> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://items.lodemc.net/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Glowing textures for items, blocks, props and armour

> Make parts of any texture glow in the dark with an _emissive.png beside it: items, blocks, props, armour and paintings, with or without shader packs.

To make part of a texture glow, put a second picture next to it with the same name plus `_emissive`. Lode Items draws it over the texture at full brightness, so those pixels shine even at night or deep in a cave. There's no config key: the file being there is enough.

```text theme={null}
items/weapons/ember_blade/
├── ember_blade.yml
├── ember_blade.png            the sword
└── ember_blade_emissive.png   only the molten core and the gem, everything else transparent
```

```yaml items/weapons/ember_blade/ember_blade.yml theme={null}
ember_blade:
  material: iron_sword
  name: "<gold>Ember Blade"
  texture: ember_blade.png      # ember_blade_emissive.png beside it makes parts of it glow
```

## Drawing the glow

* Make it the **same size** as the texture. Paint the parts that should glow, and leave the rest transparent.
* Its pixels are drawn **over** the texture, so you can paint them in a brighter colour than the texture has there, or copy the texture's own pixels to make them glow as they are.
* Draw glowing pixels **opaque**. Pixels less than half opaque only tint the texture, without glowing.
* For an **animated** texture, the glow can be one frame (it's repeated down every frame) or the whole strip. A glow of any other size is stretched to fit, with a warning.

> [!WARNING]
>
> Don't use `interpolate` in the `.mcmeta` of an animated texture that glows. Blended frames break the glow, so it would flicker.

A glowing texture is only drawn bright. It doesn't light up what's around it: give a block or prop `light:` for that.

## Where it works

| Content | How |
| - | - |
| [Items](https://items.lodemc.net/items.md) | Beside the item's `texture`, or beside any texture its `model` uses. |
| [Blocks](https://items.lodemc.net/blocks/looks.md) | Beside `texture`, any of the `textures:` faces, or any texture a block's `model` uses. |
| [Connected blocks](https://items.lodemc.net/blocks/connected-textures.md) | Give `texture` its glow. It's cut into tiles the same way as the texture. |
| [Props](https://items.lodemc.net/props/looks.md) | Beside any texture the model uses. |
| [Armour](https://items.lodemc.net/armor.md) | Beside the worn textures (`body`, `legs` and the other layers). |
| [3D armour](https://items.lodemc.net/armor/3d.md) | In the `.bbmodel`, a texture named like another plus `_emissive` is that texture's glow. A texture loaded from a file can also have a `<file>_emissive.png` beside it. |
| [Paintings](https://items.lodemc.net/paintings.md) | Beside the painting's texture. |

Glyphs and [fluids](https://items.lodemc.net/fluids.md) don't use glowing textures. Fluids have their own `glow` and `light` options instead.

## Shader packs

Shader packs draw the game in their own way, so Lode Items adds the glow to the pack in their formats as well:

* **No shader pack:** works for everyone with the resource pack.
* **OptiFine**, and **Entity Texture Features** for entities and armour, read the glow from `_e` textures, which Lode Items writes for you.
* **Iris shader packs that support LabPBR** resource packs read it from `_s` textures, also written for you.

Shader packs that read neither show the texture without its glow.

> [!NOTE]
>
> Without shader packs, glowing needs Lode Items' own versions of some of the game's shaders. They're only added to the pack when something glows. Another resource pack that replaces the same shaders can't be used at the same time.

## Examples that come with Lode Items

| Example | Glows |
| - | - |
| Ember (`items/materials/ember/`) | Most of the ember. |
| Ember Blade (`items/weapons/ember_blade/`) | Its molten core and the pommel gem. |
| Glacier Greatsword (`items/weapons/glacier_greatsword/`) | The runes and crystals of its 3D model. |
| Lodestone Lamp (`items/props/lodestone/`) | The animated core, while it's on. |
| Lodestone armour (`items/armor/lodestone/`) | The compass rings, from a texture inside the `.bbmodel`. |


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