How to turn sprite sheets into 3d models

Short version, making new units for the ancient game Warlords Battlecry, working with the devs of Protectors of Etheria to do so. I am tasked with modeling the new race & I’m hoping that with the sprite sheets I can reverse engineer some of the models to help me get a head-start on this. This would almost guarantee I’m using the same quality so they don’t stick out. I’m going to add one of the sprite sheets I have to show what I’m working with. I honestly do not want someone to do it for me because I intend to reverse engineer a LOT of sprite sheets & I would like to be able to do this myself. I did a quick search through youtube & everything I found was the opposite, turning a model into a sprite sheet. Help please

Well, I was going to upload it, but because I’m new it’s blocking me. So here’s a link to the sheet in my google drive

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1s67ocrxreVUKb7yxbONYP22lVhHDi2x5?usp=sharing

you could probably use something like hunyuan if you’re into that sort of thing.


lildude

It’s a bit of a hit or miss. You could maybe try and enhance those sprites before throwing them into a 3D AI solution.

Screenshot 2025-05-25 112917
Screenshot 2025-05-25 1129172-Picsart-AiImageEnhancer

Didn’t have time to do it properly but you get the idea.

(this should probably be in support/modeling rather than tutorials)

Awesome, thank you very much. Can’t say I’m “into” that as I’ve never used it, but even if they come out looking like lego men, it’s still a big head start

Frankly this is one of those weird posts, where it seems as if you were born yesterday. Sorry, but it really is, I don’t mean to offend, just describing the situation as I see it. “How to turn sprite sheets into 3d models?” - well, by 3d modelling. Shouldn’t that be obvious? 3d modeling is the answer. You know the thing that you need to learn to do first and it takes around 2-3 years to learn to do well… The thing where you have to know how to use all these functions:

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As well as transform operators, snapping, modifiers, shading nodes, hundreds of various tricks and techniques for every situation and also have the skills to recognize and recreate 3d forms and materials that require thousands of hours of practice… That’s how. That’s the technique. Learn 3d modelling and shading and probably rigging as well and then do the work, that’s how. That’s the answer to your question. That’s how the rest of us do it. :person_shrugging:

You can use AI, sure and then deal with the fact that the models are no good. It seems that surely they are awesome :smiley: Sure. This, what I am saying, cannot be true, my knowledge must be outdated… AI gets better so incredibly fast… But wait. :smiley: You’ll see :smiley: :smiley: :smiley: Unless the expectations are quite low of course, then it might be OK. It might be of some help as reference or a starting point though.

2-3 years is really accurate to the best of my knowledge and experience. But don’t get me wrong - I don’t mean to say that a few months could not get you quite far. Hopefully you are prepared for this amount of effort.

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Or, maybe, instead of proving your own personal flaws by insulting someone that asked a legitimate question. Maybe you could try, oh I don’t know, being a decent person? I realize that must be incredibly difficult for you to do as you’d obviously be faking. All of this is evidenced by your immediate response to my post, which was completely unnecessary. This is further evidenced by the fact that you’re wrong. The first person to respond to my post showed that what I asked actually can be done. Additionally I asked about this because the sheer quantity of sprite sheets I want to turn into models would take a professional 3D modeler a minimum of 6 months doing it the way you’re talking about. So how about you do the world a favor & learn to keep your opinion to yourself. There’s already too much negativity on the internet.

Also, just to put the nail in your coffin. 2-3 years may not seem like much for someone that has good health & a normal life expectancy, but that’s not me. Odds greatly favor that I won’t survive that timeframe. So how about NOT projecting your screwed up thinking on other people? If you don’t have something positive to add to a post, then ignore it and walk away. You know, that thing adults do.

Wow, dude… I have no way of knowing about your health issues. And I am sorry you got them. I didn’t cause them though so blaming me is a bit… misplaced in my view. My answer is legitimate though regarding the question you asked. This is how it works - if you have reference images and need 3d models, they are made by modelling. That requires learning, effort and time. I did not invent this just to mess with you. I did not invent anything here at all and what’s so negative about learning 3d? Most people here have dedicated those years to this. How is learning skills negative? Chill out. I hope you don’t go blaming everyone around if you want to pilot a plane, but it turns out you have to learn to fly it first.

AI is a bit frowned upon in the industry is what I meant. A lot of people spend years or decades learning the skills to be able to do these sort of things, so people might get defensive. That being said, at the end of the day it’s there, and if it helps you achieve what you want, might as well go for it.

I was already upset when we got autoretopo or mocap, and would probably prefer to do a modular rig, handmade model and hand painted textures for these sort of things, but I can fully understand that it opens up possibilities for people who’re not in the industry for many years.

Let us know how it goes, looks like an interesting project. :slight_smile:

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There is that but it’s also disappointing when you do want to use it. It still mostly turns out that the models it spits out do require further work. Personally, I would love to use it. What do I care if it gives me results? I do get paid all the same, but for me it turns out it’s disappointingly absolutely useless at the moment. Different people and different projects do have different requirements though and it may be that for a few use cases it’s already quite useful. But I wouldn’t bet on it. I suspect the OP will soon find out for themselves what I meant in my comment that they got so unfortunately offended by.

It all depends on what you’re able to do yourself. Someone just getting started and looking at the donut tutorial might find an AI output of some human character useful, even if it’s just general proportions.

I do have to say, some of the outputs aren’t bad for a starting point. Like this one, AI 2D to AI 3D

Not something I’d use personally, but it’s surprising how it can handle even cell shaded stuff or line drawings. I’m mostly looking at it cause I’m curious and ike to try new tech, but seeing how fast 2D AI made it into even high level production, I can see this creeping in as well.