#!/usr/bin/env python3 """Crunch an image into a limited-palette pixel-art render. Pipeline: load -> resize-to-target (any dims/aspect, fill/fit/pad + focus) -> palette-constrained dither (OKLab-perceptual match, linear-light error diffusion) -> indexed PNG + upscaled preview. Run with the sibling venv: .venv/bin/python pixelate.py [opts] LOCKED Primordyn recipe (2026-06-01): the DEFAULTS are the look. Running pixelate.py render.png --palette primordyn_v2.json is exactly --size 640x360 --dither floyd --space oklab --mode fill (serpentine, strength 1.0). Override --size 320x180 for the chunkier cut. The quality knobs that matter: perceptual matching in OKLab (right color, not just RGB-nearest), error diffusion done in LINEAR light (gamma-correct, no muddy darkening), and a choice of diffusion kernels (Floyd-Steinberg, Atkinson, Jarvis, Stucki, Sierra) or ordered Bayer. Palettes auto-detected: JSON ({"colors":[[r,g,b],...]} or bare list), GIMP .gpl, JASC/Aseprite .pal, hex lists (.hex/.txt), Paint.NET, .png swatch, or adaptive:N. """ import argparse import json import os import re import sys import numpy as np from PIL import Image # --------------------------------------------------------------------------- # # Palette loading (format-agnostic) # --------------------------------------------------------------------------- # def _hex_to_rgb(h): h = h.lstrip("#") if h.lower().startswith("0x"): h = h[2:] if len(h) == 8: # 8 digits: Paint.NET AARRGGBB -> drop alpha h = h[2:] return (int(h[0:2], 16), int(h[2:4], 16), int(h[4:6], 16)) def _parse_text_palette(text): lines = text.splitlines() first = next((ln.strip() for ln in lines if ln.strip()), "") if first.lower().startswith("gimp palette"): # GIMP .gpl out = [] for ln in lines[1:]: s = ln.strip() if not s or s.startswith("#") or s.lower().startswith(("name:", "columns:")): continue parts = s.split() if len(parts) >= 3 and all(p.isdigit() for p in parts[:3]): out.append(tuple(int(p) for p in parts[:3])) return out if first.upper().startswith("JASC-PAL"): # JASC / Aseprite .pal return [tuple(int(p) for p in ln.split()[:3]) for ln in lines[3:] if len(ln.split()) >= 3 and ln.split()[0].isdigit()] hexes = re.findall(r"(?:#|0x)?([0-9a-fA-F]{8}|[0-9a-fA-F]{6})\b", text) if hexes and ("#" in text or "0x" in text.lower() or any(re.search("[a-fA-F]", h) for h in hexes)): return [_hex_to_rgb(h) for h in hexes] out = [] # decimal triples for ln in lines: s = ln.strip() if not s or s.startswith((";", "//")): continue nums = [p for p in re.split(r"[\s,]+", s) if p.isdigit()] if len(nums) >= 3: out.append(tuple(int(p) for p in nums[:3])) return out def load_palette(spec, ref_image=None): if spec.startswith("adaptive:"): n = int(spec.split(":", 1)[1]) q = ref_image.convert("RGB").quantize(colors=n, method=Image.MEDIANCUT) return np.array(q.getpalette()[: n * 3], dtype=np.float32).reshape(-1, 3) raw = open(spec, "rb").read() if spec.lower().endswith(".json") or raw.lstrip()[:1] in (b"{", b"["): try: doc = json.loads(raw.decode("utf-8")) colors = doc.get("colors", doc) if isinstance(doc, dict) else doc triples = [tuple(c[:3]) for c in colors if isinstance(c, (list, tuple)) and len(c) >= 3] if triples: return np.array(triples, dtype=np.float32) except (ValueError, UnicodeDecodeError): pass if raw[:8] == b"\x89PNG\r\n\x1a\n": arr = np.array(Image.open(spec).convert("RGB")).reshape(-1, 3) return np.array(list(dict.fromkeys(map(tuple, arr.tolist()))), dtype=np.float32) colors = _parse_text_palette(raw.decode("utf-8", "replace")) if not colors: sys.exit(f"!! could not parse any colors from {spec}") return np.array(colors, dtype=np.float32) # --------------------------------------------------------------------------- # # Color spaces. Matching happens in a perceptual space; diffusion in linear. # --------------------------------------------------------------------------- # def srgb_to_linear(c): return np.where(c <= 0.04045, c / 12.92, ((c + 0.055) / 1.055) ** 2.4) def linear_to_srgb(c): return np.where(c <= 0.0031308, c * 12.92, 1.055 * np.clip(c, 0, None) ** (1 / 2.4) - 0.055) def linear_to_oklab(c): r, g, b = c[..., 0], c[..., 1], c[..., 2] l = 0.4122214708 * r + 0.5363325363 * g + 0.0514459929 * b m = 0.2119034982 * r + 0.6806995451 * g + 0.1073969566 * b s = 0.0883024619 * r + 0.2817188376 * g + 0.6299787005 * b l_, m_, s_ = np.cbrt(l), np.cbrt(m), np.cbrt(s) return np.stack([ 0.2104542553 * l_ + 0.7936177850 * m_ - 0.0040720468 * s_, 1.9779984951 * l_ - 2.4285922050 * m_ + 0.4505937099 * s_, 0.0259040371 * l_ + 0.7827717662 * m_ - 0.8086757660 * s_, ], -1) def to_match_fn(space): return {"oklab": linear_to_oklab, "linear": lambda c: c, "srgb": linear_to_srgb}[space] # --------------------------------------------------------------------------- # # Nearest-color LUT over the linear cube (built via the perceptual metric). # Lets the sequential error-diffusion loop do O(1) lookups instead of an # argmin-over-256 per pixel. # --------------------------------------------------------------------------- # def build_lut(palette_match, to_match, grid=64): axis = np.linspace(0.0, 1.0, grid, dtype=np.float32) gx, gy, gz = np.meshgrid(axis, axis, axis, indexing="ij") pts_lin = np.stack([gx, gy, gz], -1).reshape(-1, 3) pts = to_match(pts_lin) out = np.empty(pts.shape[0], dtype=np.int32) step = 4096 for s in range(0, pts.shape[0], step): d = ((pts[s:s + step, None, :] - palette_match[None, :, :]) ** 2).sum(2) out[s:s + step] = d.argmin(1) return out.reshape(grid, grid, grid) # kernel = (divisor, [(dx, dy, weight), ...]); error spread to *future* pixels. KERNELS = { "floyd": (16, [(1, 0, 7), (-1, 1, 3), (0, 1, 5), (1, 1, 1)]), "atkinson": (8, [(1, 0, 1), (2, 0, 1), (-1, 1, 1), (0, 1, 1), (1, 1, 1), (0, 2, 1)]), "jjn": (48, [(1, 0, 7), (2, 0, 5), (-2, 1, 3), (-1, 1, 5), (0, 1, 7), (1, 1, 5), (2, 1, 3), (-2, 2, 1), (-1, 2, 3), (0, 2, 5), (1, 2, 3), (2, 2, 1)]), "stucki": (42, [(1, 0, 8), (2, 0, 4), (-2, 1, 2), (-1, 1, 4), (0, 1, 8), (1, 1, 4), (2, 1, 2), (-2, 2, 1), (-1, 2, 2), (0, 2, 4), (1, 2, 2), (2, 2, 1)]), "sierra": (32, [(1, 0, 5), (2, 0, 3), (-2, 1, 2), (-1, 1, 4), (0, 1, 5), (1, 1, 4), (2, 1, 2), (-1, 2, 2), (0, 2, 3), (1, 2, 2)]), } BAYER = { 4: np.array([[0, 8, 2, 10], [12, 4, 14, 6], [3, 11, 1, 9], [15, 7, 13, 5]], np.float32) / 16.0 - 0.5, 8: (np.array([[0, 32, 8, 40, 2, 34, 10, 42], [48, 16, 56, 24, 50, 18, 58, 26], [12, 44, 4, 36, 14, 46, 6, 38], [60, 28, 52, 20, 62, 30, 54, 22], [3, 35, 11, 43, 1, 33, 9, 41], [51, 19, 59, 27, 49, 17, 57, 25], [15, 47, 7, 39, 13, 45, 5, 37], [63, 31, 55, 23, 61, 29, 53, 21]], np.float32) / 64.0 - 0.5), } def _lut_lookup(lin_vals, lut, gscale): gi = np.clip((lin_vals * gscale + 0.5).astype(np.int32), 0, gscale) return lut[gi[..., 0], gi[..., 1], gi[..., 2]] def error_diffuse(lin, lut, palette_lin, kernel, serpentine, strength): h, w, _ = lin.shape work = lin.copy() idxmap = np.zeros((h, w), np.int32) div, taps = kernel gscale = lut.shape[0] - 1 for y in range(h): rev = serpentine and (y & 1) xr = range(w - 1, -1, -1) if rev else range(w) for x in xr: v = work[y, x] gi = np.clip((v * gscale + 0.5).astype(np.int32), 0, gscale) i = int(lut[gi[0], gi[1], gi[2]]) idxmap[y, x] = i err = (v - palette_lin[i]) * strength for dx, dy, wt in taps: nx, ny = x + (-dx if rev else dx), y + dy if 0 <= nx < w and 0 <= ny < h: work[ny, nx] += err * (wt / div) return idxmap def ordered(lin, lut, bayer, strength): h, w, _ = lin.shape tile = np.tile(bayer, (h // bayer.shape[0] + 1, w // bayer.shape[1] + 1))[:h, :w] v = np.clip(lin + tile[..., None] * strength, 0.0, 1.0) return _lut_lookup(v, lut, lut.shape[0] - 1) # --------------------------------------------------------------------------- # # Resize to target dimensions (ported from convert_image.py's crop logic) # --------------------------------------------------------------------------- # def resize_to_target(img, tw, th, mode, fx, fy, resample): sw, sh = img.size sa, ta = sw / sh, tw / th if mode == "pad": scale = min(tw / sw, th / sh) nw, nh = max(1, round(sw * scale)), max(1, round(sh * scale)) canvas = Image.new("RGB", (tw, th), (0, 0, 0)) canvas.paste(img.resize((nw, nh), resample), ((tw - nw) // 2, (th - nh) // 2)) return canvas if mode == "fit": # scale to cover, crop minimal scale = max(tw / sw, th / sh) nw, nh = max(tw, round(sw * scale)), max(th, round(sh * scale)) scaled = img.resize((nw, nh), resample) x, y = round((nw - tw) * fx), round((nh - th) * fy) return scaled.crop((x, y, x + tw, y + th)) # fill (default): crop to target aspect, then scale if sa > ta: cw, ch = round(sh * ta), sh else: cw, ch = sw, round(sw / ta) x, y = round((sw - cw) * fx), round((sh - ch) * fy) return img.crop((x, y, x + cw, y + ch)).resize((tw, th), resample) FOCI = {"center": (.5, .5), "top": (.5, 0), "bottom": (.5, 1), "left": (0, .5), "right": (1, .5), "top-left": (0, 0), "top-right": (1, 0), "bottom-left": (0, 1), "bottom-right": (1, 1)} PRESETS = {"primordyn": (640, 360), "640p": (640, 360), "small": (320, 180), "320p": (320, 180), "vic20": (176, 184), "c64": (320, 200)} def parse_size(s): if s.lower() in PRESETS: return PRESETS[s.lower()] m = re.fullmatch(r"(\d+)\s*[xX]\s*(\d+)", s.strip()) if not m: sys.exit(f"!! --size must be WxH or one of {list(PRESETS)}; got '{s}'") return int(m.group(1)), int(m.group(2)) def main(): p = argparse.ArgumentParser(description=__doc__, formatter_class=argparse.RawDescriptionHelpFormatter) p.add_argument("image") p.add_argument("--palette", default="primordyn_v2.json", help="palette file or adaptive:N") p.add_argument("--size", default="640x360", help=f"WxH or preset {list(PRESETS)}") p.add_argument("--mode", choices=["fill", "fit", "pad"], default="fill", help="aspect handling") p.add_argument("--focus", default="center", help=f"crop focus: {list(FOCI)} or 'fx,fy' (0..1)") p.add_argument("--dither", choices=list(KERNELS) + ["bayer4", "bayer8", "none"], default="floyd") p.add_argument("--space", choices=["oklab", "linear", "srgb"], default="oklab", help="color-match space") p.add_argument("--strength", type=float, default=1.0, help="dither amount (error-diffusion fraction / bayer scale)") p.add_argument("--no-serpentine", action="store_true") p.add_argument("--resample", choices=["lanczos", "box", "bilinear", "hamming", "nearest"], default="lanczos") p.add_argument("--lut", type=int, default=64, help="nearest-color LUT resolution per axis") p.add_argument("--preview-scale", type=int, default=2, help="nearest-neighbor upscale for the preview (0=off)") p.add_argument("--out", default=None) args = p.parse_args() tw, th = parse_size(args.size) fx, fy = FOCI.get(args.focus.lower(), None) or tuple(float(v) for v in args.focus.split(",")) rfilt = {"lanczos": Image.LANCZOS, "box": Image.BOX, "bilinear": Image.BILINEAR, "hamming": Image.HAMMING, "nearest": Image.NEAREST}[args.resample] src = Image.open(args.image).convert("RGB") small = resize_to_target(src, tw, th, args.mode, fx, fy, rfilt) palette_srgb = load_palette(args.palette, ref_image=small) pal01 = palette_srgb / 255.0 palette_lin = srgb_to_linear(pal01).astype(np.float32) to_match = to_match_fn(args.space) palette_match = to_match(palette_lin).astype(np.float32) lin = srgb_to_linear(np.asarray(small, np.float32) / 255.0) if args.dither in KERNELS: lut = build_lut(palette_match, to_match, args.lut) idxmap = error_diffuse(lin, lut, palette_lin, KERNELS[args.dither], not args.no_serpentine, args.strength) elif args.dither.startswith("bayer"): lut = build_lut(palette_match, to_match, args.lut) idxmap = ordered(lin, lut, BAYER[int(args.dither[5:])], args.strength) else: # none -> hard nearest, vectorized flat = to_match(lin).reshape(-1, 3) out = np.empty(flat.shape[0], np.int32) for s in range(0, flat.shape[0], 65536): d = ((flat[s:s + 65536, None, :] - palette_match[None, :, :]) ** 2).sum(2) out[s:s + 65536] = d.argmin(1) idxmap = out.reshape(th, tw) # --- outputs: true indexed PNG (target res) + upscaled RGB preview --- base = os.path.splitext(args.out or args.image)[0] lo_path = args.out or f"{base}_{tw}x{th}_{args.dither}.png" idx_img = Image.frombytes("P", (tw, th), idxmap.astype(np.uint8).tobytes()) flat_pal = palette_srgb.astype(np.uint8).reshape(-1).tolist() idx_img.putpalette(flat_pal + [0] * (768 - len(flat_pal))) idx_img.save(lo_path) used = len(np.unique(idxmap)) print(f"palette: {len(palette_srgb)} colors ({args.palette}) | used: {used}") print(f"target: {tw}x{th} via {args.mode}/{args.resample} focus={args.focus}") print(f"dither: {args.dither} | match-space: {args.space} | strength: {args.strength}" f"{'' if args.no_serpentine or args.dither in ('none',) or args.dither.startswith('bayer') else ' | serpentine'}") print(f"wrote {lo_path} (indexed PNG)") if args.preview_scale > 1: up_path = os.path.splitext(lo_path)[0] + f"_x{args.preview_scale}.png" idx_img.convert("RGB").resize((tw * args.preview_scale, th * args.preview_scale), Image.NEAREST).save(up_path) print(f"wrote {up_path} (preview)") if __name__ == "__main__": main()