DPixel — Pixel Art Editor

Retro-inspired pixel art editor for Windows.
Multi-file source, single portable .exe — copy anywhere and run; no installer, no redistributable.

Why no installer is needed

Release uses /MT (static CRT). All other DLLs (d2d1.dll, dwrite.dll, windowscodecs.dll, dwmapi.dll) ship with Windows 10/11.

Editor Mode System

DPixel has multiple editor modes. Each mode can have sub-modes toggled with Spacebar.

Key Action
Tab Next editor mode
Shift+Tab Previous editor mode
Spacebar Toggle sub-mode within the current mode

Modes remember their state when you switch away. For example, if animation is playing in Paint mode and you Tab to Tilemap, then Tab back — playback resumes exactly where it was.

Paint mode

The default drawing mode.

Spacebar Play / pause animation

Sub-mode label shows Draw or ▶ Playing.

Tilemap mode

Edit tile-based graphics and maps.

Spacebar Toggle Block View ↔ Map View
Sub-mode Description
Block View Edit pixel content of individual tiles. Tile grid is forced on; selected tile is highlighted amber. Arrow keys navigate tiles. All drawing tools work normally.
Map View Assemble a map by painting tiles onto a grid. Right panel shows a tile picker. Left-click canvas paints selected tile. Right-click canvas picks tile at that position.

Source Layout

DPixel/
├── DPixel.sln
├── DPixel.vcxproj
├── src/
│   ├── main.cpp          Entry point (WinMain)
│   ├── resource.h        All menu, dialog and mode IDs
│   ├── App.h/.cpp        Application — owns modes, routes Tab/Space/input
│   ├── EditorMode.h      Abstract base class for all editor modes
│   ├── PaintMode.h/.cpp  Drawing + animation mode
│   ├── TilemapMode.h/.cpp Tilemap block/map editor mode
│   ├── Canvas.h/.cpp     Indexed pixel buffer, undo stack, drawing primitives
│   ├── Palette.h/.cpp    256-colour table, platform presets, .ACT I/O
│   ├── Animation.h       Header-only frame container with playback
│   ├── Tilemap.h         Preset definitions (NES, SNES, ZX Spectrum…)
│   ├── Tool.h            All tool declarations + factory
│   ├── Tools.cpp         All tool implementations
│   ├── Renderer.h/.cpp   Direct2D — canvas, mode tab bar, tile picker, panels
│   ├── FileIO.h/.cpp     PNG/BMP (WIC), ZX SCR, NES CHR, image import
│   └── Dialogs.h/.cpp    In-memory DLGTEMPLATE dialogs (no .rc file)
└── docs/
    ├── README.md         (this file)
    ├── SHORTCUTS.md      Full keyboard reference
    ├── FILE_FORMAT.md    .dpx binary format spec
    └── PLATFORMS.md      Tilemap presets and platform export notes

Adding a new editor mode

  1. Create src/MyMode.h/.cpp inheriting from EditorMode.
  2. Override Name(), SubModeName(), SpaceBar(), Tick(), and the input callbacks you need.
  3. In App.h: bump MODE_COUNT, add a MODE_MYMODE constant, add a m_views[MODE_MYMODE] entry.
  4. In App::Init(): m_modes[MODE_MYMODE] = std::make_unique<MyMode>() with shared state injection.
  5. Add src\MyMode.cpp to DPixel.vcxproj.

Tab and Shift+Tab cycle automatically over all modes.

Dark mode

Dark title bar via DwmSetWindowAttribute (attribute 20 for Win11 / Win10 20H1+, attribute 19 fallback for older Win10 builds). The Direct2D canvas UI is always dark.

See also