This is a generator for Godot 4 shaders. They limit the amount of color used in your render, by matching individual pixels to the nearest color from a predefined palette.
The palettes used are defined from Lospec - database of palettes for pixel art.
This simple generator will help you easily achieve a nostalgic, retro look with your games.
The shader base is based on TheBuffED's great implementation, a tutorial on which you can find on YouTube. Please help show appreciation by supporting his channel and work! 😊
This script runs using Python. It was built using version 3.11.
The script also uses Pillow package, for color conversion. You can install it by running:
pip install pillow
For utilizing the shaders, I use Godot 4.
Firstly, you need to download a palette you'd like to use. I recommend using palettes with more colors, especially for 3D, as you need to make sure your game is still readable, even with less values.
Go to Lospec, and browse for a palette you like. After that, download the "Paint(.)net TXT" file, as this script has been adjusted to work with it.
You can run the script either from the console, or an IDE (such as PyCharm). Using the console is the most straight-forward, if you do not wish to make any code adjustments. There is one optional argument for running the script, and that is the palette file path. By default, it will target the Apollo palette in the sample data.
To execute the script on your own palette, run the following command (from the root folder):
python generate_shader.py "{PATH_TO_PALETTE_TXT_FILE}"
Make sure to alter the palette file path. Both relative and absolute paths will work, and the exported .gdshader will always be in the "export" folder. If your paths include blank spaces, don't forget to use apostrophes.
Examples of running the command:
- python generate_shader.py
- python generate_shader.py "D:\Documents\Color Palettes\godot-palette-shader-generator\sample_data\duel.txt"
- python generate_shader.py "sample_data\apollo.txt"
- python generate_shader.py sample_data\apollo.txt
After importing the shader file to your Godot project, create a new 2D ColorRect node, and make sure it is atop other nodes. Set its size to cover the entire viewport, and apply a material with a newly defined shader. Thats all!
Depending on if your game is 2D or 3D, and how you handle camera movement, you might want to place your ColorRect on a CanvasLayer, to make sure it always covers the entirety of the screen.
In the sample_data and export folder, you will find some example palettes and their generated shaders respectively. Feel free to try them out!
