LibreSprite tools

#All tools at a glance

From data/gui.xml in LibreSprite 1.3. Pressing a group’s key again cycles through the tools that share it (for example U: Rectangle, Filled Rectangle).

Three tools also work while you hold a key, then switch back: hold Alt for the Eyedropper, Ctrl for Move, Space for the Hand.

#Pencil and pixel-perfect strokes

The Pencil (B) draws hard-edged pixels: left button with the foreground colour, right button with the background colour (Preferences → Editor lets you change what right-click does). Tick Pixel-perfect in the tool options to remove the doubled corner pixels that freehand strokes leave on diagonals; this is what makes clean pixel-art outlines possible with a mouse.

Brush type, size and angle

The first controls in the tool options are the brush: type (circle, square or line), size in pixels (up to 256 since 1.3) and angle for line brushes. Change size quickly with + and -. For pixel art keep 1 px.

Custom brushes

Select part of your sprite and choose Edit → New Brush: the selection becomes a brush you can stamp with the Pencil, with a pattern option that aligns it to the image or the source. Brushes are saved in user.aseprite-brushes in your settings folder.

#Spray

Shift+B. Scatters pixels within a radius; set Spray Width and Spray Speed in the options. Useful for texture, dust and foliage.

#Eraser

E. Left button erases to transparent (or to the background colour on a background layer); right button replaces the foreground colour with the background colour only, a quick way to recolour.

#Eyedropper

I, or hold Alt with any drawing tool. Picks a colour from the canvas. Options choose what to sample (Color+Alpha, Color, Alpha, RGB, HSB, Gray, best-fit palette index) and whether to sample the current layer or the merged image.

#Paint Bucket

G. Fills an area of similar colour. Tolerance (0–255) sets how similar; Contiguous fills only connected pixels (untick it to replace a colour everywhere in the layer). Extra options choose whether to look at the current layer or all layers.

#Line and Curve

L for Line, Shift+L for Curve (drag a line, then drag to bend it). Hold Shift while drawing a line to snap it to the clean pixel-art angles: horizontal, 26.57° (the 2:1 line), 45°, 63.43° and vertical. Those are the angles that give even, stair-step lines.

#Rectangle, Ellipse and filled shapes

U cycles Rectangle and Filled Rectangle, Shift+U Ellipse and Filled Ellipse. Hold Shift for squares and circles. Filled shapes use the foreground colour; the outline shapes use the brush.

#Contour and Polygon

D is Contour: draw a freehand outline and it is filled when you release. Shift+D is Polygon: click the corners of a filled polygon. Both are fast for blocking in shapes.

#Blur and Jumble

R cycles Blur (averages neighbouring pixels, which adds new colours, so use with care in pixel art) and Jumble (shuffles pixels for noise and texture).

#Selection tools

Rectangular Marquee M, Elliptical Marquee Shift+M, Lasso Q, Polygonal Lasso Shift+Q, Magic Wand W (with tolerance and contiguous options). The options bar sets the mode: replace, add (Shift) or subtract (Shift+Alt). Then: Ctrl+A select all, Ctrl+D deselect, Ctrl+Shift+I invert, Ctrl+T transform. Moving a selection shows the rotation pivot and the Rotation Algorithm choice: Fast Rotation or RotSprite, which keeps pixel art crisp when rotating by odd angles. Selections in detail.

#Move

V, or hold Ctrl. Moves the content of the current layer (or of the selection). Tick Auto Select Layer to grab whatever layer you click on.

#Zoom and Hand

Zoom Z (click to zoom in, right-click to zoom out), Hand H or hold Space. Faster: keys 1–6 jump to 100 %–3200 %, ~ to 50 %, and the mouse wheel zooms (Preferences → Editor).

#Inks: how colour is applied

The ink button in the tool options changes what a drawing tool does with colour:

Opacity next to the ink sets paint intensity. More on shading on Palettes and colour.

#Symmetry

The symmetry buttons in the tool options mirror every stroke while you draw: horizontal, vertical, 45°, −45°, rotational 180° and rotational 90° (the diagonal and rotational modes are new in 1.3). View → Symmetry Options adjusts the axes, and View → Symmetry Axes → Reset Symmetry to Center puts them back in the middle. Great for characters seen from the front, icons and tiles.

#Grid, pixel grid and snapping

Shift+G shows the grid (default 16 × 16; change it in View → Grid → Grid Settings, or turn a selection into the grid), Alt+Shift+G a line around every pixel, and Shift+S snaps tools to the grid.

#Undo and Undo History

Ctrl+Z undoes and Ctrl+Y or Ctrl+Shift+Z redoes. Edit → Undo History lists every step and lets you jump back to any of them. The undo memory limit is 64 MB by default (Preferences → Undo).

#Is there a gradient tool?

No. LibreSprite 1.3 has no gradient tool (Aseprite added one after the fork). In pixel art a smooth gradient is rarely wanted anyway; you build gradients from a few palette colours and dithering. The palette’s sort menu has a Gradient command that fills a palette range with a colour ramp between two colours, which you then paint with. Gradients and dithering, step by step.

#FAQ

Found something wrong or out of date? Tell us: hello@libresprite.dev. We fix mistakes within a day.