Pixxovo — getting started and how-tos

#What Pixxovo is for

Pixxovo lets you build little 3-D models out of blocks (voxels) and turns them into clean pixel-art sprites. Instead of drawing a house four times for four directions, you build it once and Pixxovo renders every view with the same lighting and outlines.

You can model from scratch, start from 70 built-in models (trees, rocks, ruins, houses, props, creatures), or generate a whole biome diorama in one click. The result exports as sprite sheets, GIFs or MagicaVoxel files.

#Your first sprite in 5 minutes

1. Open Pixxovo. A sample cottage is loaded, and the Sprite preview on the right shows it turning.
2. Click Biomes in the top bar, pick a biome such as Bloom Cliffs, and click Generate diorama. A small scene is built in that biome's colours.
3. Close the window. Right-drag (or Alt-drag) on the canvas to orbit and look around your diorama.
4. In the Render panel, check that the camera is Pixel iso 2:1 and choose 4 directions.
5. Click Export, keep Sprite sheet + JSON, pick a scale and click Download.

#How-tos

#How to start a new model

1. Click New in the top bar.
2. Choose Blank grid at a size from 16 to 128 blocks, or one of the Samples: Cottage, Apple tree or Treasure chest.
3. Your previous model is saved on this device, so you can come back to it.

#How to build and edit with the tools

The options bar has two rows of choices:

1. Pick a mode: Attach adds blocks, Erase removes them, Paint recolours them.
2. Pick a brush: Voxel (one block), Box, Line, Sphere, Face (a whole connected surface), Fill (a connected same-colour region) or Replace (every block of the clicked colour).
3. Choose a colour from the Palette on the left, then click or drag on the model.
4. Turn on Mirror X, Y or Z to build symmetrical things like a statue or an arch.
5. Use the Slice slider to hide the top of the model and work inside it.
6. Pick grabs a colour from the model; Select lets you box-select blocks to move, copy (Ctrl+C), cut (Ctrl+X), paste (Ctrl+V), turn or flip them.

#How to use the model library

1. Click Models in the top bar (or press M).
2. Browse by group (Trees, Plants, Rocks & crystals, Ruins & monuments, Buildings, Props, Pools & hazards, Terrain tiles, Creatures) or search, for example "torch".
3. Click a model to tune it: each one has its own sliders and a seed. Click 🎲 for a fresh variation.
4. Use the colour menu at the top to show any model in a biome's colours.
5. Choose New model to start from it, Add as layer to place it next to your work, or Stamp into layer to merge it into the current layer. Star ★ the ones you use often.

#How to work with biomes

1. Click Biomes (or press B). There are 50 biomes in groups such as Forests & jungles, Fire & volcanic, Ice & snow and Sky & floating isles.
2. Select one to see its palette, a diorama preview, and the ground, props, weather and light it uses.
3. Use the buttons:
   • Generate diorama builds a small scene. Pick a Size (32–64) and a Seed first.
   • Open its kit shows the library models that suit this biome, already in its colours.
   • Use its lighting copies the biome's sun angle, ambient light, rim light and glow to your render.
   • Snap to its palette limits the rendered sprite to the biome's colours.
   • Recolour model repaints your current model in the biome's palette.

#How to use layers

1. In the Layers panel, click + Layer to add one. Keep separate parts apart: the ground on one layer, a tree on another.
2. Click a layer to work on it; edits and undo affect only that layer.
3. Show or hide layers with the eye, double-click a name to rename it, and reorder with the arrows.
4. Duplicate copies a layer; Merge ↓ joins it with the one below. The sprite always shows all visible layers together.

#How to set up the pixel-art render

Everything in the Render panel on the right changes how the sprite looks, not the model itself:

1. Camera: Pixel iso 2:1 is the classic pixel-art angle where every edge lands on whole pixels. Other choices include Dimetric 2:1, True isometric, Top-down, Side, Front, 3/4 view and Custom.
2. Directions: 1, 4, 8 or 16 views around the model.
3. Voxel size sets how many pixels each block becomes; Shading picks Flat, 3, 5 or 7 tones per colour.
4. Light, Light height and Ambient set the light; tick Ambient occlusion, Rim light, Outline and Glow for extra polish.
5. Under Animation, choose a motion such as bob, sway, flicker, pulse or spin, plus the number of Frames. The preview plays it and sheets include every frame.

#How to make glowing parts

1. Select a colour in the palette.
2. Under Material, choose Emissive. Blocks of that colour glow and ignore shadows.
3. In the Render panel, tick Glow, then pick Ring or Soft and a Glow radius.
4. Metal gives brighter highlights; Glass is see-through.

#Exporting and sharing

Click Export (Ctrl+S) and choose a tab:

Pick a Scale (1×–8×) and click Download.

Import in the top bar opens .vox files and Pixxovo projects. Send to App shares the directions as a sprite sheet, the turntable as an animation, one view as an image, or the palette. Library can open a palette as your colours, or an image as a voxel relief.

#Tips and shortcuts

• Orbit with right-drag or Alt-drag, pan with Shift-drag or middle-drag, zoom with the wheel. On touch screens, use two fingers.
• View presets at the top of the canvas: Iso, Front, Side, Top, 3/4, plus the turn buttons.
• Keys: A / E / P for Attach, Erase, Paint · 1–7 for brushes · I pick · S select · X / Y / Z mirror · ← / → turn the view · 0 fit · Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y undo and redo.
• Your project autosaves on this device. Sign in and use Cloud to open it elsewhere.

#Troubleshooting

• If blocks go somewhere unexpected, check you are on the right layer and that Slice isn't hiding the area you're clicking.
• If the sprite looks jagged at 8 or 16 directions, that's expected for in-between angles. Use 4 directions with Pixel iso 2:1 for the crispest result.
• If colours look different in the sprite, check the Shading steps, or turn off Snap to its palette.
• If a glow doesn't show, make sure the colour's material is Emissive and Glow is ticked in Render.

#Related guides

• Pixxexa for matching textures
• Pixxori for building levels with your sprites
• Send to App
• Plans and billing