Skip to main content
If you’ve used the original Pixelate, most of what you know carries over: cell size, palettes, normal maps, Lit, Unlit and Normal previews, pivots and pixels per unit are all still here. What changes is where the settings live. This page maps each concept to its Pixelate Pro equivalent and walks you through moving a capture over. Pixelate Pro is a separate product, not an update. Your Pixelate captures and exported sprites keep working, and you can install both side by side.

​
The big change: assets instead of scene objects

In Pixelate, you add a Pixelate Capture Manager to a scene, point it at a Target and a Capture Camera, and click Capture. In Pixelate Pro, you create a Pixelate Asset, a file in your project. It points at a model, prefab or particle system, and Pixelate Pro sets up its own hidden camera and light when it captures. There is no scene to open, no camera to place, and your scene’s lights don’t affect the result. Select the asset, check the Preview in the Inspector, and click Export.

​
Concept mapping

​
What’s new

  • Animation outputs. Pixelate Pro writes Animation Clips by default, and optionally an Animator Controller and a Sprite Library. No more building clips by hand.
  • Multiple directions in one export. Capture 2, 4, 8 or more views at once, with shared Camera Rigs.
  • Particle systems as a source, with seeds and frame-range control.
  • More effects. Lighting with a global and a directional light, previewed in the Inspector and optionally baked into the sprite; Lines (outlines and inner lines), Dithering, Pixel Cleanup, Color Adjustments and Palette Swap. See Effects.
  • Per-asset overrides. Share one Style Profile across a cast and change single settings for one asset.
  • The Pixelate Browser. Every Pixelate Asset, Style Profile, Palette and Camera Rig in one window, with export status, filters and batch export.
  • Project defaults. Pick the Style Profile, Camera Rig, pivot and export options new assets start with in Edit > Project Settings > Pixelate.
  • Bigger sheets. A sheet can be up to 16384 pixels on each side; Pixelate’s limit was 4096.
  • Your own effects. Add custom effects in C#. See Extensions.

​
What works differently

  • Your scene isn’t involved. Captures use Pixelate Pro’s own camera and light, not your scene’s. For shading, use the Lighting effect.
  • Cell Size is in world units. If your old capture was 64 x 64 pixels at 32 pixels per unit, enter a Cell Size of 2 x 2.
  • File names include the view. The default is {File}_{Clip}_{View}.png, for example Hero_Run_Front.png, inside Hero/Run/. A capture without clips goes in a Static folder. Normal maps go in a Normals subfolder and are linked to the sprites as the _NormalMap secondary texture, as before. See Export.
  • No demo scenes or sprite shader. Pixelate shipped capture and lighting scenes and a ToonLitSprite shader. Pixelate Pro ships sample assets instead, and its exported normal maps work with URP’s 2D lights and Sprite-Lit-Default.

​
Install both side by side

You can keep Pixelate while you move over. The two don’t share folders, code namespaces or menu items: Both products add items to Assets > Create > Pixelate, so you’ll see them together there. Neither hides or changes the other.

​
Move a capture over

There’s no automatic converter. Moving a capture takes a few minutes per Target.
1

Note your old settings

Select the Pixelate Capture Manager and write down its Target, Cell Size, Pixels Per Unit, Pivot, Export Location, palette and normal map settings, and the camera angle.
2

Create a Pixelate Asset

In the Project window, right-click the Target’s model or prefab and choose Create > Pixelate > Pixelate Asset. If the Target only exists in a scene, drag it into the Project window first to make a prefab. The clips that come with the model are added for you; add any others under Animation.
3

Match the look

The new asset is linked to a Style Profile, often the sample Default profile. Don’t edit a sample: clear the Style Profile field and click New Style Profile to get a profile of your own (it starts with only Profile Settings). Set Pixels Per Unit in its Profile Settings to your old value. Add Color Palette with Add Effect and pick Auto with the same number of colors, or Custom with your old palette PNG. If you used normal maps, add the Lighting effect; Export Normal Map is on by default.
4

Match the framing

Under Rendering, set Cell Size to your old pixel size divided by Pixels Per Unit. Set the view’s rotation to your old camera angle, or link one of the sample Camera Rigs. Check the Preview, and adjust Camera Offset if the source isn’t centered.
5

Match the output

Under Output, set Output Folder, File Name and Pivot. File names now always include the clip and the view; see Export for File Name Pattern.
6

Export and compare

Click Export and compare the new sheets with your old ones. Your old captures stay where they are.
7

Update references

Point your SpriteRenderers, animations and prefabs at the new sprites. With Pixelate Pro’s Animation Clips you can usually replace hand-made clips completely.
When every capture is moved, you can remove Pixelate: delete its capture manager GameObjects from your scenes and the Assets/Pixelate folder. Sprites you exported with Pixelate keep working.

​
Next steps

Quick start

Make your first Pixelate Pro sprite sheet.

Pixelate Asset

Every setting of a Pixelate Asset, section by section.