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Sprite Generator

Introduction

The Sprite Generator is a powerful AI tool designed to streamline the creation of 2D game assets. It combines image generation and video animation to produce both static sprites and fully animated sprite sheets from simple text prompts or existing images. This tool is perfect for rapid prototyping, creating unique characters and objects, and generating game-ready assets without needing advanced artistic or animation skills.

With the Sprite Generator, you can:

Create static sprites from a text description — characters, objects, VFX, and UI assets.
Animate your own images or newly generated sprites with a text prompt.
Transfer motion from a reference video or another animation onto a static sprite.
Extend animations forwards or backwards in time, or generate smooth transitions between two animations.
Chain multiple animations into a single continuous sequence, or bundle them into an Animation Pack for your game engine.
Generate synchronized sound effects, and even talking or singing animations with built-in audio.
Export your results as sprite sheets, individual frames, videos, or GIFs.

Getting Started

The Sprite Generator offers three main workflows, accessible via tabs at the top left of the interface:

New Sprite: Start from scratch by describing the sprite you want to create with text. The AI generates a static image, which you can then choose to animate.
Animate: Start with an existing image — either one you've generated in Ludo or one you upload — and describe the animation you want to apply to it.
Transfer Motion: Apply the specific movement from a video reference or an existing animation to a static sprite image.

You can switch between tabs at any time; each remembers its own settings, inputs, and uploaded images.

Creating a New Sprite (Text-to-Sprite)

This workflow is ideal when you have an idea but no starting visual.

Select the "New Sprite" tab. This is the default view when you open the tool.
Select the sprite type: Choose Sprite (characters, props), Sprite VFX (explosions, magic), or UI Asset (buttons, bars, icons).
Describe your sprite. In the main text prompt box, write a detailed description of the static sprite you want to create.
- Focus on its appearance, not its movement.
- Example: "A magical sword with a glowing blue blade and a golden hilt."
Apply filters (optional):
- Art Style: Choose the specific visual style.
- Perspective: Select a camera angle like Isometric or Side-Scroll.
- Aspect Ratio: You can leave this on "Auto" for the best fit.
Generate the sprite. Click Generate Static Sprite. The AI will produce a set of static images based on your prompt.
Iterate. If you're not happy with the results, refine your prompt and generate again.
Proceed to animation. Once you have a static sprite you like, hover over the image card and click Use as First Frame. This automatically moves your chosen image into the Animate tab, ready for the next step.

Preparing Animation Keyframes

Before generating an animation, it's crucial that your First Frame (and optional Final Frame) accurately represents the starting and ending points of the desired motion. The AI uses these keyframes as its primary guide.

This is the most important step for a good result. For example, if you want to create a "walk right" animation, your First Frame sprite must be facing to the right. If the sprite in your First Frame is facing forward, the resulting animation will likely be incorrect.

The "Animate Sprite" tab provides two powerful tools, directly accessible under your keyframe previews, to help you prepare your frames: "Change Pose" and "Open In Editor".

Change Pose

This tool is built specifically for adapting character sprites into new poses. When you click "Change Pose", a modal will appear where you can:

Select a Pose Preset: Choose from a wide range of common game poses (like 'Idle (Right Facing)', 'Walk / Run (Left)', 'Crouching', etc.) to automatically re-orient your character.
Use Additional Instructions: You can also select a base preset and then provide text in the "Additional instructions" box to further refine the pose.
If the provided sprites don't match your desired pose, select "Other" and describe the pose in the prompt box.

Open In Editor

The "Open In Editor" button provides a more general and powerful way to modify your keyframes. This is ideal for making specific changes or touch-ups that "Change Pose" doesn't cover.

Inside the Image Editor, you can use various tools. For instance, selecting the "Full Edit - Smart edit" mode allows you to make precise changes using only text instructions. If you want more precise control, you can select an "Inpaint with Mask" edit mode.

Animating a Sprite

Select the "Animate" tab. If you used the Use as First Frame button, your image will already be loaded here.
Upload or select an image.
- If the tab is empty, you can upload a new image or choose one from your history.
- Tip: The image should contain only the sprite. While the AI removes backgrounds automatically, a clean input often yields better results.
- You can also optionally provide a Final Frame to define the end pose of the animation. Use the Copy First / Copy Final buttons between the two slots to duplicate one keyframe into the other as a starting point.
Select the sprite type. The Animate tab also exposes the Sprite / Sprite VFX / UI Asset selector — pick the one that matches your input so Ludo can apply the right processing.
Describe the animation (optional).
- In the text prompt, describe the action (e.g., "jump," "attack," "glowing pulse").
- You can leave this empty to let the AI infer a natural motion (like breathing or idling) based on the image.
Choose a model and duration. Each model has different speed, cost, and quality trade-offs — see the Choosing a Model section for guidance. Duration is shown as a slider with the values supported by the selected model.
Adjust Animation Margin:
- Auto: Recommended. The AI determines how much space the sprite needs to move.
- Manual: Use this if your sprite gets cut off during large movements (like a sword swing).
- No margin: The input image is not cropped and no margin is added. It is animated exactly as it is.
(Optional) Sprite Sheet Options. You can adjust the sprite sheet options before generation to preview with the right settings. These do not affect the underlying generation and can be re-adjusted for free after the animation completes. See the Sprite Sheet Options section for details.
Click "Animate" to generate the animation.

Transfer Motion

The Transfer Motion feature allows you to take the specific movement from a video or an existing animation and apply it to a static sprite. This is a powerful tool for replicating complex movements or ensuring consistency across different characters.

Use Cases:

Instant Professional Animations: Use the built-in animation presets to instantly apply standard game movements (walk cycles, attacks, deaths) without needing to prompt.
Character Consistency: Create animations for new characters that move exactly like your existing ones.
Skinning: Re-animate the same character model wearing different outfits or holding different weapons.
Real-world Reference: Upload a video of a specific movement (e.g., a person performing a karate kick) and apply that exact motion to your game sprite.

How to Use:

Select the "Transfer Motion" Tab.
Select Source Image: Upload an image or choose a sprite from your Favorites.
- This is the static character or object you want to animate.
- The pose of the character should approximately match the reference animation. For example, if the animation is walking away from the camera (north), the image should have the character facing the back.
Select Reference Animation: Provide the motion you want to transfer to the source image.
- Presets (Recommended): Browse a vast library of game-ready animations to guarantee specific movements.
  - Select Category: Choose from categories like Locomotion, Melee Combat, Defense & Reactions, or Interaction.
  - Choose Animation: Click on a specific move (e.g., "Run Forward," "Sword Slash," "Crouch Walk").
  - Configure Perspective: In the preview window, use the tabs to select your game's camera style: Side, Hero, Isometric, Tactical, or Top-Down.
  - Set Direction: Use the directional wheel to choose exactly which way the character should face and move (e.g., clicking the "SE" arrow for an isometric run towards the bottom-right).
- Upload Video: You can upload a video file from your device.
- Choose from Favorites: Select a previously generated sprite animation or video from your Ludo favorites.
- Video Requirements: For best results, reference videos should be relatively short (up to 5 seconds), have sufficiently high quality (at least 480p), and feature minimal or no background with only the subject present.
Advanced Options: Just like the standard animation tab, you can adjust sprite sheet export parameters. This can be changed later after the animation by re-exporting.
Click "Transfer Motion" to generate the new animation.

The result is a sprite animation that you can preview, download, or export as a sprite sheet, identical to the results from the standard "Animate" tab.

Sprite Sheet Options

Before generating an animation, expand the Sprite Sheet Options menu to control the technical specifications of your output. These options can also be adjusted on existing animations by clicking Adjust Sprite Sheet on the animation card — re-adjusting is free and doesn't re-run the model.

Number of Frames: How many frames the sprite sheet will contain (4, 9, 16, 25, 36, 49, 64).
- Higher numbers create smoother animations but produce larger files.
- This is the maximum — the actual frame count can be lower if the animation duration is short or if Ludo automatically removed low-quality frames.
Sprite Size: Resolution of the sprite within each frame. Options:
- 32, 64, 96, 128, 192, 256, 384 px — Fixed pixel sizes. The frame itself may be slightly larger to accommodate whitespace around the sprite.
- Max — Full resolution of the generated sprite, with no downscaling.
- True Size — Keeps the size and alignment of the input frame. Use this when you need the output to line up exactly with your input (e.g. for re-importing into an existing project). Disables Trim Whitespace.
- Upscale 1.5x — Runs an AI upscaler on the frames for extra resolution. Slower but produces sharper output.
Loop Animation: Toggle ON for repeating movements like walking, running, or idling.
- With both first and final frames: removes the duplicate final frame so the animation loops seamlessly.
- With only a first frame: trims the animation to find the best possible loop point.
- A smooth loop is never guaranteed — the result depends on the motion.
Trim Animation Whitespace: Toggle ON to crop empty transparent space around the sprite. The sprite sheet will be smaller, but frame sizes will vary between animations. Hidden when True Size is selected.

Pixel Art and Sprite Size

For pixel art, the Sprite Size you pick directly determines the pixel grid of the output. To get crisp, "true pixel grid" results, choose a size that matches the resolution you actually want to work in:

64, 96, 128 px — The sweet spot for most pixel art. Produces clean, readable pixel grids suitable for game-engine import.
32 px — Offered for completeness, but typically does not work well. Useful only in specific cases (very simple silhouettes, retro UI icons) where the loss of detail is acceptable.
192, 256, 384 px or higher — Fine for high-resolution pixel art, but the pixels become small enough that the "pixel grid" feel is reduced.

If you generated at a higher resolution but want a pixel-art look, re-export the sprite sheet at a lower Sprite Size — the existing animation can be re-exported for free using Adjust Sprite Sheet, no need to re-run the model.

Viewing and Interacting with Results

After an animation is generated, it appears in the gallery below the input area. Each animation card exposes two distinct sets of controls: an action bar at the bottom of the card and a download menu (three-dot icon).

Video Preview

The default view is a video of the animation on a neutral background. This lets you preview exactly how the animation will look with the selected number of frames. Audio plays automatically when present; use the speaker icon to mute.

Action Bar (bottom of card)

Adjust Sprite Sheet — Re-export the existing animation with different Sprite Sheet Options (frames, size, loop, trim). Free — does not re-run the model.
Change Pose — Opens the Pose editor to modify the initial image of the sprite.
Generate New Animation — Keeps the same static sprite but lets you enter a new animation prompt.
Transfer Motion — Switches to the Transfer Motion tab with the current animation pre-set as the Reference Animation. Use this to apply the same motion to a different sprite.
Generate Transition — Generates a smooth in-between animation that morphs from this animation into another one you select. See the Generate Transition section.
Generate After — Generates a new animation that continues from the last frame of this one. See the Generate Before / Generate After section.
Generate Before — Generates a new animation that ends on the first frame of this one. See the Generate Before / Generate After section.
Generate Audio / Re-generate Audio — Adds (or replaces) a sound effect for the animation. Tap the icon, optionally describe the sound, and submit. See the Generating Audio section.

Download Menu (three-dot icon)

Download Sprite Sheet — PNG of all frames in a grid.
Download First Frame / Download Sprite — PNG of the source still image.
Download Video — MP4 of the animation.
Download GIF — Animated GIF.
Download All Frames — ZIP of individual frame PNGs.
Download Sheet + JSON — Sprite sheet plus a JSON metadata file describing frame layout, useful for game-engine import.
Download Audio — MP3 of the generated audio (only shown when audio exists).
Delete — Removes the animation from your history.

Add to Favorites

The heart icon saves the animated sprite to your Favorites so you can pull it into other tools (e.g. as a Source Image in Transfer Motion).

Exporting Sprite Sheets

There are two ways to export from the Sprite Generator: per-animation downloads, and bundled exports across multiple animations.

Per-Animation Downloads

For a single animation, use the three-dot download menu on its card. This is the fastest way to grab a sprite sheet, video, GIF, individual frames, or a sprite sheet + JSON bundle. See the Viewing and Interacting with Results section for the full list of download options.

The primary game-engine asset is the sprite sheet — a single PNG containing all animation frames arranged in a grid. It can be directly imported into Unity, Godot, Unreal Engine, and most other engines.

Bundled Exports

Above your generated results, the Export button opens a menu with two bundled options:

Animation Pack — Normalize and bundle multiple animations of the same character (e.g. Idle + Run + Attack) into a single export with consistent sizing and ground alignment. See the Exporting Animation Packs section.
Animation Sequence — Chain multiple animations into one continuous clip with automatic frame alignment between them. See the Animation Sequence section.

Both bundled exports let you choose between Pixel Art and Smooth Art styling, so the same source animations can be exported either way without re-running the model.

Generating Audio

You can add sound effects to your animations directly within the tool.

On a generated animation card, click the musical note icon.
An input box will appear. Describe the sound you want to hear.
- Example: "shattering glass sound," "whoosh of a sword swing," "robotic footsteps."
- You can also leave the input box empty. The AI will generate suitable sounds automatically.
Click the arrow to generate. The audio will be added to the video preview.
You can download the audio as a separate MP3 file from the three-dot menu.

Choosing a Model

The Animate and Transfer Motion tabs let you pick which animation model to use. Each model has a different trade-off between predictability and motion quality. There is no single "best" model — when one isn't producing what you want, switching to another is often the fastest fix.

Blitz — The most predictable and stable model. Motion quality is lower than Eagle's, but it rarely deviates from the input. Excellent for basic animations like walking, idling, or simple loops where consistency matters more than dynamism.
Eagle — More capable than Blitz. Handles complex animations well, but can sometimes deviate from the input, zoom in, or introduce visual effects you didn't ask for. Try this when Blitz produces motion that's too stiff or too simple.
Eagle with Audio — Same visual quality as Eagle, but also generates synchronized audio. Your prompt can describe the audio as well as the motion. Useful for animations where sound is part of the action (a sword swing with a whoosh, a coin pickup with a ding), and for talking or singing animations where lip-sync matters.
Chaos — Legacy model, generally not recommended. Kept only for retro-compatibility with older projects and will be removed eventually. Prefer Blitz or Eagle for new work.

Rule of thumb: start with Blitz for everyday movement, jump to Eagle when you need more dynamic motion, and use Eagle with Audio when sound or dialogue is part of the animation. If results look wrong with one model, try the other before re-prompting.

Exporting Animation Packs

An Animation Pack bundles multiple animations of the same character into a comprehensive export for your game engine. This is essential for creating a consistent character moveset — it lets you manually align and resize multiple animations (e.g. Idle, Run, Jump) relative to each other before exporting them as a single bundle.

Click the Export button above your generated results, then choose Animation Pack from the menu.
Select Animations. A gallery appears. Click to select all the animations you want to include in this character's pack (e.g. Idle, Run, Attack).
Align and Resize (Crucial Step).
- The tool displays your selected animations side-by-side.
- Manual Adjustment: Use the controls directly underneath each animation preview to fix alignment issues:
  - Size: Adjust the scale percentage if one animation generated a character that is slightly too small or large compared to the others.
  - Vertical (Y) & Horizontal (X) Offset: Manually shift the sprite up, down, left, or right. Use this to ensure the character's feet plant on the same "ground line" across all animations.
  - Snap: Quickly re-center the sprite in the frame.
Configure Export Settings.
- Choose whether you want a ZIP of sprite sheets or a ZIP of individual frame images.
- Toggle between Smooth Art and Pixel Art to control the visual styling of the exported frames.
Click "Export Animation Pack" to download a ZIP containing perfectly aligned sprite sheets (or frames) for every selected animation.

Animation Sequence

An Animation Sequence chains multiple separate animations into one continuous clip, with frames aligned automatically between them. Use this when you want to present a character's full moveset as a single demo, or to build a complete in-game action by stitching shorter clips together (e.g. crouch → aim → fire → reload).

This is different from an Animation Pack — a Pack exports each animation as its own sprite sheet for use in a game engine, while a Sequence merges them into a single output.

How to Use:

Click the Export button above your generated results and choose Animation Sequence.
Select Animations. Pick the animations you want to chain together, in the order they should play.
Review and Adjust. The tool aligns the end of each animation with the start of the next. You can adjust the order and per-animation export settings.
Configure Export Settings. Choose ZIP of sprite sheets or ZIP of individual frames, and toggle between Smooth Art and Pixel Art.
Click "Export Animation Sequence" to download the result.

Generate Transition

The Generate Transition tool (also called "tweening") fills in the gap between two existing animations by generating an in-between animation that morphs from the last frame of one into the first frame of another. This is ideal for connecting moveset states smoothly — e.g. linking an idle into a run, or a block into a counter-attack.

How to Use:

On any generated animation card, open the action bar and click Generate Transition.
Select Target Animation. A gallery appears. Pick the animation you want to transition into.
Choose Direction. Use the A → B / B → A toggle to choose which animation is the source and which is the destination. This lets you generate the transition both ways without having to start over.
Generate. The result appears as a new animation in your gallery, ready to be combined with the originals in a Sequence or Pack.

The source and target animations must each have a usable first/last frame — the action only appears on animations where Ludo has those frames available.

Generate Before / Generate After

Generate Before and Generate After extend an existing animation in time, either forwards or backwards, by using its first or last frame as a new keyframe.

Generate After — Uses the last frame of the current animation as the first frame of a new one. Use this to continue an action (e.g. after a jump up, generate a land).
Generate Before — Uses the first frame of the current animation as the last frame of a new one. Use this to build up into an action (e.g. before an attack, generate a windup).

How to Use:

Open the action bar on an animation card and click Generate After or Generate Before.
The Animate tab opens pre-loaded with the appropriate keyframe in place.
Adjust the prompt, model, and settings as needed, then generate.

Combined with Generate Transition, this lets you build long, multi-stage animation sequences entirely from short generated clips.