Baseprite

I love Basepaint, and am always seeking ways to elevate the art & the community. I built this Baseprite plugin (based on a simpler version originally gifted to me by Zherring) & I am releasing it for free, because I want everybody in the community to be able to tap into the magic of Aseprite for their Basepaint creations!!

Here is a link to the Github repository for Baseprite. This project is CC0, feel free to build on this!

Step 1. Download the baseprite.lua file, then drag it into you Aseprite “Scripts” folder.
(In Aseprite, go to File > Scripts > Open Scripts Folder)
Rescan your scripts folder, then you should see “Baseprite” as an option!
Note: Please be sure to use Aseprite version 1.3.5 or more recent.

Step 2. New File, let’s get started! We’ll make a new sprite at 256x256px (the size of a Basepaint canvas!)
Then we’ll paste in the current canvas in progress. (Tip: Right Click > Copy Image on the canvas directly from the gallery)
Now it’s time to open Baseprite! File > Scripts > Baseprite

Let us take a moment to appreciate all the different buttons!

Extract Colors – Scans the current sprite and pulls all unique colors in use, into your working palette.
Reorder Colors – Toggles “reorder mode” which allows you to reorder the palette!
Layer Selection Dropdown Menu – Allows you to select which layer is active, to be saved/copied.
Refresh Layers – Push this button whenever you add a new layer! It will refresh the layer dropdown menu.
Palette – Each color in your working palette is shown as a color swatch!
(Click on a swatch to adjust the hex code manually. Right Click + Hold to bring up the eyedropper tool!)
Add Color – Adds a new (black) color slot to your palette, which you can manually edit.
Save to File – Prompts you to save a .txt file containing the pixel data. Be sure to set a filename & location.
(Once saved, the plugin will attempt to automatically open the file in a plain text editor)
Copy to Clipboard – Copies the pixel data to your clipboard, ready for immediate paste into Basepaint!
(Note: Press enter to approve the dialogue popups, the OK button will most likely be hidden since the pixel data is ginormous)

Step 3. If you’ve opened the script after having pasted the current canvas in progress, it will load in the colors automatically (most likely not in the correct order, more on that in a moment). If you already had Baseprite open before pasting in the canvas, you can click “Extract Colors” to scan the canvas & extract the colors! If any colors are missing from the palette, press “Add Color” and enter the color manually; either by clicking on the swatch to enter the hex code, or right-click + hold to bring up the eyedropper tool.

Tip: When you click “Extract Colors” the lowest layer of the current sprite is scanned left-to-right, and colors are pulled into Baseprite in that order. Sometimes the quickest way to set your palette, is to set your swatches in the correct order, in the top-left of “Layer 1”, then click “Extract Colors”!

Step 4. So we have the colors extracted, but now we need to reorder them. This is important: the colors must be set in the same order that they appear on Basepaint!! “Color 1” should correspond to the topmost color in our palette panel, “Color 2” right below it, and so on. Otherwise the pixel data will be confused, when you go to copy/paste it into Basepaint.

Pressing “Reorder Colors” will toggle reorder mode; this bring up arrows, allowing you to reorder the swatches. Note that each set of arrows controls the color swatch directly above it. (If the plugin panel grows too tall from having too many colors, you can shrink it by click-dragging from the top of the dialogue window) When we are finished reordering the colors, to match the Basepaint palette, press “Done Reordering“.

Step 5. When you are ready to export your drawing to Basepaint, you have two options – “Save to File” or “Copy to Clipboard“

Copy to Clipboard is the quickest way to bring your drawing into Basepaint. Push this button, then go to the main Basepaint canvas, make sure the canvas is selected (click on the palette), then Paste!

Save to File is also an option, making it easy to save your pixel data to be shared in chat. Once you click Save to File, click on where it says “output.txt” to set a filename & location for saving. Then you must press save twice, once in the file browser, and again on the “Save Pixel Data As” dialogue. Make sure to allow write access, then allow again for Aseprite to open the file in a plain text editor.

Thank you for using this plugin! & Cheers to 1000 more days of Basepaint!
💙🖌️