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Creating, opening and saving files

Creating a new canvas

  1. Open the New Canvas window from File > New in the menu bar.
  2. Choose the canvas size, the grid size, and a palette template, then click OK to create a new canvas.

Tip

You can also create a canvas from a previously copied image with File > New from Clipboard.

Opening and saving

SqPaint works with two kinds of files: canvases and images.

  • A canvas (.spcv) can store data such as the palette, grid, layers, and animation.
  • We recommend saving your work as a canvas file and exporting it as an image when it is finished.

You can open files with File > Open, or by dragging and dropping them onto the SqPaint window.

Note

Supported image formats are bmp, jpg, png, and webp. png or webp is recommended.

Note

When you open an image file, a palette is created automatically from the colors used in the image.

SqPaint can use up to 255 colors (+ the transparent color), so images with more colors are opened with a reduced number of colors.

Exporting an image

  1. Open the Export Image window from File > Export Image in the menu bar.
  2. Choose the file name and the output scale, then click OK to export the image.

Exporting an animation

Cel animations and sprite animations can currently be exported only as an image sequence.

Exporting as an image sequence

  1. Open the Export Animation as Image Sequence window from File > Export Animation as Image Sequence in the menu bar.
  2. Choose the output folder, the file name, and the output scale, then click OK to export the images.