Pixel Portrait Maker

Build 64x64 pixel-art character portraits from hundreds of layered parts. Expressions, talking, blinking and breathing. Editor tool + in-game character creator, PNG / GIF / sprite sheet export.

• Unity 2022.3 LTS or newer (tested with 2022.3 and Unity 6)
• Render pipelines: Built-in, URP and HDRP (portraits are composed on the CPU into ordinary textures)
• All platforms; no native code
• No dependencies (the in-game creator uses UI Toolkit, which is built into Unity)
• 64x64 portraits, exported sharp at any whole-number scale
• Editor window, runtime API, Portrait Animator component, in-game creator, sample scenes (in-game creator, standalone app)
• Full C# source, documentation (PDF)

I made this tool so that pixel art game developers can create character portraits faster and more easily. It is made for developers who make pixel art games. My favourite feature: if there is something you don't like in a portrait you made, you can click Edit Pixels and change that part.

Two bodies, hundreds of parts

• Male and female bodies, 8 head shapes each
• 18 hair styles per body + long hair behind the head (ponytails, braids ...)
• 14 eyes, 12 eyebrows, 10-12 noses, 14 mouths, 6 ears (incl. elf ears), 4 necks
• 12 beards and moustaches, fitted to every head shape
• 19 outfits per body: T-shirt, dress shirt, suit, tuxedo, waistcoat, hoodie, coat, uniform, leather armour, wizard robe, kimono ...
• 14 headwear (cap, fedora, cowboy hat, top hat, wizard hat, crown, knight helmet, hood ...), 10 glasses, 8 earrings and piercings, 8 neckwear
• Face details (freckles, scars, wrinkles ...) and face paint (war paint, tattoos, masks ...)
• 6 background patterns and 6 RPG portrait frames

Every colour you need

• 12 skin tones including orc green, azure, zombie and vampire
• 12 hair colours, 10 eye colours, lipsticks, 12 colours for clothes, hats, glasses, neckwear and frames, gold and silver jewellery
• Eyebrows and beards can match the hair colour automatically

Alive, not static

• 6 expressions (neutral, happy, sad, angry, surprised, scared) for the eyes and the mouth separately: 36 combinations
• Talking with 3 mouth frames, automatic blinking, breathing shoulders
• Beards never cover the mouth, hats flatten the hair under them, ties and bow ties sit at the collar

Export and batch

• PNG at 1x, 4x or 8x
• Animated GIF and sprite sheets of the idle and talking loops (seamless, 24 frames)
• Save and load characters as tiny JSON files (names only, safe when you add parts)
• Batch NPC export: hundreds of random characters at once, with locked rows (a whole army in one uniform) and repeatable seeds
• 10 ready-made characters: pirate, knight, wizard, office worker, peasant, soldier, rocker, old sage, princess, bandit

In your game

• A drop-in in-game character creator (UI Toolkit, built in code, no extra packages) with presets, locks and a Done event
• Portrait Animator component: plays a character in your dialogues (blink, breathe, talk while the text types)
• Save the player's character with one call; render, randomize and export from code
• Sample scene: character creator + a talking dialogue box
• Standalone app sample: the Portrait Maker window as a desktop program, every tool included (Edit Pixels, New Part, exports, batch NPCs) — build it for team members who don't use Unity

Make it yours

• Edit Pixels: paint single pixels over any character for the details no part has (a scar, a badge, a tie clip), on every frame of the animation or only on some (a gold tooth when the mouth opens); saved with the character and drawn in every export, with undo
• New Part: draw new parts or whole new categories right in the editor, change a copy of an included part, or load PNGs drawn in any other program
• Add your own parts by dropping PNG files into folders and pressing Scan
• Greyscale parts take the colour choices automatically; skin parts follow the skin tone
• The whole library is data: bodies, categories, colours, expressions and presets are editable in the Inspector

Full C# source code and a 19-page manual are included.

Planned updates (not in this version)

• Fantasy races: orc and goblin faces with tusks, dwarf braided beards, vampire fangs, zombie stitches, horns, cat and wolf ears
• More outfits and armour: plate armour, chainmail, noble clothes, pirate coat, priest robe, sci-fi suit
• More hats, helmets, hair styles and beards
• More expressions: smug, crying, blushing, sleepy

Have a request? Write to ostassamt@gmail.com.