---
title: "SpriteIlluminator: Export normal maps for game engines"
description: "Documentation: Export your normal mapped sprites for Unity, Phaser, Cocos2d and other game engines."
canonical: "https://www.codeandweb.com/spriteilluminator/documentation/export"
product: "spriteilluminator"
source: "html"
---

# Exporting and importing normal maps and lit sprites

You can export normal maps from the toolbar or the menu. SpriteIlluminator lets you choose export settings during the first export — if you want to change the settings later use **Export normals as …** in the **Files** menu.

## Exporting normal maps

![SpriteIlluminator: Export normal maps](https://www.codeandweb.com/static/aca1846527a6344967716c7cda868911/9cbe2/export-settings2%402x.png)

The normal maps are placed in the same directory as the sprites with a suffix (**\_n**). You can select a different output directory or suffix in the dialog.

### Transparent background

Use this if you want to copy the transparency from the original sprite to the normal map. This has no practical use and makes the output files usually a bit bigger but looks nice :)

The color information in the pixels is the same as in the case with solid background — even in the transparent pixels.

![Normal mapped sprites with solid background.](https://www.codeandweb.com/static/a8648613eca7791be9099050464652f4/a1e82/with-solid-background%402x.png)

![Normal mapped sprites with transparent background](https://www.codeandweb.com/static/a25950e19fd38cf4ca03fea87463d386/a1e82/with-transparent-background%402x.png)

With solid background

With transparent background.

### Inverted axes

Some game engines require the y-axis in the normal maps to be inverted. You can do that by setting **Invert y-axis** in the output dialog.

![Normal mapped sprites with transparent background](https://www.codeandweb.com/static/a25950e19fd38cf4ca03fea87463d386/a1e82/with-transparent-background%402x.png)

![Normal mapped sprites with transparent background: Y-axis inverted](https://www.codeandweb.com/static/b95c83d7791c2e38179d86e2e26ce0f4/a1e82/inverted-axis%402x.png)

Default axis

Inverted axes

### Z-Axis (Encoding)

In versions prior to **SpriteIlluminator 2.1.0**, the full 8-bit range (`0–255`) was used to encode the Z-axis of the normal map. This allowed for high precision when mapping values from `0.0` to `1.0`, but required custom shaders to interpret the data correctly. **(Z-Axis: 8-bit, requires shader support)**

Starting with **SpriteIlluminator 2.1.0**, the Z-axis is by default encoded using only the upper half of the byte range (`128–255`). This matches the convention used for the X and Y axes and ensures better compatibility with standard shaders. **(Z-Axis: 7-bit, best compatibility)**

For backward compatibility, existing projects created with older versions will continue to use the 8-bit mode. New projects default to the 7-bit encoding.

You can switch between encoding modes via the **Export normals as...** dialog.

## Exporting lit sprites

Use the menu or toolbar to export lit sprites as a preview. The export uses your current light settings. Here are some examples what you can export:

![Sprite light effects with normal maps: Yellow light](https://www.codeandweb.com/static/1d55419125ba3b16b2da56c12333e4fd/a1e82/yellow%402x.png)

![Sprite light effects with normal maps: White light](https://www.codeandweb.com/static/e9a96dc99b2032b36a4eac8d6e29e0c5/a1e82/white%402x.png)

![Sprite light effects with normal maps: Blue light](https://www.codeandweb.com/static/b7b8433d33517602e506ac6464cf9423/a1e82/blue%402x.png)

Yellow light from above

White light

Blue ambient light,  
red light from below

## Exporting gif animations

You can also export animated GIFs using:

![Sprite with normal map and light effect rendered as gif animation.](https://www.codeandweb.com/static/spriteilluminator-animation@2x-b5b73323327b9b38fbe00819888133bc.gif)

## Importing normal maps

Use the menu **Edit / Import normal map…** after selecting a sprite to import an existing normal map.

Normal maps with the standard y-axis are supported. The normal map must have the same size as the sprite.

## In this section

- [Graphical User Interface](https://www.codeandweb.com/spriteilluminator/documentation.md)
- [Effects](https://www.codeandweb.com/spriteilluminator/documentation/effects.md)
- [Draw tools](https://www.codeandweb.com/spriteilluminator/documentation/draw-tools.md)
- [Selection tools](https://www.codeandweb.com/spriteilluminator/documentation/selection-tools.md)