How to make an 8-direction sprite sheet with AI

To make an 8-direction sprite sheet with AI, render one character image from 8 camera angles 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 (the Change View panel) renders the character from 8 compass views, S, SE, E, NE, N, NW, W and SW (S faces the camera), at an eye-level, elevated or high-angle camera. There are then two ways to get the animations. Send each view through Transfer Motion with an animation preset set to the matching compass direction, one direction per generation (presets are for humanoid characters). Or make one animation, such as a walk, and use New Direction to re-render that same animation facing each of the other angles, keeping its motion and timing. Export > Animation Pack then gives the 8 animations one frame size and a shared ground line. Want all 8 directions rendered at once instead? [Directional Sprites](/features/directional-sprites) builds a 3D model from a description or from your own character image (redrawn as a 3D render) and renders the directions so they line up.

This guide uses the AI Sprite Generator.

Last updated November 2026

1. 1Add the character

   Open the Sprite Generator, open the Generation Mode menu, choose Transfer Motion and put the character in the Sprite Image slot, uploaded or picked from sprites you generated in New Sprite mode. Every rotated view is rendered from this image, so start from your cleanest version of the character.

2. 2Rotate it to 8 views

   Under the image click Change Pose and open the View tab, which shows the Change View panel. 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.

3. 3Match each view to a compass direction

   Pair each view with the preset direction of the same name. The View tab names its 8 views by compass direction, as the presets do (S faces the camera, E faces right, N shows the back), so the S view goes with the preset's S direction, SE with SE, and so on. Check one 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.

4. 4Pick the preset, perspective and direction

   In Reference Animation, click Animation Clips, 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 mode's First Frame and describe the motion.

5. 5Lock the sheet settings

   Under Sprite Sheet Options, set Max Frames (4 to 64), Sprite Size and Loop Animation once. If your account shows Trim Animation Whitespace, leave it off, since trimmed frames change size from one animation to the next; accounts without the toggle get trimmed frames (except with True Size), and the Animation Pack export in the last step evens the sizes out. Keep these, the model, the duration and the perspective identical for all 8 directions.

6. 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.

7. 7Or turn a finished animation with New Direction

   Once one direction exists, for example the front-facing walk, you can skip the presets for the rest. Open the result's actions and click New Direction (or choose New Direction in the Generation Mode menu and pick the sheet). The motion and timing of that sheet are kept; only the direction changes. In First Frame, click Copy Source Frame, then Change Direction, which opens the View tab, render the character from the new angle and click Use in Animation. The first frame must be a turned view: generating stays blocked while it is still the source's own frame. Optionally add a Final Frame (it defaults to the first frame, which suits loops) and instructions such as "its back to the camera". Pick Hydra or Hydra+ (finer detail), set the Duration (3 to 5 seconds, starting at the source animation's length) and click Generate New Direction. Repeat from the same source animation for each remaining angle, and check every result: a re-render can drift from the source, so generate that angle again or fall back to a preset for it.

8. 8Fix 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. Fix Loop and Zoom Out repair a bad loop or a sprite leaving the frame, and on a Hydra sheet Improve Details re-renders it with finer detail.

9. 9Export the 8 directions as one pack

   Click Export > Animation Pack and select the 8 animations. The pack gives every animation the same frame size (type a width and height into Frame Size, or leave it blank for automatic) 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.