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Lighting

Lighting directly affects how your sprites look. Sprite Sheet Helper supports four light types that you can combine to achieve the look you want.

Light Types

Ambient Light

Fills the entire scene with uniform light from all directions. Use it to prevent completely dark shadows and control the overall brightness floor.

  • Intensity — How bright the ambient fill is. Start low (0.2–0.5) to avoid washing out shadows.
  • Color — Tint the ambient light for mood (e.g. cool blue for night scenes).

Directional Light

A sun-like light that shines from one direction across the whole scene. It casts parallel shadows and is the primary light in most setups.

  • Intensity — Brightness of the light.
  • Color — Color of the light.
  • Position — Determines the direction the light comes from.

Point Light

Emits light in all directions from a single point in space, like a light bulb or torch. Useful for local light sources.

  • Intensity — Brightness.
  • Color — Light color.
  • Distance — How far the light reaches before it falls off.
  • Position — Where in the scene the light is placed.

Spot Light

A focused cone of light, like a flashlight or stage spotlight.

  • Intensity — Brightness.
  • Color — Light color.
  • Angle — Width of the cone.
  • Penumbra — Softness of the cone edge.
  • Distance — Maximum reach.
  • Position / Target — Origin and direction of the beam.

Flat, even lighting — One ambient light at full intensity, no other lights. Good for pixel art or stylized sprites.

Three-point lighting — A key directional light, a softer fill light on the opposite side, and a rim light behind the model. Creates professional-looking depth.

Stylized top-down — Directional light from slightly above center, low ambient to keep shadows visible.

Tips

  • Use the Color picker to warm or cool your key light for different time-of-day moods.
  • Add a subtle blue ambient light to simulate outdoor skylight bounce.
  • Keep your lighting consistent across all animation frames — lights don't animate.