Pixel Art to 3D: Turn a Sprite into a Coloured Cube Model
Add your pixel art picture, and each solid pixel becomes a cube with its colour. Set the thickness and an optional base plate, check the 3D preview, then download a GLB or OBJ with colours, or an STL for a one-colour 3D print. It runs in your browser and nothing is uploaded.
How to turn pixel art into a 3D model
- 1
Add your picture
Drop in a PNG, a GIF (the first frame is used) or a small image. A transparent background is kept as empty space. No picture yet? Use the built-in sample.
- 2
Check the pixel scale
Pixel art is often enlarged, so one art pixel can be 8 x 8 picture pixels. The tool detects this. If it guesses wrong, set the number yourself.
- 3
Set the thickness
Choose how many cubes deep the model is and whether to add a base plate underneath. A plate gives a flat back that prints well and stands on a shelf.
- 4
Download your format
GLB and OBJ keep the colours, for viewers, game engines and Blender. STL has no colour and is made for 3D printing.
Which file should you download
All three files hold the same cubes. They differ in what they remember and what opens them.
| GLB | One file with the colours inside. Opens in Blender, in most game engines and in web 3D viewers. The size is in metres, so a 1.5 mm cube is 0.0015 units. |
|---|---|
| OBJ + MTL | Two files that belong together: the shapes (.obj) and the colours (.mtl). Keep them in the same folder. Many older programs read this pair. |
| STL | Shape only, no colour. This is the file for a 3D printer: print it in one colour, or paint it after printing. The size is in millimetres. |
| Thickness 1 cube | A flat tile, like a sticker or a badge. Quick to print, but thin, so add a base plate if you want it to be strong. |
| Thickness 2 to 4 cubes | A solid figure that looks like a block of pixels. A good range for keychains, fridge magnets and pins. |
| Base plate | A flat sheet under the art in a colour you pick. It joins loose pixels together, so isolated dots do not fall off the print. |
What happens to your picture
The tool reads the picture on your device and works out the size of one art pixel. It looks for the largest block size that divides the image evenly into squares of a single colour. A sprite enlarged 8 times is therefore read back as the original small sprite, and you do not get thousands of tiny cubes where a few hundred would do.
Every pixel that is solid becomes a cube in its own colour. Pixels that are transparent stay empty, so the outline of the sprite is the outline of the model. You can also remove the colour of the top left corner for pictures where the background is a flat colour and not transparent.
Faces that touch another cube are not made, so the model contains only the outside surface. That keeps the files small and the preview fast. To stay responsive on phones, the grid is limited to 128 pixels on the longest side, and the tool tells you when it had to reduce a picture.
Using the model in games and 3D printing
For a game or a 3D scene, download the GLB. The colours are stored on the vertices, so the cubes show their pixel colours without any texture file, and the faces are flat shaded to keep the blocky look. Open it in Blender to render it, or load it into a game engine as a model. The front of the art faces the +Z direction and up is +Y.
For a 3D print, download the STL and slice it as usual. A thickness of two or three cubes with a base plate of one cube makes a sturdy keychain or magnet: add a hole in your slicer or modelling software for the ring. A pixel size of 1.5 to 2 mm gives a 16 pixel sprite of about 24 to 32 mm.
An STL does not carry colour. For a multi-colour print you need a printer and slicer that can colour the model, and a format that keeps the colours, such as the OBJ with its MTL file. A simple route that always works is to print one colour and paint the pixels afterwards.
Want to turn a photo into a model instead?
Pixel art gives blocky cubes. For a photo or a drawing, make a printable relief from an image, or describe a model in words and get a 3D result.
More pixel and voxel tools
Pixel art to 3D FAQ
Make sure you have the right to use the artwork you add. Sizes in the STL and OBJ are in millimetres and the GLB is in metres: check the scale when you import the model.