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Relight

Relight
Filter

Relights artwork with point and directional lights driven by a normal map, with on-canvas light gizmos, ambient and specular controls, and separable light passes.

Relight shades an image as if it had 3D surface detail. Connect the artwork to the Image input and a normal map (typically from the Normal Map node) to the Normal input, then place lights: point lights with position, radius, and falloff, or directional lights that rake the whole frame from an angle. Each light has its own color and intensity, and you position them by dragging gizmos directly on the preview.

Ambient sets the uniform base illumination that keeps unlit areas from going black. The optional Blinn-Phong specular pass adds glossy highlights, with Strength and Glossiness shared across all lights. A Convention switch reads either OpenGL-style (Y+ up) or DirectX-style (Y+ down) normal maps, and Normal Strength scales the surface tilt before lighting, so you can exaggerate or flatten the relief.

Output Mode returns the finished Lit image, or the raw passes for compositing: Lighting only (multiply it over the original) and Specular only (add it on top). In a 32-bit (float) document, light intensities can go overbright for HDR-style results.

Parameters

Section titled “Parameters”

Pins

ImageImage
InputRequired
NormalImage
InputRequired
ImageImage
Output

Ambient

Ambient ColorColor (RGB)
Default: rgb(255, 255, 255)

Ambient light color

Ambient IntensityNumber
Default: 0.15 Range: 0.00–1.00

Uniform base illumination applied everywhere.

In 32-bit mode values above the slider maximum are accepted for overbright ambient light.

Specular

SpecularToggle
Default: false

Enable a global Blinn-Phong specular highlight. Each light contributes through the shared Strength and Glossiness

StrengthNumber
Default: 0.50 Range: 0.00–2.00
Specular = on

Global specular highlight strength

GlossinessNumber
Default: 32 Range: 1–256
Specular = on

Blinn-Phong exponent. Higher = tighter, sharper highlights

Normal Map

ConventionChoice
Default: OpenGL (Y+ up)

Green-channel orientation of the normal map

  • OpenGL (Y+ up)Green channel points up. Matches the Normal Map node's output and most OpenGL-style maps.
  • DirectX (Y+ down)Green channel points down. Matches Unity/Unreal-style maps.
StrengthNumber
Default: 1.00 Range: 0.00–2.00

Scales the normal's XY tilt before lighting. 0 = flat (lighting ignores the normal map)

Output

ModeChoice
Default: Lit image
  • Lit imageThe composed result: the artwork times (ambient + diffuse), plus specular.
  • Lighting onlyJust the multiplier light pass (ambient + diffuse). Multiply it over the original image to rebuild the lit result.
  • Specular onlyJust the additive highlight pass (black unless Specular is on). Add it on top with Merge's Plus operator.

Lights

LightsData

Light list (point / directional), edited via the Lights panel and the canvas manipulator

Usage Tips

Section titled “Usage Tips”
  • Generate the normal input with the Normal Map node for a quick height-to-relief pipeline on any texture or illustration.
  • Use a directional light with low ambient for dramatic raking light that makes surface texture pop.
  • Set Output Mode to Lighting only or Specular only to grade the passes separately, then recombine with Composite (Multiply) and Merge (Plus).
  • If the relief looks inverted (bumps read as dents), switch the Convention between OpenGL and DirectX.
Section titled “Related Nodes”