Camera Rigs

Each camera view of a Pixelate Asset exports its own sprite sheets: one side view for a platformer, eight directions for a top-down game. This page shows how to set up views, add directions in one click, and share the same views across many assets with a Camera Rig asset.

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Views

The Views list sits at the top of the Rendering section of the Pixelate Asset Inspector. Every view has two settings: A new asset starts with one view, Front, at rotation (0, 180, 0).

• Click + to add a view (named View 2, View 3 and so on, at rotation 0, 0, 0) and − to remove the selected one. Drag the handle on the left to reorder.
• Selecting a view in the list shows it in the Preview, and picking a view in the Preview’s view menu selects it in the list.
• The first view is the one thumbnails show, and the default state of a generated Animator Controller belongs to it.

The capture camera is orthographic: the view’s rotation changes the angle, never the size. The source stays centered on the Camera Offset in every view, so views orbit the same point. See Framing.

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Duplicate names

Each view needs its own name, because the name keeps its sheets, clips and Sprite Library categories apart. If two views share a name, a warning under the list says which ones. Until you rename one, Export and Save GIF add a number to the later one, such as Right_2.

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Add Directions

Add Directions, in the header of the Views list, adds evenly spaced views around the source in one step: New views use the tilt (Rotation X) of the first view in the list, so set the first view’s tilt before you add directions. The labels name the way the character faces on screen, like a map with north up: S faces the viewer (Y 180), W faces screen left (Y 90), N faces away (Y 0) and E faces screen right (Y 270). If the list already has views, a dialog asks what to do:

• Replace swaps the whole list for the new directions.
• Append adds only the directions the list doesn’t have yet. It’s offered only when some are missing. A direction is skipped when a view already has its name (ignoring case) or its angle, so you never get two views with the same name.

The change is one Undo step. In a narrow Inspector the button reads Add.

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Typical setups

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Share views with a Camera Rig asset

Views live on the Pixelate Asset by default. To use the same views on many assets, for example every 8-direction character, save them as a Camera Rig asset and link it. Edit the rig once and every linked asset follows.

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Link a Camera Rig

Use the Camera Rig field above the Views list:

• Drag in or pick a rig to link it. The rig’s views replace the asset’s views.
• Clear the field (select it and press Delete, or pick None) to unlink. The views stay on the asset, now as its own.

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The ⋮ menu

The ⋮ button next to the Camera Rig field has three commands:

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Changes on a linked rig

With a rig linked, you can still edit the views on one asset. Your edits stay local to that asset until you choose Apply Changes:

• A blue bar at the left of a view marks a view that differs from the rig. The Label or Rotation caption turns bold when that value differs.
• Changing a label or rotation keeps the rest of the view linked: if someone later changes the rig, this asset keeps your value and takes the rest.
• Adding, removing or reordering views, including with Add Directions, makes the whole list local, and every view gets the blue bar. The Camera Rig asset itself doesn’t change. Choose Apply Changes to share the new list, or Revert Changes to follow the rig again.

The blue bar only appears while a rig is linked. Without a rig, the views are simply the asset’s own.

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Edit a Camera Rig asset

Select a Camera Rig asset to edit it in the Inspector. It has the same Views list as a Pixelate Asset, with Add Directions, +, − and drag to reorder, and the same warning for duplicate names. Changes reach every Pixelate Asset that links the rig, except values those assets changed locally. Create a new rig with Assets > Create > Pixelate > Pixelate Camera Rig. It starts with one Front view. You can also create one from the Camera Rigs tab of the Pixelate Browser, which shows every rig as a ring of its views seen from above.

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Sample Camera Rigs

The _Samples/Camera Rigs folder has four rigs you can link or copy:

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Default Camera Rig

To start every new Pixelate Asset with the same views, set Default Camera Rig under New Pixelate Assets in Settings. New assets link that rig and copy its views. Existing assets don’t change.

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Next steps