SpritePop Settings Guide

A quick reference for every control in SpritePop. Everything runs locally in your browser with HTML5 Canvas, so adjustments update in real time.

1. Importing Assets

Sprite sheets can be loaded directly from your computer or fetched from a public image URL.

Drag & Drop Upload

Files: PNG, WebP, GIF

Drop a file anywhere onto the left panel upload zone or click the box to choose a file with your native file picker.

Privacy note: Files stay in your local browser memory. No data is sent over the network.

Load from URL

Direct Image Link

Paste a direct link to an online image and click Load. The host server must provide standard CORS headers for canvas drawing.

2. Grid & Slicing Settings

Located on the left sidebar. These controls tell SpritePop how to slice your image into individual frames.

Columns

Number (min: 1)

How many frames exist horizontally across each row of the sheet.

Rows

Number (min: 1)

How many frame rows exist vertically down the sprite sheet. Total frames equals Columns multiplied by Rows.

Margin

Pixels (min: 0)

Outer padding around the entire outer perimeter of the sprite sheet before the first frame starts.

Spacing

Pixels (min: 0)

Gap or gutter size in pixels between individual frames.

Offset X & Offset Y

Pixels (min: 0)

Shifts the slice origin horizontally (X) or vertically (Y). Useful when character art has uneven border spacing.

Calculated Frame Size

Read-only Output

Displays the exact pixel width and height calculated for each frame after subtracting offsets, margins, and gaps.

Frame Width = (Source Width - (Offset X * 2) - (Margin * 2) - ((Columns - 1) * Spacing)) / Columns

3. Animation & Timing Controls

Located on the right sidebar. Configure frame rate, direction, playback ranges, and cycling rules.

FPS vs. MS/Frame Mode

Timing Toggle

Choose between Frames Per Second (1 to 60 FPS) for standard game loops or Milliseconds per Frame for millisecond-specific frame pacing.

Start Frame & End Frame

Frame Indices (0-indexed)

Isolate a subsection of a multi-animation sprite sheet. For example, set Start to 0 and End to 7 to preview an 8-frame walk cycle on a sheet that contains other moves. Setting End Frame to 0 uses the maximum available frame count.

Loop Playback

Toggle Switch

When enabled, playback automatically loops back to the start frame after reaching the end frame.

Ping-Pong (Yoyo)

Toggle Switch

Plays the animation forward to the end frame, then plays it backward to the start frame in a continuous bounce cycle.

Reverse Playback

Toggle Switch

Inverts the default animation direction, playing frames in descending order.

4. Preview Controls

Fine-tune the central canvas presentation, scale, and background backdrop.

Zoom (0.1x to 10x)

Slider & Presets

Smoothly scale the frame preview. Image smoothing is disabled on the canvas so pixel art remains crisp with zero anti-aliasing blur.

Use the 1:1 button for native pixel dimensions, or Fit to auto-scale large or tiny frames into the preview area.

Background Backdrop

Select Menu

Change the canvas background to verify transparent silhouettes or test high-contrast visibility. Options include Checkerboard, Dotted Grid, Solid Black, Solid White, Dark Zinc, and high-visibility Cyan, Magenta, or Green.

Show Grid

Toggle Switch

Draws a visible frame border directly over the canvas frame to verify slicing boundaries and check for cut-off pixels.

Onion Skinning

Toggle Switch

Renders a semi-transparent ghost of the previous frame behind the current frame. Ideal for inspecting motion curves, arcs, and frame-to-frame spacing.

5. Timeline Scrubber & Controls

The bottom bar underneath the preview canvas provides visual frame-by-frame navigation.

Play / Pause & Frame Step

Transport Controls

Use the center play button to start or pause playback. Use the previous and next step buttons to inspect individual frames one step at a time.

Timeline Strip

Interactive Rail

Displays numbered tiles for every frame in sequence. Click any tile to jump straight to that frame. The active frame highlights in real time during animation.

6. Export Options

Located in the top-right header of the SpritePop workspace.

Save Frame

Output: PNG

Renders the currently displayed canvas frame into a clean, transparent PNG and initiates an immediate browser download named sprite_frame_[N].png.

Export JSON

Output: SpritePop_Metadata.json

Exports a structured JSON file containing all slice coordinates, timing configurations, frame ranges, and total counts. Ready for integration into your custom game engine or asset loader.

{ "spriteData": { "columns": 9, "rows": 11, "margin": 0, "spacing": 0, "offsetX": 0, "offsetY": 0, "totalFrames": 99 }, "playbackData": { "useFps": true, "fps": 12, "frameMs": 100, "loop": true, "yoyo": false, "reverse": false } }

Ready to test your sprite sheet?

Open the web app directly at app.spritepop.art to start previewing your animations immediately.