While algorithms for turning raster images into vector images are nothing new, the usual suspects perform terribly when it comes to sprite-sized pixel-art type images where each pixel matters a lot. Enter this cool project that Johannes Kopf and Dani Lischinski presented at Siggraph 2011. Their paper, which nicely explains the nitty gritty, is freely available (PDF), and there’s also an online gallery where you can see how their method stacks up against a bunch of other algorithms when it comes to scaling up some classic sprites. I especially like the new streamlined Space Invader shapes. I always wondered what they really looked like. [via O’Reilly Radar]
from MAKE