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 Front, Front-Right, Right, Back-Right, Back, Back-Left, Left or Front-Left 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. Starting a new character from a description instead? [Directional Sprites](/features/directional-sprites) builds a 3D model of it and renders all 8 directions at once.
Last updated October 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; New Direction works from any finished animation
- 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, 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.
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. Each view uses image credits: 0.5 credits per view, included in Pro and Studio's unlimited image generation in the web app. 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 mode'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. 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.
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.
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 (3 credits per second) or Hydra+ (4 credits per second, 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.
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, for free. 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.
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.
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; 0.5 credits per result |
| New Direction | Re-renders a finished animation from a new view with the same motion and timing; the new first frame is the character as it must appear in that view, an optional final frame defaults to the first; Hydra (3 credits per second) or Hydra+ (4), 3 to 5 seconds |
| Preset directions | 8 compass directions (N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, NW), one direction and one perspective per generation |
| Frames per sheet | Max Frames options: 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, 49 or 64 |
| Frame size | 32, 64, 96, 128, 192, 256 or 384 px, or Max, True Size, Upscale 1.5x |
| Trim whitespace | Crops frames to the content, which gives inconsistent frame sizes across animations; the API default is on, and the app's Trim Animation Whitespace toggle is shown only to accounts registered on or before 2026-09-17 (newer accounts get the default) |
| Animation Pack export | One frame size for every animation in the pack (editable width and height, blank for automatic), 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 Animate mode.
- New Direction does not use presets, so you can also try it on creatures and vehicles: animate one direction any way you like, then turn that animation to the other angles and check each result.
- 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
Should I use presets or New Direction for the other directions?
Presets give each direction its own motion, rendered for the perspective and compass direction you pick, and are for humanoid characters. New Direction takes a finished animation and re-renders it facing another way, keeping its motion and timing, so the 8 sheets share one performance, and it does not depend on a humanoid preset. It costs 3 credits per second on Hydra or 4 on Hydra+, and a re-render can drift, so review each direction and regenerate or switch that one to a preset if it does.
How many generations does an 8-direction sprite sheet take?
8 animations, one per direction, each from its own rotated view of the character (with New Direction, 1 original animation plus 7 re-renders). 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 mode'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, if your account shows Trim Animation Whitespace, leave it 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
More guides for Sprite Generator
- How to make a walk cycle for a 2D character with AIApply a walk preset to one character image, pick perspective and direction, export a looping sheet.
- How to turn a character image into an animated sprite sheet with AIAnimate one character image into a sprite sheet using a prompt, keyframes, a preset or a reference video.
- How to make and animate pixel art sprites with AIGenerate in a pixel art style, animate with Forge Pixel, export with nearest-neighbor scaling.
- How to make VFX sprites for explosions, magic and hits with AIGenerate an effect as a Sprite VFX still, animate it as a loop or a one-shot, export frames with alpha.
- How to make a tileset for a 2D game with AIGenerate map tiles and tiling sprites in one style and perspective, then build the tileset in your engine.
- How to import AI sprite sheets into Unity, Godot, GameMaker, RPG Maker and PhaserPick the right download, then slice the sheet's grid or load the TexturePacker JSON in your engine.