Pixel Art Studio is a Blender add-on (plugin) for pixel perfect pixel art texture painting. It supports drawing and painting pixel art inside Blender, in the 3D Viewport on top of the model (in Object and Edit modes) and in 2D in the Image Editor. It has tools for drawing and painting (including colors, palettes, layers, pressure sensitivity, bucket fill, gradients), selecting and moving pixels, and quickly setting up the model and the viewport for pixel art. A model that already has UVs and a texture is painted right away, nothing to set up: click a tool and paint. For a model with no texture, Quick Setup shows the pixel sizes live on the model, then makes the texture at the size it needs. Don't worry about UVs anymore: one click unwraps the whole model for pixel art (texel density, pixel sizes and no stretched pixels), so you can close Blender's UV Editor and use just the 3D Viewport. Stack faces on the same pixels or join as a single UV island, without ever moving or scaling a UV island by hand. The plugin also helps with setting up and managing multiple texture densities per mesh, allowing for uniform pixel sizes across the whole mesh or per face pixel size variation.

And this is not a filter or composer to "PIXELATE" the scene or the model, this is true pixel art drawing and texturing!

• Paint in 3D on the model or in 2D in the Image Editor, with the same tools (perspective or orthographic, move the camera around freely while painting).
• Open your model and paint: a model that already has UVs and a texture needs no setup. Click a tool and paint, the first stroke turns the texture into Pixel Art Studio layers.
• Models made of many objects on one texture (a rig, a vehicle in parts): every part takes the brush where you point at it, whichever object is selected.
• Pixel perfect lines in every tool: brush, line, rectangle, ellipse, path, bézier curve, text. All tools are directly inspired by Aseprite, so you are going to feel right at home.
• Custom brushes: select a shape in the Image Editor and save it as a brush (up to 64x64 pixels), then paint with it on the model or in 2D. Keep it in the preferences for every file, or in the Asset Browser.
• Strokes go over the edges of the faces, seamlessly and continuously, cross UV islands, even if the UV islands are disconnected and far apart, thanks to the addon "Paper Fold" engine.

• Tired of UV unwrapping? Stretched pixels? Quick Unwrap Model: one click, pixel perfect UVs, without diagonal and slanted pixels, and with the texel density (pixel size) of your choice.
• Experiment UVs and pixel sizes with one-click: you can adjust texel densities and pixel sizes and unwrap as many times as needed, basically with one to few clicks and WITHOUT MOVING AND SCALING UVs MANUALLY!
• Preview the UVs before changing anything: the eye beside Quick Unwrap Model shows the UVs it would give the model, live, at any pixel size. Apply them and your painting is carried onto the new UVs.
• Stack UVs: select faces and they paint the same pixels (ex: paint the 8 sides of a cylinder only once).
• Keep Together (Join): neighbouring faces stay connected as one UV island (ex: a character's face, a vehicle's front). Imported models (glTF) whose faces only touch can be welded first, with one click.

• Quick Setup: see the pixel size on the model before you choose it. This solves one of the biggest pain points of doing pixel art in Blender. Every preset, or your own number, is drawn on the model live (Ctrl+Wheel goes through them), with the texture size it needs. Then Create Texture: the texture, the material and the UVs at that pixel size, in one click.
• Try Pixel Densities on a model you already painted: try other pixel sizes, and Apply New Density keeps your painting, scaled to the new pixel size. Nothing changes until you apply, and Ctrl+Z takes it back.
• Setup Viewport: one grid square is exactly one pixel.
• Density Zones: a different pixel size per face (a character's head drawn at twice the density of the legs, for example, which means smaller and more pixels for the head).
• Change the pixel size of any face while you are still modeling (Apply to Faces). Never resize UV islands again.
• The grid follows the face under the cursor, at that face's own pixel size.

• Layers and groups on a Blender texture, with blend modes, opacity, locking and merging (like painting programs).
• Clipping layers and transparency masks (like Photoshop and Krita).
• Non-destructive adjustments: brightness and contrast, hue and saturation, color curves.
• Export a layer, a group or the whole texture as PNG, import or paste images as layers.
• Texture Dilation: the transparent texels around the art take the color of the nearest painted texel, so no seam shows at the edges of the UV islands. On a layer, a group or the whole texture, with a live preview.

• Rectangle, ellipse, lasso and magic wand, on the model and in 2D.
• Selecting in 3D is per texel: drag the selected pixels across the faces of the model.
• Duplicate, move, scale, rotate and skew, and Clean Pixel Rotation (no new colors).

• Brush and fill patterns, dithered gradients, shading tool and pixel spray.
• Noise and Color Jitter, and built-in palettes.
• 2D and 3D symmetry, and Tiled Mode for seamless textures.
• Game engine integration with Godot, Unity and Unreal Engine: save in Blender and the model is in your game, as pixel art.
• Shortcuts your way: alongside Blender's own (the default), or Pixel Art Studio's only while a tool is active, like in Aseprite. D opens the tools popup at the pointer.

Install the add-on, press N in the 3D Viewport and click the Pixel Art Studio tab. Then, depending on your model:

1. Click a tool (the first time, it asks how the shortcuts should work: see Shortcuts below).
2. Paint on the model.

That's it! Your UVs and your texture are used as they are: the first stroke adds Pixel Art Studio's layers to the texture. Nothing to set up!

Want to try other pixel sizes or new UVs?

Click Try Pixel Densities (in Pixel Density), or the eye beside Quick Unwrap Model (in UV): pixel sizes and new UVs are shown live on the model, and nothing changes until you click Apply New Density. Your painting is kept, scaled to the new pixel size.

A new model, or one without a texture:

1. Click the big Setup button (or click on the model with any tool).

2. Quick Setup opens: select a pixel size and see it on the model, live. Ctrl+Wheel goes through the sizes.

3. Next.

4. Create Texture. Then click a tool and paint!

Quick Unwrap (ticked by default) gives the model new pixel perfect UVs at that pixel size. Untick it to keep the UVs the model has.

The first time you click a tool, Pixel Art Studio asks how the keyboard works while a tool is active:

• Alongside Blender (the default): Blender's shortcuts (G, S, R, Tab...) keep working, and Pixel Art Studio uses the keys Blender leaves free. The main keys:
  • D: the tools popup (every tool, the brush size and the colors, at the pointer), also with no tool active
  • Shift+Alt+B: Brush
  • Shift+Alt+E: Eraser
  • Alt+X: swap the primary and secondary colors
  • Hold Alt and click: Eyedropper
• Pixel Art Studio Only: while a tool is active, the keys are Pixel Art Studio's, like in Aseprite. Blender's shortcuts come back when the tool is put away. The main keys:
  • F: the tools popup
  • B: Brush
  • E: Eraser
  • X: swap the primary and secondary colors
  • Hold Alt and click: Eyedropper

Change it any time in the add-on's preferences, Shortcuts tab. Every shortcut of both modes: the shortcuts page.

For the complete tutorial, with videos: the quick start tutorial.

Every drawing, selection and layer tool works in the 3D Viewport and in the Image Editor, in perspective and orthographic views, so you can move the camera around freely while painting.

• Pixel perfect drawing and painting pixel art tools: brush / pencil, eraser, line, rectangle, ellipse, bucket fill (by pixels, by selected faces, by color), blur, scramble, gradient (with dithering options), shading brush, spray can, text tool, path, bézier curve, filled polygons, opacity, eyedropper, pressure sensitivity.
• All tools have pixel perfect line handling algorithms.
• Custom brushes.
• Fill and dithering patterns for all drawing tools (brush, shapes, eraser, bucket fill, etc), with custom patterns.
• Bleed (UV dilation) for the brush, eraser, line, bucket fill and gradient.
• Straight, 45 degrees and isometric angled lines.
• Pixel selections: rectangle, ellipse, lasso, magic wand, invert selection.
• The selection tools work on the 2D and 3D viewports, and you can drag selected pixels across the faces of the model.
• Selections can be made by topology, which selects and fills half-pixels (sub texels) in diagonals.
• Transform layers and selections (scale, rotate, skew) and flip them horizontally and vertically.
• 2D and 3D viewport pixel grid overlay.
• Tiled Mode in the Image Editor, to paint seamless textures.
• Mirror and symmetry drawing on the 2D and 3D viewports.
• Colors and palettes: Blender's color wheel inside the panel, color swatches, color palettes (and a palette library with more than 500 predefined palettes), sample colors from any object and any area of the viewport.
• Layers and layer management with locking, grouping, merging, visibility toggling and blending modes similar to painting programs.
• Non-destructible adjustments (brightness and contrast, color curves and HSL), stackable, per layer.
• Clipping layers and transparency masks like Photoshop and Krita.
• Export layers, groups or the whole texture as PNG, and paste or import images as layers.
• Texture Dilation: fills the transparent texels around the art with the nearest painted color (a layer, a group or the whole texture, with a live preview), so no seam shows at the edges of the UV islands.
• Open a textured model and paint right away: no setup, the first stroke turns the texture into layers. The color texture is the one painted (normal and roughness maps are left alone).
• Models made of several objects on one texture: every part is painted where you point, whichever object is selected.
• Quick Setup: try pixel sizes (texel densities) live on the model, presets or your own, with the texture size each one needs and a preview of the UVs Quick Unwrap Model gives, then create the texture in one click.
• Try Pixel Densities: change the pixel size of a model you already painted, keeping the painting (scaled to the new pixel size, or carried onto new UVs), or starting from a blank texture.
• Pixel density presets, as well as texel density detection for existing meshes (you can have chunky pixels and fine, detailed pixels).
• One-click setup buttons to setup the viewport for pixel art (grid size and snapping adjusted to the pixel size).
• UV tools made for pixel art:
  • Pixel Art Unwrap: lays each face flat with its exact shape and pixel density, no stretched pixels. Quick Unwrap Model unwraps the whole model from any mode.
  • Stack UVs: stack faces on the same UV spot, so they paint the same pixels (ex: paint the 8 sides of a cylinder only once).
  • Keep Together (Join): neighbouring faces stay connected as one UV island (ex: a character's face, a vehicle's front). Faces that only touch (a glTF import) can be welded first.
  • Flip UV islands, keep pinned UVs, and lists to manage the shared and joined faces.
• Density Zones (optional): assign and manage texel density values per face, allowing for uniform pixel size across the whole mesh or different pixel sizes per face.
  • Different density zones automatically resizes Blender's grid on the fly, when you hover different faces of the model, in the 3D viewport.
  • Each zone has a pixel aspect (pixels taller than wide or the opposite, common in PS1 models), and Pixel Art Unwrap respects it.
  • Apply Density Zones to Faces while you are still creating the model, to test different pixel sizes.
• Game engine integration with Godot, Unity and Unreal Engine: models and textures are exported when you save in Blender, and the game project gets pixel art materials automatically.
  • Auto-export to glTF and FBX on save, into any folder.
  • Every glTF export out of Blender writes the texture as unlit pixel art.
• Two shortcut modes: alongside Blender's own shortcuts (the default), or Pixel Art Studio's only while a tool is active (like Aseprite). The tools popup opens at the pointer, with or without a tool active.
• Customizable shortcuts for EVERYTHING.

See all features in details in the documentation: https://pardalltools.github.io/pixel-art-studio-docs/features.html#pixel-art-studio-features-in-details

In summary... A tool to make pixel art with Blender! If you always wondered how to make pixel art in Blender, Pixel Art Studio is the answer!

Blender version required?

• Recommended (officially supported): Blender 5.1 and Blender 5.2
• Also compatible with Blender 3.6, Blender 4.0+ through Blender 5.0+.

Does it require external dependencies?

No, it's made 100% with Python using only Blender's APIs. It is a native Blender plugin.

Support and Documentation

• Documentation website
• Tutorial
• Bug reports and feature tracker
• Kanban boards for the next versions
• Support forums
• FAQ
• Solutions to common problems
• Shortcuts