Asset Creation Pipelines

by Matheu Plouffein 3D Modeling, Character Creation, Workflowson Posted on

This is the archive for asset creation pipelines that I’ve used when working on games.

Voxel Character Pipeline

Voxel character pipeline I designed to use for a wrestling sim I wanted to make.

  1. Make character model in MagicaVoxel
    • T-pose
An image of a 3d model standing in t-pose built using MagicaVoxel.
MagicaVoxel character model in T-Pose.
  1. Export character model as OBJ
  2. Zip contents of export (obj, mtl, png)
  3. Upload zipped file to Mixamo
  4. Set auto rigging points
Example AutoRigging setup in Mixamo.
  1. Lower detail on skeleton
    • Fingers not required for voxel character, use 2 Chain Fingers(41)
  2. Download the rigged model in T-pose
    • Use model in T-pose as model basis for character prefab
  3. Search for desired animations on Mixamo
  4. Download animation files as FBX
  5. Import into Unity
    • Original material asset from the OBJ exported from Magica Voxel will also need to be imported into the project
  6. Uncheck option where it rescales the model to 1/10 the size
Convert Units property on the import settings for the FBXs exported from Mixamo
  1. [Optional] Create a ragdoll using the following settings
    • Ragdolls can also be created using the Ragdoll Wizard & Puppet Master tooling
    • Leaving the details of bone mapping here for reference
Settings to create a ragdoll based on Mixamo rigged model.
  1. Build animation controller to control triggering of imported animations
Example of voxel character rigged and using Mixamo animations in Unity.

GB Studio Assets

How I created the assets and animations for Shooting Star Story.

Sprites

Animated Frames for 16px x 16px Character in Shooting Star Story
  • Export frames as a single horizontal strip PNG.
Exported Sprite Sheet Sample.
  • Move the sprite sheet into /[GB Studio Project]/assets/sprites/
    • NOTE: Putting incorrectly formatted assets into the sprites folder can cause GB Studio to fail to load projects.
  • Details on using the GB Studio sprite editor can be found here.
Sprite Editor in GB Studio

Backgrounds

  • Background palette from GB Studio is linked here.
  • With Title Screens you can create them as a single image in GIMP or Libresprite.
    • Screen dimensions: 160w x 144h
Title Screen for Shooting Star Story
  • Large single images will also work as backgrounds for levels with minimal complexity
    • For Shooting Star Saga, I drew the background as a single image in Libresprite
    • GB Studio will handle tiling and placement automatically
Game Background from Shooting Star Story
  • A better option for backgrounds is to generate a tile sheet and assemble the background in Tiled
    • Individual tiles generated in Libresprite
    • Allows for greater control over tile usage than having GB Studio dissect a single image background
Unused BG from Shooting Star Story