In this tutorial, I explain how I cheat with Blender to create 2d animated sprites very quickly.

Summary of the workflow :

I created and rigged a 3d model of the character in Blender with exagerated features so it would pixelize well. Then I created the 8 frames walking animation and I change the camera 45 degre with each loop.

I use "Freestyle" to create the outer lines and a composite shader to get the pixelized effect.

Then I render all the frames and I use Aseprite to do the clean up and add things like the eyes.



If this interest you, here is what I did to learn how to do this with blender :

1 I followed the whole donut tutorial :    • Blender 2.8 Beginner Tutorial  Part 1   Its a high quality tutorial, well explained, it gives a glimpse of the whole Blender workflow.

2I followed the chair tutorial :    • Blender Beginner Modelling Tutorial ...   Same Youtuber but this tutorial is very modeling oriented.

3 I Followed some character modeling tutorials. There is a shitload of them on youtube. The one I ended up watching the most is this one :    • How to Model a Low Poly Character in ...   Its low poly, and its style seemed perfect to pixelize.

4 I watched this tutorial on how to make hair :    • Easiest Way To Create Hair in Blender...   Thats how I made the hair and the cape falling behind my character.

5 I watched this tutorial on how to pixelize my renders :    • I Am A Pixel Art Master   I was so impressed with the result, this is how I will save thousands of hours on making my game.

6 I did this tutorial to learn how to weight and rig my character :    • Rigging a Low Poly Person | Blender 2...  

7 And those ones to learn how to use IK for legs and arms animation : (legs)    • Blender 2.8 Inverse Kinematics In 2 M...   (arms)    • Blender 2.82 : Inverse Kinematics In ...  

8 As for the cloths and accessories, Im using some tricks shown in this video :    • How To attach Clothes to A Rigged Cha...  

9 Finally, I tried many techniques to do the outline, many of witch was far too complex for me and overkill for a render that will be pixelized anyway. So I ended up using Freestyle, using this tutorial to learn how :    • 5 Cool Tips with Freestyle in Blender  ,

My first attempt was ok : https://imgur.com/a/xzjHE9R My second attempt was better : https://imgur.com/a/1xhLh1A Then I practice making clothes which ended up looking like garbage bag : https://imgur.com/a/CpXlqdr But the pixelize effect was already convincing : https://imgur.com/a/ZoGhr59 https://imgur.com/a/sEIAwLz Then I started working on my character with what I learned : https://imgur.com/a/9rIoz4q https://imgur.com/a/EmjCood

And it ended up like this : https://imgur.com/a/iXpPDzQ

And I find it looked great with the pixelize effect : https://imgur.com/a/DstwzsS

After that I used Aseprite to touch up the 2d sprite.

Have a great day everyone!

#Blender
#Tutorial
#PixelArt