SpriteIlluminator Documentation
Create your first normal map
- Drag & drop your sprites to the sprites panel on the left. You can drag single images or whole folders
- Select the sprite you want to create a normal map for
- Use Effects / Bevel to extrude the sprite
- Press Publish.
Sprites Panel
Preview Panel
Tools Sidebar
Tool Bar
Project
Open existing project to continue editing.
With this save file you can continue editing later. Use Publish to write your normal maps.
Sprites
Add new sprites to the project, supported formats are: .png, .jpg or folders.
You can also add sprites by dropping them into the preview or the sprite list.
Removes an image from the project. This also deletes the normal map.
History
Undo your last action.
Redo your last action.
Publish
Writes all normal maps in the project. Also allows you to specify how and where the maps are written.
Writes all normal maps with using the previous settings.
Help & Feedback
Opens SpriteIlluminator's tutorial page in your webbrowser.
You think we can do better? Just let us know!
Sprites panel
Sprites
The list contains all sprites in your SpriteIlluminator project.
Add sprites by dragging and dropping them onto the list.
Or use Add Sprites from the
tool bar.
Select a single sprite to edit / paint it.
Select multiple sprites to preview them all together. You can move them in the previewer to see how they fit together.
You can also apply effects to multiple sprites at the same time.
Global light
Options to change the global lighting in your scene:
- Z position
- Change the Z value of the light source. 0 is next to the sprite. Bigger values move the light source away from the sprite - towards the beholder.
- Brightness
- Make your light darker or brighter
- Light color
- Change the color of the light source
- Ambient light color
- Change the color of the ambient light
- Auto-rotate light
- Animate the light source
Display modes
Texture
The original unlighted texture
Lighted surface
Surface, no texture colors
Lighted texture
Texture and light
Normal map
The normal map
Preview / Center Panel
Zoom
The zoom panel is located in the bottom left corner of the application.
- Use the slider to zoom in or out continuously
- Click
-or+to zoom in predefined steps. 1:1sets zoom factor to 100%.- To view the complete scene window use
Fit.
Light source
The light source is represented as a colored dot.
You can drag it with your mouse to see how the sprite is lighted.
The light source is only available in display modes Lighted Surface and Lighted Texture
Tools
Effect tools
Bevel
Add volume on a sprite's shape, can be used on the sprite's opacity or on a selection.
Select multiple sprites from the sprite list to work apply the effect to all of them.
- Bevel width
- Width of the bevel, distance in pixels from the border of the sprite or selection
- Bevel height
- Height of the bevel, relative to the distance
- Smoothness
- Blur that is applied to the bevel, can be used to reduce artefacts or create soft surfaces.
Sprite borders are treated as tile borders. The bevel is added to bottom, left and right.
Sprite borders are treated as inside. The bevel is added only to the top.
Emboss
Add volume inside a sprite and / or make structure stand out.
This effect works on luminosity differences in the sprite's texture. Different brightness levels are considered to have different heights.
Can also be used on a selection.
Select multiple sprites from the sprite list to work apply the effect to all of them.
- Emboss height
- Height of the emboss, relative to the distance
- Smoothness
- Blur that is applied to the emboss, can be used to reduce artefacts or create soft surfaces.
- Direction
- Choose if you want to use emboss up or down.
Draw tools
Height brush
The height brush raises or lowers parts of the image.
A bevel is created around the brush stroke.
Choose different border shapes by selecting Contour
Angle brush
Directly draw on the heightmap.
AnglePicker
Choose the angle to draw using the angle picker. The white square shows
the orientation of the final surface.
Continuous mode
Discrete mode
Eraser
Eraser is a special version of the AngleBrush resetting the normal map to the neutral position.
With opacity set to a low value it can be used to soften extreme angles.
Structure
Paint structure to the normal map.
SpriteIlluminator comes with a bunch of different presets but you can also add your own patterns in the preferences.
Make sure to restart SpriteIlluminator after changing the directory.
Selection tools
Color
/ Magic Wand
Create a selection based on the sprite's color.
Click on a part of the Sprite — the tool selects surrounding pixels with a color close to the one clicked.
Adjust Tolerance — even after clicking parts of the sprite — to adjust the amount of selected pixels.
Polygon selection
Create a selection by drawing a polygon.
Click on the preview to start a selection. Successive clicks add points to the polygon.