pixijs-blend-modes

name pixijs-blend-modes description Use this skill when compositing display objects with blend modes in PixiJS v8. Covers standard modes (normal, add, multiply, screen, erase, min, max), advanced modes via pixi.js/advanced-blend-modes (color-burn, overlay, hard-light, etc.), batch-friendly ordering. Triggers on: blendMode, additive, multiply, screen, overlay, color-burn, color-dodge, advanced-blend-modes, glow, erase. license MIT Set container.blendMode to composite display objects with GPU blend equations (standard modes) or filter-based advanced modes. Blend-mode transitions break render batches, so group like-mode siblings together. Quick Start const light = new Sprite ( await Assets . load ( "light.png" )); light. blendMode = "add" ; app. stage . addChild (light); const shadow = new Sprite ( await Assets . load ( "shadow.png" )); shadow. blendMode = "multiply" ; app. stage . addChild (shadow); import "pixi.js/advanced-blend-modes" ; const overlay = new Sprite ( await Assets . load ( "overlay.png" )); overlay. blendMode = "color-burn" ; app. stage . addChild (overlay); Related skills: pixijs-filters (advanced modes use the filter pipeline), pixijs-performance (batching with blend modes), pixijs-color (color manipulation). Core Patterns Standard blend modes Standard modes are built in and use GPU blend equations directly: import { Sprite } from "pixi.js" ; sprite. blendMode = "normal" ; // standard alpha compositing (effective default at root) sprite. blendMode = "add" ; // additive (lighten, glow effects) sprite. blendMode = "multiply" ; // multiply (darken, shadow effects) sprite. blendMode = "screen" ; // screen (lighten, dodge effects) sprite. blendMode = "erase" ; // erase pixels from render target sprite. blendMode = "none" ; // no blending, overwrites destination sprite. blendMode = "inherit" ; // inherit from parent (this is the actual default value) sprite. blendMode = "min" ; // keeps minimum of source and destination (WebGL2+ only) sprite. blendMode = "max" ; // keeps maximum of source and destination (WebGL2+ only) These are hardware-accelerated and cheap. They do not require filters. Advanced blend modes Advanced modes require an explicit import to register the extensions. On the WebGL renderer they also require useBackBuffer: true at init time, or PixiJS logs a warning and the blend silently falls back: import "pixi.js/advanced-blend-modes" ; import { Application , Sprite , Assets } from "pixi.js" ; const app = new Application (); await app. init ({ useBackBuffer : true }); // required for advanced modes on WebGL const texture = await Assets . load ( "overlay.png" ); const overlay = new Sprite (texture); overlay. blendMode = "color-burn" ; Available advanced modes: Mode Effect color-burn Darkens by increasing contrast color-dodge Brightens by decreasing contrast darken Keeps darker of two layers difference Absolute difference divide Divides bottom by top exclusion Similar to difference, lower contrast hard-light Multiply or screen based on top layer hard-mix High contrast threshold blend lighten Keeps lighter of two layers linear-burn Adds and subtracts to darken linear-dodge Adds layers together linear-light Linear burn or dodge based on top layer luminosity Luminosity of top, hue/saturation of bottom negation Inverted difference overlay Multiply or screen based on bottom layer pin-light Replaces based on lightness comparison saturation Saturation of top, hue/luminosity of bottom soft-light Gentle overlay effect subtract Subtracts top from bottom vivid-light Color burn or dodge based on top layer color Hue and saturation of top, luminosity of bottom You set advanced blend modes the same way as standard ones, via the blendMode property. They use filters internally, so they cost more than standard modes. Batch-friendly ordering Different blend modes break the rendering batch. Order objects to minimize transitions: import { Container , Sprite } from "pixi.js" ; const scene = new Container (); scene. addChild (screenSprite1); // 'screen' scene. addChild (screenSprite2); // 'screen' scene. addChild (normalSprite1); // 'normal' scene. addChild (normalSprite2); // 'normal' 2 draw calls. Alternating order ( screen, normal, screen, normal ) would produce 4. Common Mistakes [HIGH] Not importing advanced-blend-modes extension Wrong: import { Sprite } from "pixi.js" ; sprite. blendMode = "color-burn" ; // silently falls back to normal Correct: import "pixi.js/advanced-blend-modes" ; import { Sprite } from "pixi.js" ; sprite. blendMode = "color-burn" ; Advanced blend modes (color-burn, overlay, etc.) require the extension import. Without it, only standard modes (normal, add, multiply, screen) are available. The invalid mode silently falls back. [MEDIUM] Mixing blend modes across adjacent objects Different blend modes break the render batch. screen / normal / screen / normal produces 4 draw calls, while screen / screen / normal / normal produces 2. Sort children so objects with the same blend mode are adjacent. [HIGH] Using the v7 BLEND_MODES enum Wrong: import { BLEND_MODES } from "pixi.js" ; sprite. blendMode = BLEND_MODES . ADD ; // runtime error: BLEND_MODES is undefined Correct: sprite. blendMode = "add" ; In v8, BLEND_MODES is a TypeScript type only (a union of string literals). There is no runtime enum export, so BLEND_MODES.ADD evaluates to accessing a property on undefined . Use the string form. [HIGH] Advanced blend modes without useBackBuffer Wrong: import "pixi.js/advanced-blend-modes" ; await app. init ({ /* no useBackBuffer */ }); sprite. blendMode = "color-burn" ; // logs a warning, falls back Correct: import "pixi.js/advanced-blend-modes" ; await app. init ({ useBackBuffer : true }); sprite. blendMode = "color-burn" ; Advanced modes read from the back buffer. On WebGL, the blend silently falls back if the back buffer is not enabled. WebGPU enables the back buffer unconditionally. [MEDIUM] Advanced blend modes clipped or scaled on high-DPI renderers Advanced blend modes are filter-based and use Filter.defaultOptions , whose resolution defaults to 1 . On a high-DPI render target the blended object can look clipped, scaled, or only partially applied. Wrong: import "pixi.js/advanced-blend-modes" ; sprite. blendMode = "overlay" ; // renders at resolution 1, can clip on retina Correct: import { Filter } from "pixi.js" ; import "pixi.js/advanced-blend-modes" ; Filter . defaultOptions . resolution = "inherit" ; // set before creating affected objects sprite. blendMode = "overlay" ; Setting Filter.defaultOptions.resolution = "inherit" makes advanced blend modes render at the render target's resolution. This costs more memory and runtime, so apply it where fidelity matters. API Reference Container.blendMode OverlayBlend ColorBurnBlend ColorDodgeBlend HardLightBlend SoftLightBlend DifferenceBlend