I decided to get HQX to compile on Win64, so it can be used by sprites. The author didn’t reply to my email, so I just decided to hack it up. It’s open source, after all.

It wasn’t too bad, just a bunch of random tweaks to get it to compile using visual studio instead of MinGW. So, since there was already some code sitting around for the Scale2X algorithm, I took a few screenshots to see how they compare with Nearest Neighbor scaling.

Nearest Neighbor

Scale2X

HQX

I can’t really decide which I prefer. Nearest Neighbor always looks a bit too jagged for my tastes, but some sprites don’t look right with HQX. Scale2x does a good job retaining the classic look, but it’s not without artifacts.

There were a few researchers at Microsoft who wrote a paper on a really cool scaling algorithm, called Depixelizing Pixel Art. The sad part is, they didn’t release any source code or a library. So it’s pretty much just something to look at and say “Oh. That’s nice. Too bad none of us can actually use it” ..

I’d love to give their algorithm a shot to see how it stacks up against the others. I honestly don’t know what the point is to create an elaborate algorithm and presentation, then do nothing with it. Maybe it has some use case at Microsoft, I suppose.

So, which do you prefer? Do you have a favorite scaling method outside of these 3?