How to modify sprites in Scratch

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Sometimes, there are sprites in the Scratch library that are pretty close to what you want, but not quite right. At other times, you find a great sprite but it doesn’t have as many costumes as you need. When that happens, you don’t have to create your own from the beginning. Read on to learn how to modify sprites in Scratch.

Liam has been working on modified sprites on a couple of his current projects. Sometimes, he also draws them directly onto the canvas. Check out his volcanic eruption project, and the racing car sprite for a game he created.

Change the colour of a birthday cake sprite

For something like a cake, you want to be able to customise the colour of the icing and the candles. Fortunately, colour changes are very quick and easy to do. Use the mouse pointer to select the element you want, and then use the colour selection box in the top left corner of the canvas to choose a new colour. There are options to change the fill colour and outline colour separately.

A few little tricks for changing colours

To change several elements to the same colour, you can select them all at the same time by holding SHIFT and clicking on each one.

If you’ve got a colour you like, but want to make another element the same, select it and open the colour selector. At the bottom of that box is a little image of a dropper. Click on it and then move your mouse back onto the sprite. Hovering over the colour you want will pick up that colour, then click to select it.

Modify a dinosaur sprite by adding extra heads

Have a look at the three-headed dinosaur. He started as a normal brachiosaurus, with just one head. There were a few changes to the dinosaur to get him looking right.

The eyes were too small, and in the wrong position. To change them, here’s what we did:

• Use the mouse pointer to drag over the eyes and select them
• Click ‘ungroup’ at the top
• Select just the eye that is floating in mid-air and delete it
• Select the remaining eye, and drag one corner of the outline box to make it bigger

Now, to add extra heads to the dinosaur:

• Select the whole dinosaur by drawing a box over it, and click ‘group’ on the top menu
• Drag the dinosaur into a corner of the canvas so you’ve got room to work
• Copy and paste the dinosaur twice, to create extra copies
• Use the erase tool on the left-hand menu to remove the body, tail and legs of the second dinosaur. You want to have just the head and neck remaining
• Flip the head using the ‘flip horizontally’ button on the top menu
• Drag it into place on the original dinosaur

Use the paintbrush tool to colour over any outlines that you don’t want, and then select the whole dinosaur to group it.

Do the same again to add the third head. You can also copy and paste heads from other costumes to get different looks.

Modify sprites to make the duck fly with multiple costumes

The duck is a great example of how you can modify sprites in Scratch to give them different actions and appearances. The basic costume starts off standing still and pointing with one wing. But, he doesn’t have any costumes to look like he’s flying. By modifying the sprite’s body position, he can look completely different.

Start by grouping the various pieces of the duck, like each wing, his beak, his eyes etc.

Grouping

To make sure that several elements stay together when you move them, use grouping. On the duck, the outline of his beak and the orange fill colour are separate elements. But, they need to stay together. Draw a rectangle over both to select them together, and click the ‘group’ button at the top of the canvas. Now, when you click the beak and drag it to a new location, both elements will move as one.

Move each group off to one side, so that they’re easy to pick up, but out of the way. Then, start rotating and realigning each group.

Rotating & realigning

Select the body of the duck, without his wings, eyes, legs or beak. At the bottom of the outline box, there’s a curved arrow pointing in each direction. Click on it and drag it round to rotate the duck’s body. Aim for about 90 degree rotation, maybe slightly less. You can tweak this as you go if needed.

Do the same with each wing of the duck. Think about where his wings would be as they flapped, and build up one of those positions. You can also use the ‘flip horizontally’ button on the top menu to get the feathers pointing behind him. When you’re happy with the angle of the wing, drag it into place on the duck.

Once the body and wings are looking good, start working on the feet. Just like the other elements, rotate one leg so it’s extended behind him, and drag it into place. Then repeat for the second leg. These could be quite hidden by the wings, depending on how you choose to place them, and that’s ok.

For the eyes, you may only need one, because the duck should be watching where he’s flying! Put the first eye into place on the side of his head, and rotate it to an angle that suits the new line of his head. Then, have a look at whether you still need the second eye. It might just be hidden on the other side, so you can go ahead and delete it.

Making multiple costumes

When your new duck costume is done, select over all the elements and group them together.

To make another costume for the flying duck, you’ll want the body, legs and eyes in the same position, with just a small modification to the wings. To do this, copy the whole duck, and paste him onto a new blank canvas. Ungroup the elements, and modify your sprite again by rotating and realigning the wings. If you want to also change the angle of the feet or eyes, go for it. You can make as many copies as you need, and the ducks flying action will look smoother if you have lots of costumes with minor changes.

Try modifying your own sprites in Scratch

Why not try modifying your own sprites in Scratch now? Change the colours, make them face another direction, change their expression… the choice is yours!!

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