A board next to the viewport
Images, sticky notes and group frames on an endless canvas. Drop files, drag textures from the Content Browser, paste from the clipboard or capture the viewport. A board is an asset that opens with its level.
The concept, right over your scene.
Keep the reference board next to the viewport and put the concept art over the scene: pinned, or by itself whenever you look through the camera it belongs to. Check the values in grayscale and notan, see where the scene leaves the palette, compare with numbers and hints, and build a color script of your shots. Match the viewport’s colours to the reference, preview colour vision deficiencies and frame your shots with composition guides.
- Engine
- UE 5.0 – 5.8
- Works with
- Level viewport · cameras · bookmarks · Sequencer
- Type
- C++ editor plugin, source included
- License
- $14.99 Personal · $39.99 Professional
Interactive demo with the showcase level. Look through other cameras under the viewport, try Onion skin, Notan, Vision and Guides, then press Compare viewport and Solve in the Match colours card.
The cameras of LS_Trailer and a level bookmark. A dot means a reference is linked: look through it and the reference appears by itself.
Swipe sideways to see the whole editor.
The overlay, the views, the palettes, the comparison, Match colours, the colour vision preview and the guides run in your browser with the plugin's own formulas. In Unreal they run on the live viewport.
In the viewport
Seven ways to hold a scene against its concept.
Real captures of the editor viewport from the showcase level: a greybox blockout at dusk, with the concept it is built from. The views work on the whole frame, so exposure, color grading and post process count.
Camera links
Every shot keeps its own concept.
Link a reference to a camera or a level bookmark. From then on it appears by itself whenever the viewport looks through that camera, Sequencer locks it to that camera cut, or you jump to that bookmark, and disappears when you leave. No toggling, no second screen.
Camera links in the docs
Dusk concept v3Linked to sh010_arrival
Ruins conceptLinked to sh040_ruins
Gate conceptLinked to sh060_gate
Misty pinesLinked to Bookmark 2
The real thing
One panel: board, compare, color script.
Features
The art director’s desk, inside the editor.
Overlay, difference, onion skin, wipe
Four ways to put a reference over the scene, with Fit, Fill or Stretch per reference. Nothing is added to your level.
Values and notan
The whole viewport in lightness only, or posterized into 2 to 5 value bands: see whether the focal point reads by value.
Palettes
Extract the main colours of any reference, make one the board's key palette, and paint everything off-palette magenta.
Compare with hints
Value structure, palette score, lightness and contrast of scene and concept side by side, with what to change in plain words.
Match colours
Suggested exposure, white balance, saturation and contrast, previewed in the viewport and corrected over a few passes. Apply writes them to a camera or a Post Process Volume in one undoable step.
Colour vision preview
The viewport, the board and the palettes as seen with protanopia, deuteranopia or tritanopia, with severity. The palette check lists colour pairs that look alike.
Composition guides
Rule of thirds, golden sections and spiral, diagonals, safe frames and aspect masks from 2.39:1 to 9:16 vertical, saved per camera or bookmark in the board.
Color script
One frame per Sequencer shot, camera or bookmark, rendered with the real lighting. Value curve, palettes, PNG and JSON export.
Made for the team
Boards travel through source control with their images inside, and every edit on the board can be undone.
Python API
Boards, links, palettes, comparisons, colour matching, colour vision, guides and color scripts from scripts, including image-file comparisons without a viewport.
Python
Set up boards and check renders from scripts.
Build a board for every level from a folder of concepts, link references to cameras, or compare last night's renders with the concepts on a build machine, without opening a viewport.
Python docslimner_board.py
import unreal
limner = unreal.get_editor_subsystem(unreal.TALimnerSubsystem)
board = limner.create_board("/Game/ArtDirection/LB_Forest", "/Game/Maps/L_Forest")
ref = limner.add_image_file(board, "C:/Concepts/forest_dusk.png", unreal.Vector2D(0, 0), True)
cam = [a for a in unreal.get_editor_subsystem(unreal.EditorActorSubsystem).get_all_level_actors()
if a.get_actor_label() == "Cam_Hero"][0]
limner.link_camera(board, ref, cam)
limner.save_board(board)
result = limner.compare_viewport(ref, 3)
print(result.value_match, result.palette_score, [h.message for h in result.hints])limner_check_renders.py
import unreal
limner = unreal.get_editor_subsystem(unreal.TALimnerSubsystem)
# No viewport needed: compare last night's renders with the concepts.
for shot in ["sh010", "sh040", "sh060"]:
r = limner.compare_image_files(f"Concepts/{shot}.png", f"Renders/{shot}.png",
unreal.TALimnerFit.FIT, 3, [], 6, 22.0)
print(shot, round(r.value_match), round(r.palette_score))
limner.write_value_image(f"Renders/{shot}.png", f"Renders/{shot}_notan.png", 3)limner_match.py
import unreal
limner = unreal.get_editor_subsystem(unreal.TALimnerSubsystem)
# An empty id: the reference over the viewport.
match = limner.solve_color_match("", unreal.TALimnerColorMatchOptions())
print(match.difference_before, match.difference_after, match.suggested.exposure)
limner.apply_color_match(match, unreal.TALimnerMatchTarget.VOLUME, None, 1.0)
limner.set_color_vision(unreal.TALimnerVision.DEUTERANOPIA, 1.0, True)
guides = unreal.TALimnerGuides()
guides.set_editor_property("thirds", True)
guides.set_editor_property("aspect_mask", unreal.TALimnerAspectMask.RATIO239)
limner.set_guides(guides)Get Limner
$14.99 Personal. $39.99 Professional.
Sold on Fab under the Fab Standard License. Both licenses get the same plugin: every feature and the full C++ source, for Unreal Engine 5.0 – 5.8.
Limner is available on Fab now.
Personal$14.99
For individuals and companies with up to $100,000 in gross revenue in the last 12 months.
Professional$39.99
For companies with more than $100,000 in gross revenue in the last 12 months.
Need several seats or a studio agreement? Contact us.
How much does Limner cost?
The Fab Personal license is $14.99: individuals and companies with up to $100,000 in gross revenue in the last 12 months. Above that, the Professional license is $39.99. Both get the same plugin with every feature and the full C++ source.
Does Limner add anything to my level or my game?
No. The overlay, the views, the colour vision preview and the guides are drawn on the editor’s level viewport only. No actors, volumes or materials are added to the level, Play In Editor and packaged games are not affected, and boards are editor-only assets that are never cooked. Only Match colours writes post-process settings, when you click Apply, as one undoable step.
Does Match colours grade the scene for me?
It matches the overall look of one frame to the reference: brightness, colour cast, saturation and contrast. Where the light falls stays your job; the value views and Compare’s hints show where the scene differs.
How accurate is the colour vision preview?
It uses the Machado, Oliveira and Fernandes (2009) model, the same family as Unreal’s own accessibility option, at 0 to 100% severity. It is a design check, not a diagnosis.
Where are the reference images stored?
Inside the board asset, so everybody who gets the board through source control sees the same images. Nothing is imported as a texture. Images larger than 4096 px are scaled down when they are added.
How do camera links work?
Link a reference to a camera actor or a level bookmark. Whenever the viewport pilots that camera, Sequencer locks it to that camera, or you jump to that bookmark, the reference is shown by itself.
Does it use AI?
No. Palettes, comparisons and views are computed in the editor with classic image analysis: lightness in CIE L*, palettes by k-means clustering in Lab. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Does the color script use Movie Render Queue?
No. Each frame is rendered in the level viewport after a few warm-up frames, so it shows the same lighting and post process you see, fast enough to rebuild after every lighting change.
Which engine versions are supported?
Unreal Engine 5.0 to 5.8, in the editor on Win64, Mac and Linux. Nothing of Limner is packaged into your game.