Autoshade
Autoshade replaces blocks in the current selection with shaded variants from a palette based on how much light each block receives. It simulates directional lighting and ambient occlusion to make structures look more three-dimensional without manual painting.
Opening Autoshade
Open the Operations window and click Autoshade, or use the menu bar. Autoshade requires an active selection.
Parameters
Light source
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| Sun (checkbox) | Enable directional lighting. Uncheck to use only AO and GI. |
| Light from | Player position — sun direction follows your look direction. Sun angle — set yaw (0–360°) and elevation (0–90°) manually. |
| Sun yaw | Horizontal angle of the sun (degrees, 0–360). |
| Sun elevation | Vertical angle of the sun above the horizon (degrees, 0–90). |
Shading
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| AO strength | Ambient occlusion intensity (0.0–1.0). Higher = deeper crevices. |
| GI strength | Global illumination (sky fill light) intensity (0.0–1.0). |
| Dither | Add noise to break up hard banding at palette boundaries. |
Palette
Add blocks to the palette using Add Block. Each block gets a Weight slider (0.0–1.0) that controls how strongly it represents the bright end of the range.
Blocks with higher weight are placed on more brightly lit faces; lower weight blocks on darker faces. Providing a gradient from light to dark (e.g. White Wool → Light Grey Wool → Grey Wool → Dark Grey Wool) produces the most natural result.
Presets
Enter a name and click Save preset to store the current palette and settings. Saved presets appear in the list below — click Load to restore, Del to remove.
Applying
Click Apply to replace blocks in the selection. The operation is recorded in history and can be undone with Ctrl+Z.
Tips
- Use a 4–6 block gradient ordered from lightest to darkest for best results.
- Match the sun angle to your world’s actual sun direction for consistent lighting.
- Run Autoshade before applying a mask to restrict which faces are shaded.