> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.pixelatestudio.tomblack.ca/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Coming from Pixelate
> How Pixelate's concepts map to Pixelate Pro, and how to move your captures over.
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
| In Pixelate | In Pixelate Pro | Notes |
| - | - | - |
| **Pixelate Capture Manager** (GameObject in a scene) | **Pixelate Asset** (project asset) | Create one with **Assets > Create > Pixelate > Pixelate Asset**. One asset per thing you convert. |
| **Target** | **Source** | A model, prefab or particle system from the Project window. Scene objects can't be a Source; save them as a prefab first. |
| **Capture Camera** | **Views** or a linked **Camera Rig** | Under **Pixelate Asset Settings > Rendering**. Each view is a camera direction; a Camera Rig is a set of views you can share. See [Camera Rigs](/guides/camera-rigs). |
| **Cell Size** (pixels) | **Cell Size** (world units) | Pixel size is Cell Size times **Pixels Per Unit**. The Inspector shows the result under the field, for example `Output: 64 x 64 px`. |
| **Pixelated** (Camera section) | **Pixelated** in the Style Profile's **Profile Settings** | Same meaning: Point filtering for crisp pixels. |
| **Pixels Per Unit** (Output) | **Pixels Per Unit** in the Style Profile's **Profile Settings** | Shared by every asset that uses the profile. |
| **PixelateProfile** | **Style Profile** | A Style Profile is a stack of effects. Each Pixelate Asset can override single settings without changing the profile. See [Style Profiles](/guides/style-profiles). |
| **Color Palette**: Auto Generate Palette, Low / Medium / High | **Color Palette** effect, **Mode: Auto**, **Color Limit** | Low, Medium and High were 8, 12 and 16 colors. Set **Color Limit** to the same number. |
| **Color Palette**: Custom Palette (PNG strip) | **Color Palette** effect, **Mode: Custom** | Palettes are now Pixelate Palette assets. Your PNG strip still works when you drag it into **Custom Palette**, and **Create Pixelate Palette** turns it into an editable palette. `.gpl`, `.pal` and `.hex` files import as palettes too. See [Palettes](/guides/palettes). |
| **Normal Map** section | **Lighting** effect | **Export Normal Map** writes the normal maps. **Normal Map Steps** sets the lighting bands, like Pixelate's **Lighting Steps**. See [Lighting](/effects/lighting). |
| **Material Pipeline** (URP / Built-in) | Nothing to set | Pixelate Pro follows the project's active pipeline. |
| **Normal Style** | Nothing to set | Pixelate Pro writes one format, with the surface facing the camera pointing toward the viewer. That matches Pixelate's **Standard (Purple)**. |
| **Animation** section: **Source Clips**, **Frames Per Second** | **Animation** section: one row per clip with **Speed** and **FPS** | Clips that come with the model are added for you. Each clip has its own frame rate. |
| **Preview** in the capture manager's Inspector | The Preview at the bottom of the Inspector | Same **Lit**, **Unlit** and **Normal** draw modes, plus a view menu and playback. See [Preview](/guides/preview). |
| **Export Location** | **Output Folder** | Empty means next to the Pixelate Asset. |
| **Override Captures** | **Overwrite Existing** | On replaces files in place and keeps references. Off writes numbered copies. |
| **Pivot** | **Pivot** | **Center**, **Bottom Center (Feet)** (the source's ground point) or **Custom**. |
| **Capture** button | **Export** button | Also batch export from the [Pixelate Browser](/guides/browser). |
## 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](/effects/overview).
* **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](/reference/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](/guides/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:
| | Pixelate | Pixelate Pro |
| - | - | - |
| Folder | `Assets/Pixelate` | `Assets/PixelateStudio/PixelatePro` |
| Menus | **GameObject > Pixelate > Pixelate Capture Manager**, **Assets > Create > Pixelate > Pixelate Profile** | The **Pixelate** menu in the menu bar, **Assets > Create > Pixelate > Pixelate Asset**, **Pixelate Style Profile**, **Pixelate Camera Rig** and **Pixelate Palette** |
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.
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.
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**.
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.
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](/samples#camera-rigs). Check the Preview, and adjust **Camera Offset** if the source isn't centered.
Under **Output**, set **Output Folder**, **File Name** and **Pivot**. File names now always include the clip and the view; see [Export](/guides/export) for **File Name Pattern**.
Click **Export** and compare the new sheets with your old ones. Your old captures stay where they are.
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
Make your first Pixelate Pro sprite sheet.
Every setting of a Pixelate Asset, section by section.
This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.