Unity Pixel Art Blurry — Sprite Import Settings That Fix It
Pixel art usually looks soft in Unity because the texture was imported with filtering and compression, or because Max Size is smaller than the sheet and Unity scaled it down. If the sprite is sharp while standing still and only smears or shimmers while it or the camera moves, that is sub-pixel movement: a scene setting, not an import setting.
- Unity 6Verified· Unity 6000.5.3f1
- Godot 4Verified· Godot 4.7.2
- Phaser 3 / 4Verified· Phaser 3.90 + 4.2
- PixiJS 8Verified· PixiJS 8.21
- Aseprite JSONVerified· Phaser load.aseprite · PixiJS 8.21
- .asepriteVerified· Aseprite 1.3.18
- Spine / libGDXVerified· spine-canvas 4.2
- Starling / Sparrow XMLVerified· Phaser 4.2
- LÖVEVerified· LÖVE 11.5
- DefoldBuilt· Defold bob.jar 1.13.1
- GameMakerUNVERIFIED
- CSS spritesVerified· Chromium
- GIF / APNGDecoded· Pillow
What it does
- The bundle's NerulioSpriteImporter.cs sets every atlas page to Sprite, Multiple, Filter Mode Point and Compression Uncompressed, with mipmaps off.
- Max Size is raised to the next power of two that holds the page, so Unity never shrinks a large sheet behind your back.
- One sprite rect per frame in whole pixels, y flipped for Unity's bottom-left origin, with the pivot normalised inside the trimmed rect so frames stay aligned.
- Pixels Per Unit is a plain number in the exported JSON (pixelsPerUnit, 100 by default) that the importer applies to every page; set it to your grid before importing.
- Checked in Unity 6000.5.3f1 batch mode: sprite rects, pivots, pixels, clip keys and durations came back as exported.
How to do it
- Drop the sheet (then Apply), numbered frames, a GIF or an .aseprite file.
- Open Pack & Export and export for Unity 6.
- Open the exported .json and change pixelsPerUnit from 100 to your art's grid, for example 16.
- Copy the PNG, the JSON and the Editor folder into Assets/, then run Tools › Nerulio › Import Studio JSON.
- If the art only blurs while moving, set up the camera for pixel art (for example Unity's Pixel Perfect Camera with the same PPU).
Unity pixel-art settings and who sets them
| Setting | Value for pixel art | Set by the bundle? |
|---|---|---|
| Texture Type, Sprite Mode | Sprite, Multiple | Yes, by the importer script |
| Filter Mode | Point (no filter) | Yes |
| Compression | None (Uncompressed) | Yes |
| Generate Mip Maps | Off | Yes |
| Max Size | At least the page's longest side | Yes, raised to the next power of two that fits |
| Pixels Per Unit | Your art grid, e.g. 16 | From pixelsPerUnit in the JSON: 100 unless you edit it |
| Sprite rects and pivots | Whole pixels, pivots from your frames | Yes, one SpriteRect per frame |
| Camera for moving pixel art | A pixel-perfect camera with the same PPU | No: a scene setting the bundle leaves alone |
Engine exports and how each was checked
"Verified" means the exported files were loaded by the real engine or tool on real CC0 assets and the result was compared with the source. Anything that was not loaded is labelled as such.
| Target | Files | Check |
|---|---|---|
| Godot 4 | .tres SpriteFrames · .tscn AnimatedSprite2D · .png.import | Verified Godot 4.7.2Loaded by Godot; every animation frame drawn and compared with the source file. The scene uses Nearest filtering; rotation is never used. |
| Unity 6 | .unity.json · Editor/NerulioSpriteImporter.cs · AnimationClip | Verified Unity 6000.5.3f1Batch mode: sprite rects, pivots, pixels, clip keys and durations checked. |
| Phaser 3 / 4 | atlas JSON (multiatlas) · .anims.json | Verified Phaser 3.90 + 4.2Frames and animations drawn by both versions. |
| PixiJS 8 | spritesheet JSON · animations · anchor · meta.scale | Verified PixiJS 8.21Rotated and multi-page atlases included. |
| Aseprite JSON | hash / array · frameTags · slices | Verified Phaser load.aseprite · PixiJS 8.21Tags keep their direction and repeat count. |
| .aseprite | layers · tags · durations · slices | Verified Aseprite 1.3.18Opened and rendered by the Aseprite command line. |
| Spine / libGDX | .atlas | Verified spine-canvas 4.2Every region drawn by the Spine runtime, rotated and trimmed; libGDX itself was not run. |
| Starling / Sparrow XML | XML per page | Verified Phaser 4.2Phaser 3.90 draws trimmed XML frames wrongly (its own bug); the "Sparrow XML (Phaser 3)" preset turns trim off and passes in 3.90 and 4.2. |
| LÖVE | Lua quads · nerulio_atlas.lua · main.lua | Verified LÖVE 11.5Every frame drawn and every animation stepped through the shipped helper. |
| Defold | .atlas · .tilesource | Built Defold bob.jar 1.13.1Built by Defold's command-line builder; the built texture's UVs were read back. |
| GameMaker | spr_<name>_stripN.png · gamemaker.json | UNVERIFIEDNot loaded in GameMaker (no headless GameMaker). The strips are cut the way its strip importer cuts them. |
| CSS sprites | .css · preview .html | Verified ChromiumEvery class drawn from the shipped stylesheet. |
| GIF / APNG | one file per animation | Decoded PillowEvery frame and delay decoded again after export; APNG is exact. |
Evidence
Exports: 49 runs in the real engines on real CC0 assets, 47 pass — the 2 failures are Phaser 3.90's trimmed-XML bug, which the Phaser 3 preset avoids. Packer head-to-head on 5 real frame sets (CodeAndWeb free web packer, GAPTools, free-tex-packer): smallest sheet on all 5 with rotation allowed, 4 of 5 without; every frame restored pixel-exact.
Limits
- Polygon (mesh) packing is not offered: none of the verified engines draws a mesh atlas from exported data.
- GameMaker strips are UNVERIFIED in GameMaker itself.
- Scale variants (@0.5x–@4x) use nearest-neighbour only.
- Trimmed Starling XML is drawn wrongly by Phaser 3.90; use the "Sparrow XML (Phaser 3)" preset there.
Questions
My sprite is sharp at rest but smears while walking. Why?
The sprite or the camera sits between screen pixels, so the art is sampled at fractional positions. A pixel-perfect camera setup (such as Unity's Pixel Perfect Camera, set to the same Pixels Per Unit) snaps it. The bundle does not touch your cameras or scenes.
What Pixels Per Unit should I use?
The number of art pixels that should make one Unity unit, usually your tile size (16 or 32). Use the same value for every sprite so they line up on the grid. The export writes 100 unless you change pixelsPerUnit in the JSON.
Why do some pixels look doubled and others not?
Uneven pixel widths come from drawing at a non-integer scale (window size, camera size or object scale), not from the texture. Keep those at whole multiples of your art.
Do I still have to fix the texture settings by hand?
No. The importer sets Point, Uncompressed, no mipmaps and Max Size on each page it imports. Its comments say where to change them if a sheet is not pixel art.
Is it free, and do I need an account?
Everything on these pages is free and works without an account. There is no watermark and no export that is held back.
Are my sprites uploaded?
No. The Studio decodes, packs and exports in this browser tab. Projects are autosaved in the browser (IndexedDB) and can be saved as a .nerulio file.
Does it need Aseprite or an engine plugin installed?
No. .aseprite files are read and written in the browser, and each engine bundle carries what that engine needs (for Godot, the import settings and scene; for Unity and the Godot TileSet, a small editor script).