Animate a Sprite

Turn any pixel art sprite into a custom animation.

/animate takes a single sprite and a motion description, and gives you back a spritesheet. It works with characters, objects, and environment pieces.

Requirements

  • • Source sprite must be pixel art
  • • 256×256 px or smaller
  • • Aspect ratio between 128×256 and 256×128
1

Pick the sprite

Choose the sprite you want to animate from your existing assets. Only sprites that fit the size constraints will show up here.

Animate asset picker
2

Reframe if needed

Add margin around the sprite and snap it to a position. This gives the motion room to breathe. Useful for windups, tall props, or floating objects.

Keep margin low. The model works best when the sprite fills most of the frame. Only add space when the motion actually needs it, like a jump that needs headroom or a swing that extends past the original bounds.
Framing controls
3

Describe the motion

Use a preset (Idle, Jump, Walk, Run, Attack) or write your own prompt. Custom prompts are where /animate really shines. You can ask for exactly the motion you need.

Prompts that work well:

  • "tree sways gently in the wind"
  • "furnace flame flickers and breathes"
  • "chest opens slowly"
  • "mage raises staff and releases a burst"

Enhance prompt is on by default. It expands short prompts into something more detailed for you. Start short and let it do the work.

You can also set the frame count and background removal mode before running the job.

Prompt and settings controls

Background removal

Basic

Standard cleanup pipeline. Works for most cases.

Pro

Stronger AI removal for cleaner edges. Better for complex shapes.

Examples

A few idle animations made with /animate:

Tree idle
Tree idle
Furnace idle
Furnace idle
Bellows idle
Bellows idle
Blacksmith idle
Blacksmith idle

/animate vs /characters

Use /animate when:

  • • You need one specific motion
  • • The thing isn't a character (props, environment, UI)
  • • You want full control over the prompt

Use /characters when:

  • • You want a full animation set
  • • Starting from a text prompt
  • • Building a character from scratch

Make sure the base sprite already matches the perspective you want. Front-facing? Animate it front-facing. Top-down? Keep it top-down.

Open AnimateCreate a Character