Pixel It

Javascript library to create pixel art from an image. See Pixel It in action.

Index

• Files
• Examples
• Documentation
• Api
• Local development
• Changelog

Files

On /dist you can find the files you need

file	description
pixelit.js	javascript es6 file
pixelitmin.js	javascript minified and babeljs.io parsed for es5

Examples

Original image and after Pixel It did some work on it.

No filter applied and color palette used.

Documentation

To use the quick default configuration you need an element from where to draw the image and canvas element with the id pixelitcanvas. Then load the pixelit.js script and apply it on an image.

    <img src="sky.jpg"  id="pixelitimg" alt="">
    <canvas id="pixelitcanvas"></canvas>
    <script src="pixelit.js"></script>
    <script>
      //create object
      const px = new pixelit();
      px.draw().pixelate();
    </script>

You can use this option when creating the instance of Pixel It

    const config = {
      to : elem,
      //defaults to document.getElementById("pixelitcanvas")
      from : elem, 
      //defaults to document.getElementById("pixelitimg")
      scale : int 
      //from 0-50, defaults to 8
      palette : [[r,g,b],[r,g,b]], 
      //defaults to a fixed pallete (2 colors minimum to work properly)
      maxHeight: int, 
      //defaults to null
      maxWidth: int, 
      //defaults to null
    }
    const px = new pixelit(config);

Api

method
.draw()	draw to canvas from image source and resizes if max height or max width is reached
.setDrawFrom(elem)	elem to get the image to pixelate
.setDrawTo(elem)	canvas elem to draw the image
.setFromImgSource(src)	change the src from the image element
.setPalette(arr)	sets the color palette to use, takes an array of rgb colors: [[int,int,int]], int from 0 to 255
.setMaxWidth(int)	set canvas image maximum width, it can resize the output image, only used when .resizeImage() is applied
.setMaxHeight(int)	set canvas image maximum height, it can resize the output image, max height overrides max width, only used when .resizeImage() is applied
.setScale(int)	set pixelate scale [0...50]
.getpalette()	returns array of current palette, can't be chained
.convertGrayscale()	converts image to greyscale, apply only after .draw is called
.convertPalette()	converts image with the defined color palette, apply only after .draw is called (needs to have 2 colors minimum)
.resizeImage()	resizes the output image if bigger than the defined max Height or max Width
.pixelate()	draws a pixelated version of the from image to the to canvas, , apply only after .draw is called
.saveImage()	saves/downloads current image

Working example:

    <img  src="assets/sky.jpg"  id="pixelitimg"  alt="">
    <canvas  id="pixelitcanvas"></canvas>
    <script>
    const mypalette = [
    [26,28,44],[93,39,93],[177, 62, 83],[239, 125, 87],[255, 205, 117],[167, 240, 112],[56, 183, 100],[37, 113, 121],[41, 54, 111],[59, 93, 201],[65, 166, 246],[115, 239, 247],[244, 244, 244],[148, 176, 194],[86, 108, 134],[51, 60, 87]
    ];
    const  px  =  new  pixelit({from:  document.getElementById('pixelitimg'),
    "palette": mypalette});
    px.draw().pixelate().convertPalette();
    </script>

Local development

Run npm install to install the needed files, edit javascript from /src/ folder and run gulp serve to make a direct copy and a minified and transpiled files into /dist and /docs/js respectively.

You have inside the docs page a tests page to check changes to different image sizes.

Changelog

2025-11-05

Upgrade done by RGExpert

• Add the option to upload a palette (hex, csv, etc) in the live test page

2025-10-01

Fixes done by pickadark

• Preserve user scale
• Update ctx when changing canvas
• Add null-safety
• Use natural size
• Chainable returns
• Clamped resize
• Comment consistency
• Scale range corrected to 0–50

2025-5-21

• Small typo in documentation
• Clarification on the minimum of colors for a palette

2023-02-25

• Added tip links

2023-01-28

• Added a new option on the live page to add custom palettes

2022-03-05

• Added a page with tests
• Fixed image cut for smaller images and better border removal for bigger images

2022-02-16

• Github page added scroll down selector for palette change

2022-02-10

• Github page added changelog
• Github page added local development information
• Added gulp to minifiy and transpile without the need for aditional tools
• Fix border appearing on bigger images
• Added new palettes on live page