Costumes, Backdrops and Sounds
In Scratch you pick costumes, backdrops and sounds from built-in libraries, and you can upload your own as well.
Scratch for Java has a built-in library too. 922 pictures and 266 sounds ship inside the library, so you can start a project without downloading anything:
this.addCostume("bunny1_stand");
this.addBackdrop("background");
this.addSound("handleCoins");Browse them here, both pages have a search box:
- Sprites — click a picture to copy the line that uses it
- Sounds — press play to listen before you choose
The artwork and sounds are by Kenney and are released under CC0, which means you may use them for anything, including things you sell, without asking or crediting anyone.
Using your own files
Once you want something that is not in the library, give a path instead of a name:
this.addCostume("hero", "assets/hero.png");Anything with a file ending is treated as a path, anything without one is looked up in the built-in library.
Which way a costume faces
A sprite with direction 90 faces right, just like in Scratch. That is why every
built-in sprite with a front - a ship, a fish, a laser - is drawn facing right:
move takes it where it is looking, and pointTowardsMousePointer turns its
nose to the mouse.
Draw your own costumes the same way, facing right. A picture drawn facing up would otherwise fly sideways. If you found one that faces another way, turn or mirror it in an image editor, such as one of those listed below, before you use it.
What Scratch for Java does not have is Scratch's paint and sound editors, so for making or changing files you need separate tools. The rest of this page is a list of places to find and edit them.
Where to find more graphics
You can search the following sources for free graphics, which you can use for costumes or backdrop.
If you want to modify a graphic file or want to create your own, you can use the following tools:
Sounds
For sounds, you can search the following sources:
For modifying or creating your own sounds you can use: