Pixel3D - Turn Your Pixel Art into Voxelized 3D Shapes! [RELEASED]

Free Version - Coming Soon!

Spoiler: Version 1.3 Changelog

• Added proper scripting access for pixel variables (size, layer offset, scale, etc).

What is Pixel3D?

Pixel3D is a simple component that attaches to Unity's built-in 2D sprite object, and turns your 2D pixelart sprites into stylized 3D shapes! Just add the component to your sprite, and press play.

Pixel3D supports frame-by-frame animation, and allows you to create awesome voxel-like effects!

Download now in the Asset Store!
Check out the WebGL Demo!

Why would I use this?

Because you want to set your Pixel Art creations apart from all others!


I have questions/comments/feedback!

We want to hear from you! Please contact us at info@cwinteractive.com

LIMITATIONS

Individual sprites should be no larger than 128x128, but packed spritesheets can be larger.

​

 

I'm excited to announce that I have tested an early prototype of a free version! The free version will be a fully-featured alternative for hobbyists who do not need access to the source code.



I'm looking forward to posting Pixel3D Free, and getting feedback!

 

Wow. what magic is this!!

 

Cool. Looks fun.

 

No magic, just a fun little project! Can't wait to get some feedback from users.

 

Version 1.2 Released!

In this release:

• Fixed bug where non-center pivot point caused the 3D sprite to be offset
• Fixed bug where sprite was offset improperly when sprite's localScale != 1

Thanks so much to superdbop on REDDIT for finding a pivot point bug!

 

Version 1.3 Released!

With this version come some enhancements to scripting the pixel attributes!

I have made a WebGL build to show it off. Take a look, and let me know what you think!

Check it out here!

For those interested, there were a specific set of requirements to get this working in WebGL:

• WebGL is set to the lowest quality setting by default. In quality settings, texture resolution must be full-res to work.
• Sprites must be imported non-compressed. I used Automatic Truecolor.
• WebGL chugged pretty hard with SSAO, so I had to remove it for the demo.

 

Hello! This asset looks really great!

In addition to runtime, is it possible to use it in the editor to export an object?

 

That is not a feature of my plugin, but you could theoretically do this! Here's a wiki article to get you started!

Steps:

• Copy that script to a new script in your Assets/Editor directory.
• Set up your sprites to work appropriately with Pixel3D.
• Press play.
• In the Hierarchy panel, select the sprite you want to export.
• Select File/Export/Wavefront OBJ (No Submeshes).

However, this does not save the materials that were assigned to the pixels. You will probably need to manually re-assign these in your desired 3D application. This will also not save any animations (should be self-explanatory).

 

Thank you very much! I bought your asset.

I've been testing and ExportOBJ not work accurately. I mean, each pixel does not measure the same when I load the .obj file in another program for editing.

 

Interesting. I gave it a try, and it seemed to be working, but as I said this is not a feature of my plugin... Could you upload a screenshot, and I'll see if I can help?

 

Well, the first is that ExportOBJ is not compatible with Unity5 and need to upgrade. I used the automatic update of Unity.

Then if I use Wavefront OBJ (No submeshes) exports me this:




If I remove the objects that are invisible, leaving only the figure of the sprite, exports me this:




As you can see, it creates something rare. Each cubes of the sprite seem to be hollow, that is, it does not have its six walls:




If I import it into a program like MagicaVoxel, you can see it is not a sprite which each pixel is the same size:

 

This isn't a big deal, a lot of scripts require this now due to major changes to Unity... shouldn't affect the outcome much.

Ah, you know, I hadn't considered this! [I have not tested this yet] In the ObjExporter, you could do the following to keep those transparent pixels from being exported:

Code (CSharp):

1.     static string processTransform(Transform t, bool makeSubmeshes)
2.     {
3.         StringBuilder meshString = new StringBuilder();
4.      
5.         // Add new local variables
6.         Transform child;
7.         Material childMat;
8.      
9.         meshString.Append("#" + t.name
10.                         + "\n#-------"
11.                         + "\n");
12.  
13.         if (makeSubmeshes)
14.         {
15.             meshString.Append("g ").Append(t.name).Append("\n");
16.         }
17.  
18.         MeshFilter mf = t.GetComponent<MeshFilter>();
19.         if (mf)
20.         {
21.             meshString.Append(ObjExporterScript.MeshToString(mf, t));
22.         }
23.  
24.         for(int i = 0; i < t.childCount; i++)
25.         {
26.             // Don't export invisible children
27.             child = t.GetChild(i);
28.             childMat = child.renderer.material;
29.          
30.             if(childMat.color.a != 0){
31.                 meshString.Append(processTransform(child, makeSubmeshes));
32.             }
33.         }
34.  
35.         return meshString.ToString();
36.     }

It looks like those normals are reversed. The cubes have 6 sides, as you can see in your MagicaVoxel screenshot; however, for some reason Unity is displaying them backwards. You could try editing the .obj's import settings. Set the Normals to "Calculate", and apply. See what happens.

This particular program I am unfamiliar with. You may want to post a question on the MagicaVoxel forums, and see what people have to say. I hope I have helped!

 

I tried that and not fixed, but do not worry.

Thank you very much for the help.

 

You know, it had me stumped so bad, I couldn't resist finding the problem!

I have it working now in Maya and in Unity (left and right below). The problem was that the ObjExporter in the wiki was writing the vertices in -Z direction. They were also writing normals the wrong direction too, it appears.



Here's my full ObjExporter class:

Code (CSharp):

1. using UnityEngine;
2. using UnityEditor;
3. using System.Collections;
4. using System.IO;
5. using System.Text;
6.  
7. public class ObjExporterScript
8. {
9.     private static int StartIndex = 0;
10.  
11.     public static void Start()
12.     {
13.         StartIndex = 0;
14.     }
15.     public static void End()
16.     {
17.         StartIndex = 0;
18.     }
19.  
20.  
21.     public static string MeshToString(MeshFilter mf, Transform t)
22.     {  
23.         Vector3 s         = t.localScale;
24.         Vector3 p         = t.localPosition;
25.         Quaternion r     = t.localRotation;
26.      
27.      
28.         int numVertices = 0;
29.         Mesh m = mf.sharedMesh;
30.         if (!m)
31.         {
32.             return "####Error####";
33.         }
34.         Material[] mats = mf.GetComponent<Renderer>().sharedMaterials;
35.      
36.         StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
37.      
38.         foreach(Vector3 vv in m.vertices)
39.         {
40.             Vector3 v = t.TransformPoint(vv);
41.             numVertices++;
42.             sb.Append(string.Format("v {0} {1} {2}\n",v.x,v.y,v.z));
43.         }
44.         sb.Append("\n");
45.         foreach(Vector3 nn in m.normals)
46.         {
47.             Vector3 v = r * nn;
48.             sb.Append(string.Format("vn {0} {1} {2}\n",v.x,v.y,v.z));
49.         }
50.         sb.Append("\n");
51.         foreach(Vector3 v in m.uv)
52.         {
53.             sb.Append(string.Format("vt {0} {1}\n",v.x,v.y));
54.         }
55.         for (int material=0; material < m.subMeshCount; material ++)
56.         {
57.             sb.Append("\n");
58.             sb.Append("usemtl ").Append(mats[material].name).Append("\n");
59.             sb.Append("usemap ").Append(mats[material].name).Append("\n");
60.          
61.             int[] triangles = m.GetTriangles(material);
62.             for (int i=0;i<triangles.Length;i+=3) {
63.                 sb.Append(string.Format("f {0}/{0}/{0} {1}/{1}/{1} {2}/{2}/{2}\n",
64.                                         triangles[i]+1+StartIndex, triangles[i+1]+1+StartIndex, triangles[i+2]+1+StartIndex));
65.             }
66.         }
67.      
68.         StartIndex += numVertices;
69.         return sb.ToString();
70.     }
71. }
72.  
73. public class ObjExporter : ScriptableObject
74. {
75.     [MenuItem ("File/Export/Wavefront OBJ")]
76.     static void DoExportWSubmeshes()
77.     {
78.         DoExport(true);
79.     }
80.  
81.     [MenuItem ("File/Export/Wavefront OBJ (No Submeshes)")]
82.     static void DoExportWOSubmeshes()
83.     {
84.         DoExport(false);
85.     }
86.  
87.  
88.     static void DoExport(bool makeSubmeshes)
89.     {
90.         if (Selection.gameObjects.Length == 0)
91.         {
92.             Debug.Log("Didn't Export Any Meshes; Nothing was selected!");
93.             return;
94.         }
95.      
96.         string meshName = Selection.gameObjects[0].name;
97.         string fileName = EditorUtility.SaveFilePanel("Export .obj file", "", meshName, "obj");
98.      
99.         ObjExporterScript.Start();
100.      
101.         StringBuilder meshString = new StringBuilder();
102.      
103.         meshString.Append("#" + meshName + ".obj"
104.                           + "\n#" + System.DateTime.Now.ToLongDateString()
105.                           + "\n#" + System.DateTime.Now.ToLongTimeString()
106.                           + "\n#-------"
107.                           + "\n\n");
108.      
109.         Transform t = Selection.gameObjects[0].transform;
110.      
111.         Vector3 originalPosition = t.position;
112.         t.position = Vector3.zero;
113.      
114.         if (!makeSubmeshes)
115.         {
116.             meshString.Append("g ").Append(t.name).Append("\n");
117.         }
118.         meshString.Append(processTransform(t, makeSubmeshes));
119.      
120.         WriteToFile(meshString.ToString(),fileName);
121.      
122.         t.position = originalPosition;
123.      
124.         ObjExporterScript.End();
125.         Debug.Log("Exported Mesh: " + fileName);
126.     }
127.  
128.     static string processTransform(Transform t, bool makeSubmeshes)
129.     {
130.         StringBuilder meshString = new StringBuilder();
131.      
132.         // Add new local variables
133.         Transform child;
134.         GameObject childGO;
135.      
136.         meshString.Append("#" + t.name
137.                           + "\n#-------"
138.                           + "\n");
139.      
140.         if (makeSubmeshes)
141.         {
142.             meshString.Append("g ").Append(t.name).Append("\n");
143.         }
144.      
145.         MeshFilter mf = t.GetComponent<MeshFilter>();
146.         if (mf)
147.         {
148.             meshString.Append(ObjExporterScript.MeshToString(mf, t));
149.         }
150.      
151.         for(int i = 0; i < t.childCount; i++)
152.         {
153.             // Don't export invisible children
154.             child = t.GetChild(i);
155.  
156.             if(child.gameObject.activeSelf){
157.                 meshString.Append(processTransform(child, makeSubmeshes));
158.             }
159.         }
160.      
161.         return meshString.ToString();
162.     }
163.  
164.     static void WriteToFile(string s, string filename)
165.     {
166.         using (StreamWriter sw = new StreamWriter(filename))
167.         {
168.             sw.Write(s);
169.         }
170.     }
171. }

 

Oh, thank you very much. Now exports well the .obj.

MagicaVoxel continues to import wrong the object, but that's problem of MagicaVoxel.

 

How well does this work with sprites that are not pixel art style?

 

That is not the intended purpose of the plugin

 

Hi!

I have been checking out your asset and so far it looks really good for the project I am working on! But I have one question before I purchase it. Can it change the model of a current 3D sprite art to a new one without needing to create another game object? An example:

I have this equipment system. So for example, I equip a sword. Would your asset be able to generate that model then on the fly? But there's more. I then equip a bow instead of the sword. Would your asset be able to switch the model from the sword model to the bow model without lag and without creating a new game object of each model?
(When I switch weapon, I switch the sprite basically)

If it can handle my question I will buy this without looking back!

 

Theoretically, if I understand correctly, all you would need to do is change the sprite property to a new sprite!

 

I recently purchased this and when I import it into Unity3d 5.1.2f1, I get the following errors.
Broken YAML file(Assets/Pixel3D/Base/Animations/PlayerAnimator.controller). Local file identifier (110204312) doesn't exist!
Broken YAML file(Assets/Pixel3D/Base/Animations/PlayerAnimator.controller). Local file identifier (110220632) doesn't exist!

 

Thank you for the report. I'm in the middle of adding support for "static" sprites at the moment, and will make sure to fix this issue as well for this release.

 

Just an update: That error is not fatal, and appears to be a Unity issue. If you clear the error, it will not come back. Everything should work correctly!

 

Nice asset. Bookmarked.

 

is it possible to optimize the final mesh .
for example if i generate pixels for necromancer image (single sprite non animated), is it possible to get rid of inner faces of the generated pixel art

the obj exporter you provided above , will it be included in future updates by default . it will be easy to get it from asset package itself rather then coming here to copy the code from forum.

also , is the mesh exported by obj exporter is it optimized ( the inner faces removed).

and lastly is code optimized for mobile applications for runtime.

 

Has anybody been able to use it in Unity 5.6?

Those are my settings, as accurate as the ones in Readme I can. And the error.

Can anybody help?