Sprite Baker Studio Plugin

[Copywright]

Hello all!

I am here to sing the praises of Unity's Sprite Baker Studio plugin.

It allows one to take a 3D model and animation, and put them onto a sprite sheet. It can also export each frame as png.

I've been going hard trying to find good pixel art battlers, and I saw how Dead Cells made their sprites: https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news...D_pipeline_for_2D_animation_in_Dead_Cells.php

So it dawned on me to try using 3D models at low resolutions + a retro shader (PSXEffects).

Original model: https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/strong-knight-9d912e0fedb44b619fbd2a083bbf174f
What I came up with:
If you're willing to mess around with it, it could be a cost effective way for some great battlers... if you're into the style, that is. I'll probably have all battle sprites in this fashion.

I'm sure you could also throw on an anime style toon shader or something. Might even be helpful to those of you making 3D stuff in RMMV/MZ

There's a few video tutorials, but I may do one if I have the time

 

[Copywright]

Not sure if this counts as a double post?

bit of a update:
Went from 20 frames to 60 frames per animations. make it a bit more obvious that it's 3D, but I dont really mind. I'll need to figure out how to have battlebacks made that support the 3d illusion.

EDIT: But, I might get even more 2D. I have this awesome sprite from the model, but can't seem to get it to that resolution :/
I'll figure it out.

EDIT: Started on another guy. This one is closer to a sprite, i turned down antialiasing a ton. I'll expirement with it until I get a consistent style.


Finished the next character:

 

[Marquise*]

Woah this looks so great! Me want ^^

 

[Copywright]

Haha, thanks. After I get the hang of it, maybe I'll share some sprite sheets.

I'm not sure if it'll fit RPG Maker dimension limits...

one more update, another character down:
Maybe two more characters and I'll focus on gameplay.'

original models:

Fighter Game Character - Buy Royalty Free 3D model by Fernando Pain (@fernandopain) [8f247ae]

Game Character Model. Rigged and Unity Humanoid ready. Includes: -Posed fbx showed in Sketchfab. -Unity Package with ready-to-use model. Materials, Humanoid rig and prefab all set up. -Just connect you favourite 3rd person animation controller. - Fighter Game Character - Buy Royalty Free...

sketchfab.com

Artur - Buy Royalty Free 3D model by marimix (@marimix) [0f16fbf]

Low-poly rigged model of the character Artur Suitable for games of different genre: RPG, strategy, first-person shooter, etc Textures of different parts 4096x4096 faces 9475 verts 10435 tris 18845 - Artur - Buy Royalty Free 3D model by marimix (@marimix) [0f16fbf]

sketchfab.com

I'll have to tweak the sizing of the sprites a bit, so they're uniform.

 

[Marquise*]

Like I see this and how fluid it comes to you, you might never ever wanna stop. LOL

 

[Copywright]

Working on a few archer units. These are trickier and require a bit more code to get right. Right now, the arrow is just in her hand. I have to fix it so that she pulls one out of a quiver on her back, then loads.

I'll also have to grab a single sprite of the arrow for when it fires... troublesome, troublesome

I also have to fix up the blockiness on the dithering, but i'm focused on getting animations right first.

these might take a while. after this, I have 2-3 axe warriors and 2 lance units.

I'm leaving mounted units for last, because those will be even worse than the archers... the more things to animate, the more of a pain it is. the end result is worth it though.

original model: https://www.renderhub.com/rip-van-winkle/jade-from-mortal-kombat-11
the bow: https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/oathbow-26d7af320c6e4d3290df4bc8ba1b1862

totally not royalty free, but it should be fine for now. you totally cant tell that's even her, right?

---

As for these animations, I am NOT doing them manually.

Many are free from Mixamo. Like this archery pack, is from "Pro Longbow Pack", which is free. Plus, thousands of other animations. Not only that, you can upload a 3D model to mixamo and it automatically rigs it for animations (not all models come ready to animated), which is what I did for Jade. ".obj" files work best.

Others I bought from the Asset Store:

Dynamic Bone | Animation Tools | Unity Asset Store

Use the Dynamic Bone tool from Will Hong on your next project. Find this & more animation tools on the Unity Asset Store.

assetstore.unity.com

I'm pretty much playing these animations frame-by-frame and shooting from a 90-130 degree angle to mimic a sideview battler. All with SBS.

ofc, you have to place objects in their hands and do extra work, sometimes. but, beats paying for cool animations by a long mile.

which will cut down the animation work, but will suck because I'll have to animate the rider and horse at the same time.

anyway, i'll be using this guy for my mounted units: https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/characters/animals/horse-animset-pro-riding-system-79902

 

[Copywright]

Pretty much done with the archer. Took some doin' to get small details, like arrow spawning after hand passes the quiver and arrow disappearing after firing. The bowstring is so thin, but I had to have it move with the hand and release back into place after firing... and you can barely see it.

Even got a decent 13 frame spinning arrow sprite to work with. probably need to make it a little longer.

I have to fix her dodge animation, she's supposed to dodge in-place but the animation itself is moving. which will be trouble when I switch to another one.

more coming soon. the units i mentioned before, plus i might experiment with adding particle effects to the sword attacks, etc.

 

[Copywright]

It's funny what a better background can do. Last update for a while, I'll post when I've gotten way farther.

 

[Copywright]

Last update, since i can't really post here. front-view.

clearer quality:

 

[Marquise*]

I love them. Since you seems to go beyond any expectations toward animations in games, I wouldn't be too afraid about your archer. I didn't looked from where the arrow came from, I just saw it seemed realistic picking. Like sportive archer.

 

[Copywright]

Using them more as references for a pixel artist now. While it is a really dope effect, the disconnect between the map and the battle scene is a bit too much to overcome.

maybe in a future game.