when images are saved in GIMP's native XCF format