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Getting started

This short guide walks through the first things you'll do in Dixel.

Create a project​

  1. Open Dixel. The gallery is where your projects live; on first launch it's empty with a Create new button.
  2. Tap + and set a name, then a width and height for the canvas.
  3. Choose a color mode — RGBA for free color picking, or Indexed to lock drawing to a palette.
  4. Tap Create.

For isometric pixel art, tap one of the 2:1 presets (32×16, 64×32, 128×64, 256×128) to set the width and height in one tap. Pair it with the isometric grid and the Line tool's Iso snap.

On the free tier the canvas is up to 64×64. Larger canvases are a Pro feature; entering a bigger size shows the upgrade prompt.

Open an image as a project​

Instead of a blank canvas, you can start from a picture. Tap the image button next to + on the gallery, pick a PNG or JPG, and Dixel makes a project whose canvas is the image. Choose RGBA or Indexed, and optionally extract a palette from the image. Small images open 1:1; a large photo downscales once to fit — keeping its proportions — so it stays crisp. See Tools to add an image into a project you already have open.

Pick an animated GIF or APNG and Dixel opens it as a new animation: every frame becomes a frame, with its own duration, and the loop setting comes from the file (up to 1024 × 1024 and the first 128 frames; frames are never resized). This is Pro. On the free plan you can still open the file's first frame as a still image.

As your gallery grows, group projects into folders. Long-press a project (or use the selection toolbar) to select one or more, then tap Move to folder and either pick an existing folder, choose root to move them back out, or type a new folder name to create it. Tap a folder to open it; the gallery remembers where you are.

When you switch the tab, the folder, or favourites, the selection is cleared, so Delete and Move only ever act on cards you can see.

Every animated project's card shows a small film badge with its number of frames. The All / Animations tabs at the top of the gallery show every project, or only your animations. The tabs work together with folders, favourites, and sorting. They are free and Pro.

Duplicate a project​

To try an idea without risking the original, make a copy. Long-press a project (or select several), then tap Duplicate in the selection toolbar. Each copy is a new, independent project in the same folder, named after the original with the next free number — Cat becomes Cat-1. It keeps every layer, frame, palette, guide, and setting, plus the favorite, tags, and folder. The timelapse recording and the undo history are not copied: the copy's timelapse starts fresh from the duplicated picture. A bar under the tabs shows the progress. Duplicate is free and Pro.

Draw with the basic tools​

The tool ribbon holds the core tools:

  • Pencil and eraser for freehand work.
  • Bucket fill to flood an area, and the gradient tool for smooth or dithered fills.
  • Line, rectangle, and ellipse (filled or outline) for shapes.
  • Move to shift the active layer, and the eyedropper to sample a color already on the canvas.
  • A More tools button holds replace colour, shading ink, and the text tool.

Adjust brush size (1–32 px), brush shape (round or square) and opacity from the rail or the Options panel, and turn on pixel-perfect mode for clean diagonal strokes.

See Tools for the full set, including selections, text, effects, and drawing aids.

Canvas gestures​

  • One finger or stylus — draw with the current tool.
  • Two-finger pinch — zoom; two-finger drag — pan; two-finger twist — rotate the view (see Canvas view rotation).
  • Two-finger double-tap — undo; three-finger tap — redo.
  • Long-press — sample the color under your finger.
  • Volume keys — zoom in and out.

Use layers and palettes​

  • Open the Layers panel to add, delete, duplicate, reorder, hide, or lock layers, change opacity, and choose a blend mode. See Layers.
  • Open the Palette panel to switch palettes and pick colors. Dixel ships with ten retro and modern palettes, and you can build your own or import from Lospec. See Colors and palettes.

Export a PNG​

When your art is ready, tap Share and choose PNG. Dixel writes the image only when you ask, then opens the Android share sheet so you pick where it goes. JPG and upscaled exports are a Pro feature. See Export and sharing.

Back up your work​

Projects are stored on your device. You can turn on optional Google Drive backup in Settings to keep a copy and restore it on a new device.