3D Models to 2D Sprites

[Bahaa]

Hey guys, anyone happens to know of a way to convert 3D Models into 2D Sprites? I found some assets online, and I want to convert them to 2D Sprites to get matching textures for them, and I can really use some help (I’m thinking photoshop, but I wanted to hear from others as well)

[Brian_Trotter]

• You could import the fbx model into Blender, and then render the scene with the sprite…

• You could create an empty scene in Unity with a black background and position the model where you want it in front of the camera, then take a screenshot of the Game view (I would then go into Gimp or Photoshop to touch things up).

• If you wanted animations, you could use this empty scene with the Recorder package (Package Manager | Unity Registry | Recorder) where you can record video, gifs, or a sequence of shots.

[Bahaa]

@Brian_Trotter

You could import the fbx model into Blender, and then render the scene with the sprite…

I’ll give this a try today after work

[Bahaa]

@Brian_Trotter

You could create an empty scene in Unity with a black background and position the model where you want it in front of the camera, then take a screenshot of the Game view (I would then go into Gimp or Photoshop to touch things up).

I’m trying this one… how do you get the background to be transparent for the icons though? (I’m trying it with affinity photo, since I have the software)

[Bahaa]

OK so I found a unique formula for what I want to do, figured I’d share it with everyone here as well:

1. Buy/download the model you want to convert from 3D to 2D, and place it in a brand new Unity scene. Choose your camera, and then on the top left corner, choose ‘GameObject’ → ‘Allign with View’

2. In your camera inspector, change the color from ‘skybox’ to solid color, and change it to white

3. Use the snipping tool (for Windows users), and take a snip of how you want your weapon to appear

4. Go to this website - Upload Image – remove.bg - and allow it to make the background transparent. It does an incredibly good job at that

5. Download the image and import it to Unity, and then change the Texture Type to “Sprite (2D and UI)”. Finally, bump the pixels per unit up (for me it’s 300, to compensate for the data loss), and change the ‘compression’ to none

6. Enjoy

Here’s my first model following this strategy (I figured a small sword would look tiny in the inventory, so I got a little edgy):

[Breagha]

I helped a friend set up something like this in Blender not long ago. It would get you the sprites, but I figure the Unity approch might get you more freedom?

Anyway, we set up the camera to orthographic with a lightsource. Tracked the camera to an empty, so anything inside the boundary of the empty would always be in centre and made the camera follow a circle around the centre, if you wanted to make sprites for animation. Set animation to 8 frames and the camera to stop at every 8th angle, so you’d get front, back, both sides, both 3/4s and both 1/4s. A plane with a holdout-material, parented to the camera and behind the model, will get you the alpha background.

I’m uncertain if it’s allowed to share files here, but if nobody minds, I can link you the .blend file.

Edit:
So I don’t really see anything in the rules about not linking files, so here

[Bahaa]

I really love the solution. My question is, what’s the best way to represent sprites? As in, I want to show it off in the best way possible, but as an Inventory Slot UI Sprite (again, my previous sword attempt was a rough one, but I think there could be better angles to display something like a sprite, for a limited size like an inventory slot for example)

[Brian_Trotter]

@Bahaa

My question is, what’s the best way to represent sprites? As in, I want to show it off in the best way possible, but as an Inventory Slot UI Sprite

I missed that there was still a follow up here, but TBH, I’m not even sure what the “best way possible” would be You’ll need to experiment with lighting and camera angles until you find a view that looks best for you.
You can also use social media with different shots of equipment and use polls to get a sort of “wisdom of the crowd” to see what works best… or show images to friends and family.

[Bahaa]

That would work, but I’m more worried about the angles of the items. I don’t know what would be the best angle for swords, shields, etc to get them to really pop in the players’ inventory and tempt him to use the weapon… Felt like my inventory slots were a bit too small, idk… Anyway, it’s all going to be tested once I’m back on track (as soon as I’m done with the crazy functions I want in my game. Some of them will probably end up being tuned replicas of systems we developed at one point in time, or at least I hope that’ll be the case)