Building a Full Character Sprite Sheet from One Design
Turn one character sprite into a full set of animations and export sprite sheets your engine can slice: animation sets, the sheet builder and frame data.
A sprite sheet packs a character's frames into one image your engine can slice. In this guide we'll go from one finished character to a set of matching animations and the sheets for each.
Step 1: Start from one base sprite
Generate or upload a character with a transparent background (see the character sprites guide). Every animation is made from this base, so its proportions, palette and size carry through.
Step 2: Decide the animation list
Pick the actions first:
- Platformer: idle, run, jump, attack, hurt, death.
- Top-down: walks in every direction, then attacks.
- Your own list: for example "idle breathing, walking, casting a spell".
Step 3: Generate the set in one pass
Open the sprite in the editor and click Animation set. Pick a preset from the menu; each line shows how many animations it makes and what it costs. A set of up to six animations is 100 credits (200 for 4K from 1024 px sprites). Because they're drawn together, the animations match in size, timing and style, with the feet on the same ground line.
For a single extra action, use Animate this image instead: describe the move and get a 16-frame looping animation for 15 credits.
Step 4: Build the sheet
Each animation appears in the Animations list. Open its menu and choose Add to sprite sheet to open the Sprite Sheet Builder, then Download Sprite Sheet. Use Download in the same menu if you'd rather have the individual frames as a ZIP.
Step 5: Note the frame data
Write down the frame width, frame height, columns and rows. Every frame of an animation is the same size, so your engine can cut the sheet on a fixed grid.
Step 6: Import into your engine
Import the PNG as a sprite sheet with that frame size, then define each animation by frame range (for example, run = frames 0 to 15). The export guides for Unity, Godot, GameMaker and Phaser cover the exact steps.
Keep it consistent
- One base sprite for every animation.
- One animation per sheet or per row.
- The same frame size across a character's sheets.