Gradient overlays a solid color or customizable two-color gradient palette across the rendered image, compositing into the scene through 24 versatile blending modes. It is frequently employed for global tonal washes, directional lighting tints, or soft atmospheric halos encasing the avatar silhouette.
It functions equally well as a global scene effect across the entire viewport or as a dedicated layer effect scoped to an individual model or object layer, exposing an identical set of configuration controls in both contexts.
Controls
| Control | Range | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gradient Type | Solid / Linear / Circle / Ellipse | Circle | Geometric distribution pattern of the gradient |
| Blending Mode | 24 modes | Normal | Blend mode used to composite the gradient over the base image |
| Color | Hex | #ffffff | Primary gradient accent color |
| Transparent Background | Switch | Off | Preserves empty viewport alpha, restricting the gradient to rendered objects |
| Opacity | 0 – 1 | 1 | Global compositing opacity of the gradient overlay |
Under the Normal blend mode with Opacity at 1, the gradient completely obscures underlying content. Enabling the effect at default settings displays a radial vignette transitioning from white in the center to black at the edges. Select another Blending Mode or reduce Opacity to allow the underlying scene to show through.
Gradient Types and Geometry
The Solid type flood-fills the target area with Color alone. Linear transitions across the frame from Color to Background Color along an adjustable angle, while Circle and Ellipse radiate outward from an anchor center, placing Color at the core and Background Color along the periphery.
All non-solid types reveal extended geometry controls. Angle is accessible for Linear and Ellipse, while Scale X and Scale Y apply exclusively to Ellipse:
| Control | Range | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Background Color | Hex | #000000 | Secondary gradient accent color |
| Invert Gradient | Switch | Off | Swaps the inner and outer color distributions |
| Center X | −1 – 1 | 0 | Horizontal coordinate offset of the gradient center |
| Center Y | −1 – 1 | 0 | Vertical coordinate offset of the gradient center |
| Radius | 0 – 3 | 1 | Radial spread distance, or transition midpoint on linear gradients |
| Smoothness | 0 – 5 | 1 | Softness and falloff curvature across the two-color boundary |
| Angle | −180 – 180° | 0° | Clockwise rotation angle of the gradient axis |
| Scale X | 0 – 2 | 1 | Horizontal aspect stretch factor for elliptical gradients |
| Scale Y | 0 – 2 | 0.5 | Vertical aspect stretch factor for elliptical gradients |
Switching to Solid merely conceals these controls without discarding tuned values; returning to a patterned gradient restores previous geometry settings intact.
Shape and Position
Radius determines how far Color propagates outward from the center in Circle or Ellipse modes; in Linear mode, it shifts the spatial balance of the color transition along the gradient axis. Smoothness governs boundary feathering—a value of 0 yields a razor-sharp demarcation line.
Center X and Center Y translate the origin point across normalized screen coordinates. Positive values shift right and upward; ±0.5 positions the center precisely along viewport edges.
Angle applies clockwise rotation. At 0°, a Linear gradient descends vertically from Color at the top to Background Color at the bottom. Scale X and Scale Y deform an Ellipse along its local axes; defaults produce an ellipse twice as wide as it is tall.
Invert Gradient swaps the positions of the two colors—placing Background Color at the center or origin—without changing chosen palette values.
Blending Modes
Blending Mode provides 24 standard compositing modes. Normal composites the gradient directly over the frame modulated solely by Opacity.
Multiply deepens shadows and darkens the frame with gradient hues, Screen lifts luminance for additive highlights, Overlay and Soft Light infuse tonal color while maintaining underlying contrast dynamics, and Color replaces hue and saturation without modifying underlying grayscale luminance.
Transparency Handling
Transparent Background is unique to the scene-level gradient, governing how empty or transparent areas are handled. Solid or image backgrounds set in the Stage panel reside behind 3D models, leaving the area around avatars transparent to post-processing passes:
- Off — The gradient fills the entire frame at designated Opacity, covering stage backgrounds or showing over desktop backdrops.
- On — Preserves transparent areas, applying the gradient only over rendered models and avatars.
Layer-level gradients omit this toggle because they inherently operate bounded by the host layer's alpha silhouette, preserving surrounding transparency by default.
Processing Order
Gradient executes after select colors (following the completion of all core color grading stages) and before blur. This guarantees that color grading will not distort authored gradient tones, while subsequent blur passes smoothly soften gradient boundaries alongside the image. When applied as a layer effect, it occupies the identical relative tier within the layer's local processing graph.
Last updated on October 11, 2026