minetest_modding_book/_en/items/creating_textures.md

---
title: Creating Textures
layout: default
root: ../..
idx: 2.2
description: An introduction to making textures in your editor of choice, and a guide on GIMP.
redirect_from: /en/chapters/creating_textures.html
---

## Introduction <!-- omit in toc -->

Being able to create and optimise textures is a very useful skill when
developing for Minetest.
There are many techniques relevant to working on pixel art textures,
and understanding these techniques will greatly improve
the quality of the textures you create.

Detailed approaches to creating good pixel art are outside the scope
of this book, and instead only the most relevant basic techniques
will be covered.
There are many [good online tutorials](http://www.photonstorm.com/art/tutorials-art/16x16-pixel-art-tutorial)
available, which cover pixel art in much more detail.

- [Techniques](#techniques)
  - [Using the Pencil](#using-the-pencil)
  - [Tiling](#tiling)
  - [Transparency](#transparency)
  - [Color Palettes](#color-palettes)
- [Editors](#editors)
  - [MS Paint](#ms-paint)
  - [Aseprite / LibreSprite](#aseprite--libresprite)
  - [GIMP](#gimp)

## Techniques

### Using the Pencil

The pencil tool is available in most editors. When set to its lowest size,
it allows you to edit one pixel at a time without changing any other parts
of the image. By manipulating the pixels one at a time, you create clear
and sharp textures without unintended blurring. It also gives you a high
level of precision and control.

### Tiling

Textures used for nodes should generally be designed to tile. This means
when you place multiple nodes with the same texture together, the edges line
up correctly.

<!-- IMAGE NEEDED - cobblestone that tiles correctly -->

If you fail to match the edges correctly, the result is far less pleasing
to look at.

<!-- IMAGE NEEDED - node that doesn't tile correctly -->

### Transparency

Transparency is important when creating textures for nearly all craftitems
and some nodes, such as glass.
Not all editors support transparency, so make sure you choose an
editor which is suitable for the textures you wish to create.

### Color Palettes

Using a consistent color palette is an easy way to make your art look a lot
better. It's a good idea to use one with a limited number of colors, perhaps 32
at most. Premade palettes can be found at
[lospec.com](https://lospec.com/palette-list).

## Editors

### MS Paint

MS Paint is a simple editor which can be useful for basic texture
design; however, it does not support transparency.
This usually won't matter when making textures for the sides of nodes,
but if you need transparency in your textures you should choose a
different editor.

### Aseprite / LibreSprite

[Aseprite](https://www.aseprite.org/) is a proprietary pixel art editor.
It contains a lot of useful features by default such as color palettes and
animation tools.

[LibreSprite](https://libresprite.github.io/) is an open-source fork of Aseprite
from before it went proprietary.

### GIMP

GIMP is commonly used in the Minetest community. It has quite a high
learning curve because many of its features are not immediately
obvious.

When using GIMP, make sure to use the Pencil tool with the Pixel brush and a
size of 1. It's also advisable to select the "Hard edge" checkbox for the Eraser
tool.