Tips and Tools for creating Spritesheet animations

Question

I am looking for a tool that I can use to create sprite sheet easily.

Right now I am using Illustrator, but I can never get the center of the character in the exact position, so it looks like it is moving around(even though its always in one place), while being loop through the sprite sheet. Is there any better tools that I can be using?

Also what kind of tips would you give for working with a sprite sheet? Should I create each part of the character in individual layers (left arm, right arm, body, etc.) or everything at once? any other tips would also be helpful! thank you

Answer 1

From the problems that you are having I recommend that you do the following:

First, work with layers and folders. It really does help, Group individual sprites together in folders so that you can move the whole of them around and parts that are replicated should exist on seperate layers.

(So if there is a sword or something it should be on a layer, eyes should be on a layer, etc). Thats where the real power of these type of applications are for such a task. If you mess something up, you don't mess it all up just that layer.

Then, enable the ruler and enable the grid. (Also take the time to set them up correctly in the preferences menu). If click the ruler and drag away from it, you can create guidelines. Setting up your own limits using the guidelines will allow you to snap the sprites (which should now be in folders) to the grid lines allowing you to position them far better.

Then finally, if things still seem a bit out of phase when the animation is playing. If you zoom all the way in (you may need to make sure this is enabled in the preferences menu) you can see an individual per-pixel grid. Which should allow you to place things exactly where you need them to be.

Answer 2

If you have 3D models there is a program made by EnvyGames, SpriteWorks, which will make 2D sprite sheets out of the models for you. Allows you to play animations and customize a bunch of stuff.

I think it's a bit pricey for what it is, $49.99.

Here is a tutorial on how to use SpriteWorks

Creating Sprites from 3D Models - EnvyGames

Answer 3

Spritesheets? Mac? Take Zwoptex: http://zwoptexapp.com/

Answer 4

Your question sounds a lot like the one I answered here: What is a good tool for producing animated sprites?

You can basically create your animations in whichever program you prefer. When using Illustrator I suggest you create the animation-steps on layers or even import the artwork into Flash for animation (since Flash CS4 you can also create bones in flash. See here for a tutorial).

Once you have your animations done, just export the frames to images and then use the method described in my answer (above) to create a sprite-sheet.

Answer 5

http://www.darkfunction.com/editor/

Whoops: Apologies for sneaky self promotion. But this might be just what you are looking for.

EDIT: Just an update that I have made this tool free and opensource. https://github.com/darkFunction/darkFunction-Editor

Answer 6

If you have a bunch of images, here's a tool you can use to create sprite sheets:

http://www.retroaffect.com/blog/159/Image_Atlas_Packer/#b

It's completely free, and will pack a bunch of images into N number of sprite sheets.

Answer 7

You might end up loving this tool:

http://www.bottomap.com/Software/A4B/A4B.html

Answer 8

Sprite Animation Software automatically creates a sprite sheet that contains an ordered sequence of all frames of sprite animation. This software doesn't work with already created sprite sheets - it creates a sprite sheet with prescribed orientation(vertical, horizontal or table) and prescribed size.

Sprite animation is created by the same tool using hinged 2d-bones models and textures. watch video on youtube

Answer 9

I've been using Texture Packer to create sprites from a folder of PNG images. I'm porting a game originally developed in Flash, so I'm simply exporting each frame of the MovieClip to png and then importing those images in Texture Packer.

Another similar tool is Zwoptex

(The latter is Mac software, but TP has a version for Windows too.)