The Character Designer is a dedicated tool for creating pixel art character sprites. It combines AI image generation with the built-in Image Editor to produce game-ready character assets.

Accessing the Character Designer¶

Click Character Designer in the sidebar. A project must be active and an AI provider configured before you can generate characters.

Creating a Character¶

Step 1: Describe Your Character¶

Fill in the character details form on the left panel:

• Character Name (required) -- The name of the character (e.g., "Adventure Hero", "Forest Guardian").
• Description (required) -- A detailed description of the character's appearance, clothing, equipment, and distinctive features. Be specific about visual elements you want.
• Style Notes (optional) -- Additional style direction, art references, or specific details not covered by the project's style guide.

Step 2: Choose a Resolution¶

A Resolution dropdown appears above the reference image checkbox. It lists the available square resolutions (16x16 through 256x256). The option matching the project's Character Resolution default (set in Project Settings) is marked with (project default).

You can select a different resolution for this generation without affecting the project setting. The override applies only to the current generation and is not saved.

Step 3: Use Reference Images (Optional)¶

If you have uploaded a Character Reference image in Project Settings, a checkbox labeled Use project reference image appears below the form. Enable this to send the reference image alongside the prompt, helping the AI match the visual style of your reference.

Step 4: Generate¶

Click Generate Character to send the prompt to the AI provider selected in Project Settings. Generation typically takes 10-30 seconds. The result appears in the AI Image tab on the right panel.

Step 5: Process the Image¶

The generated image needs to be converted to pixel art:

1. AI Image tab -- Adjust the Grid size slider until the overlay grid aligns with the pixel boundaries visible in the image. Set the desired Colors count (8-64). Click Get Pixel Perfect to run the pixel snap and color quantization.

2. Image Editor tab -- The processed pixel art appears here with its extracted palette. You can:

3. Paint individual pixels with the Pencil tool
4. Remove pixels with the Eraser tool
5. Edit palette colors by double-clicking swatches
6. Merge similar colors with Shift+click
7. Mirror, nudge, scale, or resize the sprite from the Image menu
8. Set the Transparent Color to designate which color becomes transparent

9. Click Generate Preview to see the character with transparency applied

10. Preview tab -- View the character sprite with transparency on different backgrounds (pink, or sample background images). Use zoom controls to inspect the result at various sizes.

Step 6: Save¶

Click Save Pixel Art at the bottom of the panel. This saves three versions of the image:

• Original -- The raw AI-generated image
• Processed -- The pixel-snapped and palette-quantized version
• Alpha -- The version with transparency applied (for non-background assets)

The character is also registered in the database and appears in the Asset Browser.

Editing an Existing Character¶

You can re-edit any saved character:

1. Open the Asset Browser and click on a character asset.
2. Click Edit Asset in the detail popup.
3. The Character Designer opens in edit mode with the existing images loaded.
4. Make changes in the Image Editor tab.
5. Click Update Asset to save your changes.

Creating a Variant¶

To get a new version of an existing character (a different outfit, a palette swap, a damaged state), open the character in the Asset Browser and click Create Variant. The Character Designer opens in variant mode:

• The name is pre-filled as "Original name Variant" and a thumbnail of the source sprite is shown with the label Variant of: ….
• Describe only what should change in the Description field.
• Click Generate Variant. The source sprite is sent to the provider as the reference image, so the result keeps the original design.
• Process and save as usual. The new asset is tagged variant and remembers which asset it came from.

See Asset Browser: Create Variant.

Character Data¶

Each saved character stores:

• Original, processed, and alpha image files
• Palette data (colors and pixel counts)
• Grid size and dimensions metadata
• The prompt used for generation
• Tags for search and filtering

Characters created here can be used in the Pose Editor and the Spritesheet Generator to generate animation frames, and in the Spritesheet Editor to build spritesheets.