Turning 2D pixel art into a 3D diorama using Blockbench

[@tsukiiiiiii]

As a Blockbench modeller, seeing BJG making another Blockbench video is a blessing to me

[@yarikzhiga]

As a person who just loves pixel art, BJG making pretty much any video is a blessing to me

[@Amieee]

Blockbench on top

[@huzorg8457]

Tsuki, can't one just add the image through blockbench?

[@4kleidisc]

third came out recently!

[@DenerDoes_Stuff]

blockbench is such an amazing low poly modeling and minecraft software

[@Nightfire613]

The approach you used for the title "proof of concept" would also be really good for planning out a shadow box. You could plan exactly what elements go on each layer without potentially wasting materials

[@ElysianAura]

There's actually a pretty lovely program out there named Crocotile that works really well for this kind of workflow. It uses a sort of tile placing system instead of just mapping any polygon, which kind of makes it feel like using RPG maker but in 3d. I really like it personally.

[@dkpsyhog]

DL2 is one of my favourite Kirbies, really appreciate seeing it here!

[@BJGpixel]

Had a nice speedrun of it while prepping for this - such a fun game! :D

[@alynnzz0491]

​@@BJGpixelSometimes I wish that the Animal Friends' themes wouldn't play over the stage theme. Coo usually gets a pass, however.

[@billrazor6591]

Blockbench is an amazing piece of software and a perfect way for a pixel artist to jump into 3D realm of digital art. Pixel art and low-poly 3D aesthetics fit so well together.

[@neddyf00]

LOVE IT.... This is definitely how a new take on classic Kirby game could look like. Keeping the pixel love, adding 3D space.

[@BurterButterbeans_Studio]

Thanks for the clear instructions! I was able to follow along and used some of Kenney's assets 2D tiny dungeon tiles to make a 3d dungeon starting area 😎✨ For a game jam!

[@GuySoSly]

Your Snake and Barbie models motivated me to get back into 3D and I just published my first short using a model I made in Blockbench. Thanks so much Brandon, you're so smart and funny and cute and cool xoxo

[@pixels_per_minute]

Blockbench is by far my favourite modelling tool for low poly works. The whole pixel art thing is just another cherry on top. I'm so glad you're doing these videos. We definitely need, or want, more.

[@EdrickIvan]

Crocotile is perfect for this, you should try it out.

[@inky2412]

Seeing the title screen popped out in 5 layers was so cool, I really want to try this now!

[@jaredrobinson1953]

Very cool, the rotating title scene with layers reminds me a lot of the 3ds with the game and app titles that would show on the top screen when in the home menu.

[@thoracis]

I have watched every single one of your videos and I neeeed more ❤❤

[@jacobaobert]

sunday mornings are made so much better with your videos.

[@nathonso_edits]

That BMF reference was amazing

[@rubyellis2230]

Now i want to see Grim Girl Hana's world modeled in Blockbench 💀🌸

[@LeeChesnalavage]

This is really cool. It reminded me of the Street Fighter diorama you made out of card. That was literally taking the 2D to another dimension. 😂

[@BJGpixel]

Totally! I think it probably helped having done that before; in terms of the breaking down and layering of it. It really is just digital papercraft 😅

[@LeeChesnalavage]

@@BJGpixel You’ll have to do it again but make Kirby three-dimensional. 😮

[@Gr8GooseYouTube]

@@BJGpixelhow do you do that cool timelapse near the end of the video?

[@bassguitarbill]

Agh this is so sick, what a cool program, and you have such a cool way of working with it, writing numbers on your planes like they're physical index cards and it's a real diorama

[@DadVader]

This is so awesome. It would be cool to have this as 3D printed diorama 🥰

[@BJGpixel]

Totally! I wonder if there's an easy way to export/convert the texture info for that 🤔✨

[@DadVader]

@@BJGpixel yeah me to 🤔☺️

[@davidaugustofc2574]

​@@BJGpixel you can print the textures as stickers, cut and glue them.

[@ImusNoxa]

2D to 3D transformations are really cool! It was a lot of fun seeing you pull Kirby into that extra dimension

[@imperfectimp]

I've been learning Blender lately, and happened to come across Blockbench by chance through the Minecraft community. I'm so jealous of Blockbench's ease of handling UV's.

[@ellesedit]

This is SO creative and cool! the perfect marriage of nostalgic style and modern twist

[@creativejon3792]

Dude, these are so cool. I swear if I had the time I would do something like this as well, but thankfully, I can have these experiences through your videos. Keep em coming Brandon!

[@TheAnnyParker]

For the base texturing, you can select all polygons and then add a new texture, and it should color code everything automatically

[@Syeno]

the styles youre making need to become games. its so retro for the modern time

[@UltraAdamHacker]

I love this style so much I even made my own diorama in blockbench

[@melonypanda3571]

I’ve never done 3D modeling before but this inspired me 🤩🤩

[@Soundy777]

Really straight forward but really visually interesting! Crackin content as always!! Can’t wait for more blockbench

[@SethKotta]

Such a cool little diorama.

[@Chainsawctopus_]

I was just watching a couple of your videos a few minutes ago! Love your stuff ^^

[@boticland4342]

Ya know you could actually make a game with this much level of knowledge. Could you make a legend of Zelda artwork?, or Pokémon, I would love to see it.

[@davidaugustofc2574]

You were on to something

[@abunk8691]

I think this video got recommended to me after watching some TerminalMontage and Kirby glitch videos on YT. Not an artist or anything but the final result you got by separating blocks of pixels into layers was cool. Also reminds me that I need to finish Dreamland 2 at some point.

[@Atovange]

I will never get tired of your cozy pixel art videos

[@toadsworld]

I’m obsessed with your blockbench videos. Your artstyle transfers SO well to 3D!! Keep it up :)

[@beanietasticday]

Kirby’s Dreamland 2 mentioned! Great model by the way!

[@zalhietzli]

Love the concept ! I would love to this more artworks done this way !

[@amanda_g]

I always watch your videos not having a clue what's going on but always love the results! 😂 So fascinating, Ty for sharing! 🙏🏻

[@CKTDanny]

Awesome result from this one!! I think there's something particularly neat about seeing a diorama being modelled and rendered. It's like the cleanest presentation of the physical product. Extra points for translating one of your older artworks into it 🤩 Also I like your workflow of labelling each face. It feels really practical, just like labelling the various faces of a papercraft before unfolding it to draw on it! ✨

[@BJGpixel]

Thanks! 😊 I was actually thinking - there's additional settings in BB for the way the texture file is laid out (...I tend to keep it on the defaults...) - but I'm curious if there's something there that would actually make it viable for papercraft prep... Maybe a future video idea!

[@CKTDanny]

@@BJGpixel That's be a wicked video to see; designing a papercraft in BB and then folding it IRL! 🤩

[@ZaidMustafa-bq2qq]

Hello, i have a question for you ​@@BJGpixel

[@holmat1]

this reminded me of the 3D Classics on the 3DS

[@Poyo494]

One of my favorite Kirby games! Hope you do more Kirby stuff.

[@caliginous6514]

As a heads up, whenever you edit+save the texture file in another program it will update on blockbench in real time, so you dont need to save a different file every time

[@runningchief]

That would be cool way to plan out 8-bit shadowboxes.

[@ZeASK]

This is such a fascinating and cool process to watch, thank you for showing it!

[@chizwiz123]

Nicely done! i can see this as a 3DS game icon that turns when you select it

[@yanlucasdf]

only detail missin is making the 2d planes overlap in a crossshape so they dont get infinitelly thin as you rotate that would involve more drawing for the characters but for simple stuff like the stars and planets it would greatly enhance the effect

[@SammyForReal]

That's such an cool idea, we need more of those ^^

[@robiginal]

Cool video! This video inspired me to make my own with Super Mario Bros. 3 using the same application

[@yytyyy5329]

Love it! Makes me want to learn how to use Blockbench on my laptop. Keep up the great work 👍 😁

[@goyolap]

thanks for blockbench tutorial, love the idea

[@ragcat3732]

I love blockbench and love kirby so this is perfect to me also it came out very well :)

[@Tinyflower1]

for stuff like that crocotile3D is really nice, and I think there are add ons for blender that allow you to do this as well

[@sirenoma3609]

Imagine 3DS port of this game with this style, when 2D sprites is on different layers and terrain is in 3D

[@TheSparkgod]

Great video! This may be a weird ask, but I would be very interested in seeing how you tackle something more horror themed in a pixel art style, maybe something in the style of bloodborne.

[@Wagnerbaum]

I absolutely love this idea, I might try this myself sometime!

[@nobodycarewho]

gave off some super paper mario vibes!

[@dynamicsketch]

This is cool. I might need to play with Blockbench

[@anthawnmcfarlane4567]

Amazing!!! need more of these

[@simpli_A]

I really want to see you do something like actually turning characters from these classic 2d games and making full 3d models, rather than just putting them on a plane

[@artgeometrix6346]

This is a really cool piece of software. I really enjoyed watching this tuturial. Great job.

[@alynnzz0491]

Just seeing the title screen for KDL2 (and well, the thumbnail), I already got an idea for KDL1's title screen. Or more accurately, Hoshi no Kirby 1. The Japanese version's title screen features a small portion representing Green Greens.

[@jerrygeorge312]

Super cool project, your stuff is always so creative 😊

[@KinaStaru]

this is amazing! I loved it!

[@SuperFromND]

this might be a bit ambitious to ask since you might need to learn a more advanced 3d program (Blender), but this reminds me a ton of "HD-2D" games that square enix has been releasing lately (LIVE-A-LIVE remake, the two octopath traveller games, an upcoming remake of dragon quest 3, etc.), have you ever considered trying to make a pixel art piece with that kind of look? i think it'd be an interesting challenge :)

[@ohzenn]

This would make a sick game!

[@willm127]

Looks so awesome!

[@Pebble_StudiosAnimations]

Interesting

[@SuperProxyma]

A really cool video as always ! In blockbench you can move shape in UVs. So you don't have to duplicate the Star shape cube multiple times. you can draw one star and moves all faces to overlap on the part of the texture

[@teo2805]

Another Brandon upload, another day saved

[@davidreavis2056]

This was awesome. Loved it!

[@WieSoof]

This guy should get his own section in the next r/place

[@Boooo]

this is such a cool idea

[@leobrenes4917]

Really I learn a lot with your videos, thanks for all your work!! :D

[@incompletosinti]

more blockbench yay

[@JonBonCat]

So cool. My child self thanks you.

[@BluShiGuy]

Ooooh

[@bobsterhak714]

Awesome work!

[@TheToonamiRevolution]

I possess almost no skills to do what you are doing sir. But fine, you win, I'll subscribe.

[@SporuTheCat]

just a thing i noticed on start, you could have also dropped the original "screenshot" texture over the template you made in blockbench and then change it like that, i use this method a lot :P (even if i dont make much textures)

[@Bu11et_Hel]

This reminds me of the 3ds

[@sirdrakey]

really great

[@Tri-Beam]

Every time I see a character getting hit by a brick or any orange rectangular object I immediately think of the “Hoopla!” Scene from SpongeBob

[@badreality2]

This reminds me of the Super Mario Bros. 2 stage, in Melee.

[@livanbard]

There is a whole game based around on that concept

[@JackOfAllTradez_]

There are a couple, but I was thinking of either paper Mario the thousand year door or super paper mario

[@Tutterzoid]

Awesomeness

[@Lexie_T]

Every one of your videos is so inspiring to me. I would honestly love to take a course from you and learn your way of thinking about pixel art in a much longer format

[@LgdFanta]

blockbench went from being a minecraft addons creator to a minecraft java optifine custom model creator to this now ? damn i didnt know blockbench was used for another things than minecraft

[@ZephaniahNoah]

This reminds me of suckerpinch's 3D NES emulator.

[@LifeAfterBreakfast]

Love it.

[@Detective_Jones]

Now 3d print it!

[@andypine4000]

i have no idea how much this will matter, but i wanted to let you know that every time i see your uploads, i scream "WE LOVE BRANDON JAMES GREER!!!" to my fiance and hit play. ❤😂

[@BIRDBOI]

imagine this in 3d on the 3ds

[@lyghtkruz]

Interesting, you made PaperKirby 😅

[@CriticalMonkey623]

Since you're kinda messing around with Minecraft development tools, I think it would be fun to see what you could do with a couple Minecraft skins. There are online skin makers like skindex, and I'd be interested to see what you would make with it.

[@jibriltv1828]

Make a version with the original gameboy colors. Y'know the green ones

[@JuhoSprite]

I need a game made like this. The closest is probably Paper Mario 3d Land

[@CushionSapp]

Cool

[@dombomb64]

“This is what Kirby will look like in the year 2000!”

[@addmakerhd480]

So cute :)

[@jakefox555]

This reminds me of a videogame called FEZ

[@MACH_SDQ]

Very gooood