> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.pixelatestudio.tomblack.ca/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Lines

> Draw pixel lines: an outline around the sprite, an inline, and interior lines from colors, normals, and depth.

Lines draws crisp, one-pixel-clean lines on your sprites. It has five line types you can combine:

* **Outline**: a line around the sprite's silhouette, in the empty pixels outside it.
* **Inline**: a line on the sprite's own edge pixels, so the footprint stays the same.
* **Colors Line**: a line where two colors you pick touch.
* **Normal Line**: interior lines where the surface bends sharply, such as the edges of a box.
* **Depth Line**: interior lines where one surface stands in front of another, such as an object on a table or an arm in front of the body.

<img src="https://mintcdn.com/pixelate-studio/DbhZ9NuI41cwifFq/images/effect-lines.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=DbhZ9NuI41cwifFq&q=85&s=fdcd709ecf25428faf022eb599988b7d" alt="A small isometric scene with no lines, then adding a white Outline, a black Inline, Normal Line highlights, Depth Line, and a Colors Line where the rug meets the table" width="1122" height="752" data-path="images/effect-lines.png" />

A new Lines effect has only **Outline** on. Each line type is a checkbox; its settings appear below it while it is on.

## Outline

| Setting | What it does |
| - | - |
| **Size (px)** | Width of the line, 1 to 8 pixels. |
| **Corners** | **Rounded** (default): diagonal edges stay one pixel wide and corners are softened, the usual pixel-art look. **Square**: corners are closed and diagonal steps are doubled. |
| **Fill** | **Shaded** (default): a darker shade of the sprite pixel next to the line. **Color**: the color you pick. **Darkest Palette Color**: the darkest color of the active Color Palette. |
| **Color** / **Darken (%)** | The line color for **Color**, or how much darker the line is for **Shaded** (0 keeps the color, 100 is black). |

Leave at least **Size** pixels of empty space around the source in the cell, or the outline is cut off at the cell edge. Pixelate Pro warns you when that happens.

## Inline

**Size**, **Fill**, and **Color** / **Darken** work like the Outline's. The Color's alpha (the bar under the swatch) blends the line with the pixel under it, so a half-transparent black darkens the edge instead of covering it.

## Colors Line

| Setting | What it does |
| - | - |
| **From Color** / **To Color** | The line goes where From pixels touch To pixels. Colors must match exactly, so pick them from the active palette. A hint shows the palette color used when yours is not in it. |
| **Invert** | Draws the line on the To side of the boundary instead of the From side. |
| **Fill** / **Line Color** | The line's color, as for the Inline. |

## Normal Line

Normal Line finds creases in the captured normals. It needs a 3D model or prefab source.

| Setting | What it does |
| - | - |
| **Threshold (%)** | How sharp a bend must be to get a line, measured like PixelOver's Threshold: 30% (default) lines bends of about 45 degrees and more, 100% only right angles. Lower draws more lines. |
| **Invert** | Draws each line on the other side of the edge. By default, like PixelOver, it goes on the surface facing down and to the left: a box's rim is lined on its side faces below the top, an object's left edge on the object, and its right edge on the surface behind it. |
| **Inward Fill** / **Color** | Inward edges: creases, and the edges where an object stands on or in front of another surface. Default **Shaded**; a dark, semi-transparent Color works too. Choose **None** to draw nothing there. |
| **Outward Fill** / **Color** | Outward edges: convex rims, such as the edges of a box or the cap of a log. Default: white at 50%, a soft highlight. |

## Depth Line

Depth Line finds places where one surface is in front of another, using a depth layer Pixelate Pro captures for it. It needs a 3D model or prefab source.

| Setting | What it does |
| - | - |
| **Threshold (%)** | The smallest depth gap that gets a line, as a percentage of the source's size, so it works the same at any scale. The default 5% also lines parts that are close together, such as an arm in front of the body. Around 10% lines only objects clearly in front of a surface and skips small steps within one object, such as the stacked tiers of a tree (10% matches PixelOver's 30% on a small isometric scene). Lower separates parts that are closer together. |
| **Invert** | Draws the line on the edge of the part in front instead of on the surface behind it. By default the line outlines the part in front on the surface behind, like the Outline does around the sprite. |
| **Fill** / **Color** | The line's color. **Shaded** gives a lighter interior line than a dark outline, the usual pixel-art convention. |

Where two surfaces touch (feet on the floor, a mug on a table) the depth gap fades to zero, so no line is drawn there and objects don't look like they float.

When Normal Line and Depth Line are both on, they never double up into a 2-pixel line: where one object stands in front of another, a Normal Line is kept only on the side the Depth Line takes (the surface behind), and there the Depth Line is blended over it, as in PixelOver (black 39% under black 59% gives about 75% black). An opaque Depth Line covers it. A part only 1 or 2 pixels wide, such as a thin post or the front of a rug, keeps its own pixels: its lines go on the surfaces around it instead of covering it. Lines never clump into 2x2 blocks where they meet.

## Options

| Setting | What it does |
| - | - |
| **Lines Only** | Outputs only the line pixels; everything else is transparent. Use it to export the lines as their own layer. |
| **Indexed** | Shown when a Color Palette is active. On (default): every line pixel is a palette color, and semi-transparent lines are snapped again after blending. A blended line never takes the color of the pixels around it, which would make the next surface look one pixel bigger: it uses the nearest palette color that stands out, or leaves the pixel as it is when the palette has none (add a lighter or darker shade to the palette to show it). Off: your colors are used exactly. |
| **Min Line Length (px)** | Shown when Colors, Normal, or Depth Line is on. Removes interior line pieces shorter than this, so small specks don't flicker between animation frames. Default 4; lower it to keep short details on large sprites. |

## Tips

* The **Golden Hour**, **Moonlit**, **Ember** and **Sorbet** sample profiles use a 1 px Darkest Palette Color outline with rounded corners.
* A look close to PixelOver's on a small isometric scene: a white Outline, a black Inline, Normal Line with white and black lines at 39%, and Depth Line in black at 59%, all Indexed. The palette includes white and shades for the semi-transparent lines, so Indexed keeps them visible. Like PixelOver's palette it needs no pure black, so the black Inline takes the palette's darkest color. The Depth Line Threshold is 10%. With an Auto palette, add those colors (or use a Custom palette) when your line colors are not in the sprite.
* Coming from PixelOver: the settings map one to one. Normal Line's Threshold uses the same percentage. Depth Line's Threshold is measured differently: start from 5% for characters, or around 10% for scenes like PixelOver's (its 30% on that scene).
* Turning on **Normal Line** in Unlit, or **Depth Line** in any mode, captures that layer once. Every other Lines change updates the Preview without recapturing.
* **Darkest Palette Color** needs an enabled Color Palette. Without one the line is black.
* Lines runs after Dithering and before Palette Swap, so Palette Swap also recolors palette-colored lines.


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