Your first
sprite.
Start with a cube. Stretch it into a simple apartment building, paint its faces, and export a sprite for your game.
Let’s make something ↓
One cube. Your first apartment building.
The steps below use touch instructions. On Mac, click where a step says tap, and use a primary-button drag to draw or move a handle. Step 02 covers mouse and trackpad navigation.
Start with a cube.
YOUR STARTING SHAPE
Make a new project
Start on the project-library screen, where your saved projects appear. If a project is open, choose the back arrow to return there. Choose the + button. The editor opens with a cube. Choose Model in the tabs at the top.
Keep it simple
We’ll turn this cube into a simple apartment building. Make it tall, paint the walls, and add six windows and a door.
Your project saves automatically as you work.
Learn to move around.
Orbit · two fingers
Stay in Model. The large area containing the cube is the viewport. Put two fingers there and slide both in the same direction. The camera turns around the cube.
Try it: look at the back, then return to the front.
Zoom · pinch or spread
Pinch two fingers together to zoom out. Spread them apart to zoom in. Keep both fingers on the viewport.
Try it: get close to a corner, then zoom back out.
Pan · Select, then drag
In the modeling toolbar, choose the arrow-shaped Select button, then drag on the viewport with one finger to move the view sideways or up and down.
Try it: move the cube to the side of the screen.
Orbit
Drag with the secondary mouse button, or scroll with two fingers on a trackpad, to turn around the cube.
Zoom
Use the mouse wheel, or pinch and spread two fingers on a trackpad, to move closer or farther away.
Pan
In the modeling toolbar, choose the arrow-shaped Select button, then drag on the viewport with the primary mouse button to move the view across the screen.
Choose the Fit view button beside the viewport’s zoom controls to bring the model back into view. These gestures move your camera; they do not reshape the cube. With a drawing tool active, one finger paints instead of panning.
Make it yours.
MOVE
ROTATE
SCALEChoose the top face
Choose Model in the tabs at the top. In the selection controls, choose Face (the filled-square icon). Tap the cube’s top face to select it.
Make the building taller
In the modeling toolbar, choose Move (the four-way arrow). Find the X / Y / Z axis buttons and choose Y. Drag the handle on the selected face upward to stretch the cube.
Check it from every side
Orbit around the building to check its proportions. Keep the top flat and flush with the walls. If it feels too tall, move the top face down a little.
Try things freely. Undo brings the previous shape back.
A little color goes a long way.
Switch to Paint
Choose Paint in the Model / Paint / Export tabs at the top of the editor. In the Paint workspace controls, choose Paint on model (the brush icon) to work directly on the building.
Color the walls
Choose a warm peach or orange swatch in the color palette. In the painting toolbar, choose Fill (the paint-bucket icon), then tap a side face to color it. Orbit with two fingers to reach the other walls. Choose a terracotta or darker red-brown swatch, then tap the top face to color it.
Paint the windows
In the painting toolbar, choose Draw—the button with the small corner marker. Choose it again while active to open its menu, then choose Pencil. Choose a deep blue swatch from the palette. Drag on the front wall to paint two columns of three small windows. Keep them the same size, with a clear gap between each row. The dark blue windows stand out against the warm walls, even at sprite size.
Add the entrance
Keep Pencil and the deep blue swatch selected. Drag on the bottom of the same wall to paint a solid rectangular door. In the next step, switch to Export to check the result at sprite size.
To adjust drawing size, choose the active Draw button again. Use the − / + size controls in its popup, then return to the canvas.
Think in pixels.
ONE GRID SQUARE / ISOMETRIC
PIXELS PER TILE
Choose your pixel budget
Choose Export in the tabs at the top of the editor. Choose PNG in the format controls. In the export settings, choose the Sprite size heading to expand it. Choose Fit, then 32 px. Look at the large sprite preview: can you still see the building’s outline, windows, and door?
Building a whole game world?
In the same Sprite size section, choose Relative instead of Fit, then choose 16, 32, or 64 px/tile to keep assets at the same scale. One tile spans two grid squares in each direction. Try the numbers here to see what one grid square becomes.
Small sprites need clear silhouettes. Raise the sprite size for more detail; Export scale only makes existing pixels bigger.
Ready for your game.
YOUR GAMEONE VIEW OR A WHOLE TURNAROUND
Pick the view
Stay in Export → PNG. Choose the Camera heading in the export settings to expand it, then choose Isometric for this building. Open More export settings. Choose a direction thumbnail to preview it, then use its separate checkbox to include it in the export. Check at least one view.
Take it with you
Find Export PNG in the Export workspace and choose it. A share sheet opens. On iPhone or iPad, choose Save to Files, choose a folder, then save. On Mac, choose an available save or share destination. Each checked view becomes a transparent PNG.
For one image containing every checked view, open More export settings, turn on Export as spritesheet, then choose Export PNG.
THAT’S YOUR FIRST SPRITE.
Build out your world.
Try a shorter apartment block or a row of buildings at the same export scale.
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