Reference board
The board is an endless canvas in the Limner panel, docked next to the viewport. It holds the references of a level: concept art, photos, paintovers, viewport captures, sticky notes and group frames. A board is an asset, so the team gets it through source control like any other asset.
Boards
Section titled “Boards”A board per level
Section titled “A board per level”Click New board in the panel’s header, or choose New board for this level in the board list. Limner creates LB_<LevelName> in the Board Folder (/Game/ArtDirection by default), saves it right away and links it to the open level. If the level hasn’t been saved yet, the board is called LB_Board. A number is added if the name is taken: LB_Forest_2.
With Open Board With Level on (the default), the board of a level becomes active whenever that level is opened, even while the panel is closed, so camera links work right away. If several boards belong to the same level, the first one by name is used.
Opening and closing boards
Section titled “Opening and closing boards”The board list in the header shows every board in the project under Boards in this project; the board of the open level has a check mark. Pick one to open it. Close board stops showing the board and its references.
Double-clicking a board in the Content Browser opens it in the panel as well. You can also create boards from the Content Browser’s Add menu, category Art Direction > Limner Board. Such a board doesn’t belong to a level; to tie it to one, set its Level with Edit Selection in Property Matrix, or use New board for this level instead.
Saving
Section titled “Saving”Every change marks the board as modified. Click Save in the panel’s header, or save it like any asset. If saving fails, for example because somebody else has the board checked out, the status bar says so.
Adding images
Section titled “Adding images”| How | Notes |
|---|---|
| Drag files onto the board | PNG, JPEG, EXR, HDR, TGA, BMP and TIFF. Several files are placed side by side. |
| Drag textures from the Content Browser | The texture’s source image is used, not the compressed texture. |
| Add images > Image files… | A file dialog; select several files at once. |
| Add images > Selected textures in the Content Browser | Adds the textures selected in the Content Browser. |
Paste or Ctrl+V |
An image on the clipboard (Windows). A copied file path adds that file; any other text becomes a note. |
| Add images > Viewport capture | The level viewport as it looks now, in game view without the overlay. |
New images are 480 units on their longest side and are placed to the right of the board’s content. Their title is the file or texture name.
How images are stored
Section titled “How images are stored”Images are stored inside the board asset. Nothing is imported as a texture, and the board doesn’t depend on the original files.
- PNG and JPEG files that fit within Max Image Size (4096 px by default) are stored exactly as they are.
- Larger images, and other formats, are scaled down to fit and stored as PNG if they have transparency or are small, otherwise as JPEG at Jpeg Quality (92 by default).
- EXR and HDR images are converted to 8-bit colour. Very bright values are clipped; there is no tone mapping.
Keep references reasonably sized so boards stay light in source control.
Notes and groups
Section titled “Notes and groups”- Note adds a sticky note. Double-click it to write its heading and text. Notes come in six colours.
- Group frames the selected items in a group, or adds an empty one. Groups are frames: everything inside moves with the group. A group is picked by its title strip or its edges, so you can still click the items inside it. Double-click a group to rename it.
Pasting text that isn’t a file path also creates a note.
Canvas controls
Section titled “Canvas controls”| Action | How |
|---|---|
| Zoom | Mouse wheel, or the zoom menu in the bottom-left corner (25 % to 400 %) |
| Pan | Right or middle mouse drag |
| Select | Click; Ctrl or Shift + click to add or remove; drag a box on empty space |
| Select all | Ctrl+A |
| Clear selection | Esc |
| Move | Drag items |
| Resize | Drag the handles of a single selected item. Images keep their aspect ratio; hold Shift to stretch. |
| Show in the viewport | Double-click an image |
| Edit a note or group title | Double-click it |
| Frame | F frames the selection, or everything when nothing is selected; Frame all in the toolbar |
| Paste | Ctrl+V |
| Duplicate | Ctrl+D |
| Delete | Delete or Backspace |
| Undo, redo | Ctrl+Z, Ctrl+Y or Ctrl+Shift+Z |
| More | Right-click an item or empty space |
On a Mac, use Cmd instead of Ctrl. The board needs keyboard focus for the shortcuts: click on it first.
Every change to the board can be undone with the editor’s undo, including moves, resizes, text and colour changes, links and palettes. The viewport settings (mode, strength, view, pin) are not part of the undo history.
Duplicates are placed slightly offset and don’t keep the original’s camera or bookmark link.
The inspector
Section titled “The inspector”The column on the right shows what is selected.
Nothing selected: the board’s name and level, and:
- The look: a description of the mood, time of day and key colours, for the team.
- Key palette: the board’s key palette, if one is set, with Clear key palette. See Values & palettes.
- As seen with: the key palette as seen with normal vision, protanopia, deuteranopia and tritanopia, and the palette check: the colour pairs that are hard to tell apart. See Colour vision preview.
- Tips for the canvas.
One image: its thumbnail, size and format, and:
- Title and Caption (“What to take from this reference”).
- In the viewport: Show (or Pin / Hide) and Fit: how the reference is placed over the viewport. See Viewport overlay.
- Camera link: what the image is linked to, Link to… and Look through. See Camera and bookmark links.
- Palette: the image’s colours with their share, Extract palette and Use as key, and the palette check (“As seen with: no problem pairs”, or the pairs that look alike).
- Source: the file, texture or capture the image came from.
A note or group: its heading or title, its text (notes) and its colour.
Several items: Group them, Frame selection and Delete.
The … menu next to an item’s title has Show in viewport, Look through linked camera, Extract palette, Compare with viewport, Bring to front, Send to back, Duplicate and Delete. The right-click menu on the canvas has the same actions plus Add entries for images, notes and pasting.
On the canvas
Section titled “On the canvas”Images show small badges when they are large enough on screen: IN VIEWPORT for the reference shown over the viewport (it also gets an accent frame), and the camera or bookmark it is linked to.
While the colour vision preview covers the board, a chip at its top names it, for example Deuteranopia preview · 100%. See Colour vision preview.
The panel remembers where you were on the board: the view is saved with the board.
In a narrow dock
Section titled “In a narrow dock”In a narrow panel the board buttons move under the title, the page tabs wrap, and the header buttons and footer links show only their icons (hover for the name). Compare puts the Match colours card under the results.
On the board, the inspector moves under the canvas (up to 280 px high), the toolbar is in fixed rows (Add images and Paste, Note and Group, Frame all), and an empty board shows Start a board under the canvas. Below about 960 px the viewport bar scrolls with the page, while the header, the page tabs and the footer stay in place.
On the Compare page, Color, Values, Notan and Add viewport capture to board move under the text of the top row. The four score cards are 2 × 2 below about 1250 px and one column below about 520 px; the histogram, value bands and palette stack below about 1250 px, and the Reference and Viewport pictures stack below about 520 px. The hints are rows, the chart legends sit under the chart titles, and the setting names in the Match colours table wrap.