How to make an 8-direction sprite sheet with AI
To make an 8-direction sprite sheet with AI, rotate one character image to 8 views 45 degrees apart, animate each view in the direction it faces, and keep all 8 animations on identical settings so the sheets line up. In Ludo.ai's Sprite Generator, Change Pose > View renders the character from Front, Front-Right, Right, Back-Right, Back, Back-Left, Left or Front-Left at an eye-level, elevated or high-angle camera. Each view then goes through Transfer Motion with an animation preset set to the matching compass direction, one direction per generation; presets are for humanoid characters, so animate anything else from a reference video or a text description. Export > Animation Pack then gives the 8 animations one frame size and a shared ground line.
Last updated September 2026
What you need
- One image of the character: a single subject on a transparent background, generated or uploaded as a sprite
- A humanoid character for the animation presets, or a reference video or text description of the motion for any other body shape
- The camera your game uses (side, isometric, top-down and so on), so every direction gets the same elevation and perspective
1Add the character
Open the Sprite Generator, go to the Transfer Motion tab and put the character in the Sprite Image slot, uploaded or picked from sprites you generated in New Sprite. Every rotated view is rendered from this image, so start from your cleanest version of the character.
2Rotate it to 8 views
Under the image click Change Pose and open the View tab. Pick an Angle on the compass and an Elevation (Eye-level, Elevated, High, or Keep to leave the current camera tilt), then click Generate. Repeat for all 8 angles from the same source image and the same elevation; the results stay listed in the window, and each try comes out different, so regenerate any view where the design drifts.
3Match each view to a compass direction
Pair each view with the preset direction it faces. The View tab names views by where the camera sits (Front faces the camera, Right shows the right side, Back faces away), while presets use compass directions, so in the usual top-down convention, where S faces the viewer, Front is S, Front-Right is SE, Right is E, Back-Right is NE, Back is N, Back-Left is NW, Left is W and Front-Left is SW. Check the pairing against the preset's video preview for your perspective before generating all 8. The Sprite Image should face the same way as the reference motion, so before each generation click Use in Animation on the view for that direction; it replaces the image in the slot.
4Pick the preset, perspective and direction
In Reference Animation, click Presets, choose the motion, pick one perspective (Tactical, Side, Isometric, Hero or Top-Down) and the direction that matches the view, then click Use This Animation. Presets are for humanoid characters only; for a creature or vehicle, add a reference video of the motion in that direction instead, or put the view in the Animate tab's First Frame and describe the motion.
5Lock the sheet settings
Under Sprite Sheet Options, set Max Frames (4 to 64), Sprite Size and Loop Animation once, and leave Trim Animation Whitespace off, since trimmed frames change size from one animation to the next. Keep these, the model, the duration and the perspective identical for all 8 directions.
6Generate one direction at a time
Click Transfer Motion to render the first direction. For the next one, apply the next view with Change Pose > Use in Animation, switch the preset to the matching direction with the arrows under the Reference Animation slot, and generate again until all 8 exist.
7Fix any sheet that does not match
If one sheet came out with different frames, size or loop, Adjust Sprite Sheet re-cuts it from the same animation without generating again. If the motion itself is wrong, regenerate that direction or use Edit Animation to describe the change.
8Export the 8 directions as one pack
Click Export > Animation Pack and select the 8 animations. The pack gives every animation the same Export Frame Size and a shared ground line (Global Ground Offset), and the overlap preview stacks them so you can nudge any one with Size, Vertical and Horizontal. Export as Spritesheets, Spritesheets + JSON or Individual Frames, with Pixel Art scaling for pixel sprites.
Specs
| Rotation angles | 8 views in 45 degree steps: Front (0), Front-Right (45), Right (90), Back-Right (135), Back (180), Back-Left (-135), Left (-90), Front-Left (-45); the compass pairing (Front = S and so on) is the common top-down convention, not a setting |
|---|---|
| Camera elevations | Eye-level (0 degrees), Elevated (30), High-angle (60), or keep the sprite's current elevation |
| Rotation output | The same character and pose from the new camera view, as a still image; sprite image types only; 1 to 4 variations per API call |
| Preset directions | 8 compass directions (N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, NW), one direction and one perspective per generation |
| Frames per sheet | 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, 49 or 64 (square grids) |
| Frame size | 32, 64, 96, 128, 192, 256 or 384 px, or Max, True Size, Upscale 1.5x |
| Trim whitespace | Off by default; on, it crops frames to the content, which gives inconsistent frame sizes across animations |
| Animation Pack export | One frame size for every animation in the pack, a shared ground line, per-animation size and offset adjustment |
Tips
- Generate all 8 views from the original image rather than rotating a rotated view, so small changes do not stack up from one angle to the next.
- Use one elevation and one preset perspective for every direction. Mixing an eye-level view with an elevated one makes the character look like it changes size or tilts when it turns.
- Presets are humanoid-only. For quadrupeds, creatures and vehicles, animate each rotated view from a reference video of the motion in that direction, or describe the motion in the Animate tab.
- A 4-direction set is the same workflow with Front, Right, Back and Left only (S, E, N and W in the top-down convention).
- If the character is symmetrical, your engine can flip the E, NE and SE animations horizontally to get W, NW and SW. Generate all 8 when details such as a weapon hand or a side-parted cape must stay on the correct side.
FAQ
How many generations does an 8-direction sprite sheet take?
8 animations, one per direction, each from its own rotated view of the character. The 8 views come from 8 rotations of the same source image, and any view or direction that comes out wrong can be generated again on its own.
Can I animate all 8 directions from one front-facing image?
Rotate first. The Sprite Image should face the same way as the reference motion, so a front-facing image paired with an E or N preset tends to animate incorrectly. Change Pose > View gives you the matching view for each direction before you generate.
Which elevation should I use for isometric or top-down games?
Pick the elevation that looks closest to your game's camera, check it against the preset preview for the perspective you chose, and then keep that elevation for all 8 views. Keep leaves the elevation of your source image unchanged, which suits art that is already drawn for your camera.
What if my character is not humanoid?
The animation presets are made for humanoid characters. For other body shapes, add a video of the motion in the Reference Animation slot for each direction, or put each rotated view in the Animate tab's First Frame and describe the motion, such as "trotting".
How do I keep the 8 sheets aligned?
Use the same Max Frames, Sprite Size, model, duration and perspective for all 8, and leave Trim Animation Whitespace off. Then export them together with Export > Animation Pack, which gives every animation one frame size and a shared ground line and lets you adjust any single one.
How do I use the 8 sheets in a game engine?
Import each direction as its own animation, such as walk_n, walk_ne and so on, and switch between them from the movement vector in code. In Godot, for example, each sheet becomes one animation in an AnimatedSprite2D; see how to import sprite sheets into your game engine for each engine.
Related
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