love.graphics

The primary responsibility for the love.graphics module is the drawing of lines, shapes, text, Images and other Drawable objects onto the screen. Its secondary responsibilities include loading external files (including Images and Fonts) into memory, creating specialized objects (such as ParticleSystems or Canvases) and managing screen geometry.

LÖVE's coordinate system is rooted in the upper-left corner of the screen, which is at location (0, 0). The x axis is horizontal: larger values are further to the right. The y axis is vertical: larger values are further towards the bottom. It is worth noting that the location (0, 0) aligns with the upper-left corner of the pixel as well, meaning that for some functions you may encounter off-by-one problems in the render output when drawing 1 pixel wide lines. You can try aligning the coordinate system with the center of pixels rather than their upper-left corner. Do this by passing x+0.5 and y+0.5 or using love.graphics.translate().

In many cases, you draw images or shapes in terms of their upper-left corner (See the picture above).

A note about angles in LÖVE: Angles are expressed in terms of radians, with values in the range of 0 to 2pi (approximately 6.28); you may be more used to working in terms of degrees. Because of how the coordinate system is set up, with an origin in the upper left corner, angles in LÖVE may seem a bit backwards: 0 points right (along the X axis), ¼pi points diagonally down and to the right, ½pi points directly down (along the Y axis), with increasing values continuing clockwise.

Many of the functions are used to manipulate the graphics coordinate system, which is essentially the way coordinates are mapped to the display. You can change the position, scale, and even change rotation in this way.

Types

Canvas	Off-screen render target.	0.8.0
Drawable	Superclass for all things that can be drawn on screen.
Font	Defines the shape of characters than can be drawn onto the screen.
Framebuffer	Off-screen render target.	0.7.0	0.8.0
Image	Drawable image type.
Mesh	A 2D polygon mesh used for drawing arbitrary textured shapes.	0.9.0
ParticleSystem	Used to create cool effects, like fire.
PixelEffect	Pixel shader effect.	0.8.0	0.9.0
Quad	A quadrilateral with texture coordinate information.
Shader	Shader effect.	0.9.0
SpriteBatch	Store image positions in a buffer, and draw it in one call.
Text	Drawable text.	0.10.0
Texture	Superclass for drawable objects which represent a texture.	0.9.1
Video	A drawable video.	0.10.0

Functions

Drawing

love.graphics.arc	Draws an arc.	0.8.0
love.graphics.circle	Draws a circle.
love.graphics.clear	Clears the screen or active Canvas to the specified color.
love.graphics.discard	Discards the contents of the screen or active Canvas.	0.10.0
love.graphics.draw	Draws objects on screen.
love.graphics.drawInstanced	Draws many instances of a Mesh with a single draw call, using hardware geometry instancing.	11.0
love.graphics.drawLayer	Draws a layer of an Array Texture.	11.0
love.graphics.drawq	Draw a Quad with the specified Image on screen.		0.9.0
love.graphics.ellipse	Draws an ellipse.	0.10.0
love.graphics.flushBatch	Immediately renders any pending automatically batched draws.	11.0
love.graphics.line	Draws lines between points.
love.graphics.point	Draws a point.	0.3.0	0.10.0
love.graphics.points	Draws one or more points.	0.10.0
love.graphics.polygon	Draw a polygon.	0.4.0
love.graphics.present	Displays the results of drawing operations on the screen.
love.graphics.print	Draws text on screen. If no Font is set, one will be created and set (once) if needed.
love.graphics.printf	Draws formatted text, with word wrap and alignment.
love.graphics.quad	Draws a quadrilateral shape.		0.9.0
love.graphics.rectangle	Draws a rectangle.	0.3.2
love.graphics.stencil	Draws geometry as a stencil.	0.10.0
love.graphics.triangle	Draws a triangle.		0.9.0

Object Creation

love.graphics.captureScreenshot	Creates a screenshot once the current frame is done.	11.0
love.graphics.newArrayImage	Creates a new array Image.	11.0
love.graphics.newCanvas	Creates a new Canvas.	0.8.0
love.graphics.newCubeImage	Creates a new cubemap Image.	11.0
love.graphics.newFont	Creates a new Font from a TrueType Font or BMFont file.
love.graphics.newFramebuffer	Creates a new Framebuffer.	0.7.0	0.8.0
love.graphics.newImage	Creates a new Image.
love.graphics.newImageFont	Creates a new Font by loading a specifically formatted image.	0.2.0
love.graphics.newMesh	Creates a new Mesh.	0.9.0
love.graphics.newParticleSystem	Creates a new ParticleSystem.
love.graphics.newPixelEffect	Creates a new PixelEffect.	0.8.0	0.9.0
love.graphics.newQuad	Creates a new Quad.
love.graphics.newScreenshot	Creates a screenshot and returns the ImageData.		11.0
love.graphics.newShader	Creates a new Shader.	0.9.0
love.graphics.newSpriteBatch	Creates a new SpriteBatch.
love.graphics.newStencil	Creates a new stencil.	0.8.0	0.9.0
love.graphics.newText	Creates a new drawable Text object.	0.10.0
love.graphics.newVideo	Creates a new Video.	0.10.0
love.graphics.newVolumeImage	Creates a new volume Image.	11.0
love.graphics.setNewFont	Creates and sets a new Font.	0.8.0
love.graphics.validateShader	Validates shader code.	11.0

Graphics State

love.graphics.getBackgroundColor	Gets the current background color.
love.graphics.getBlendMode	Gets the blending mode.	0.2.0
love.graphics.getCanvas	Returns the current target Canvas.	0.8.0
love.graphics.getColor	Gets the current color.
love.graphics.getColorMask	Gets the active color components used when drawing.	0.9.0
love.graphics.getColorMode	Gets the color mode (which controls how images are affected by the current color).	0.2.0	0.9.0
love.graphics.getDefaultFilter	Returns the default scaling filters used with Images, Canvases, and Fonts.	0.9.0
love.graphics.getDefaultImageFilter	Returns the default scaling filters.	0.8.0	0.9.0
love.graphics.getDepthMode	Gets the current depth test mode and whether writing to the depth buffer is enabled.	11.0
love.graphics.getFont	Gets the current Font object.	0.9.0
love.graphics.getFrontFaceWinding	Gets whether triangles with clockwise- or counterclockwise-ordered vertices are considered front-facing.	11.0
love.graphics.getLineJoin	Gets the line join style.
love.graphics.getLineStipple	Gets the current line stipple.		0.8.0
love.graphics.getLineStyle	Gets the line style.	0.3.2
love.graphics.getLineWidth	Gets the current line width.	0.3.2
love.graphics.getMeshCullMode	Gets whether back-facing triangles in a Mesh are culled.	11.0
love.graphics.getPixelEffect	Returns the current PixelEffect.	0.8.0	0.9.0
love.graphics.getPointSize	Gets the point size.
love.graphics.getPointStyle	Gets the current point style.		0.10.0
love.graphics.getScissor	Gets the current scissor box.	0.4.0
love.graphics.getShader	Gets the current Shader.	0.9.0
love.graphics.getStackDepth	Gets the current depth of the transform / state stack (the number of pushes without corresponding pops).	11.0
love.graphics.getStencilTest	Gets the current stencil test configuration.	0.10.0
love.graphics.intersectScissor	Sets the scissor to the rectangle created by the intersection of the specified rectangle with the existing scissor.	0.10.0
love.graphics.isActive	Gets whether the graphics module is able to be used.	0.10.0
love.graphics.isGammaCorrect	Gets whether gamma-correct rendering is enabled.	0.10.0
love.graphics.isSupported	Checks for the support of graphics related functions.	0.8.0	0.10.0
love.graphics.isWireframe	Gets whether wireframe mode is used when drawing.	0.9.1
love.graphics.reset	Resets the current graphics settings.
love.graphics.setBackgroundColor	Sets the background color.
love.graphics.setBlendMode	Sets the blending mode.	0.2.0
love.graphics.setCanvas	Captures drawing operations to a Canvas	0.8.0
love.graphics.setColor	Sets the color used for drawing.
love.graphics.setColorMask	Sets the color mask. Enables or disables specific color components when rendering.	0.9.0
love.graphics.setColorMode	Sets the color mode (which controls how images are affected by the current color).	0.2.0	0.9.0
love.graphics.setDefaultFilter	Sets the default scaling filters used with Images, Canvases, and Fonts.	0.9.0
love.graphics.setDefaultImageFilter	Sets the default scaling filters.	0.8.0	0.9.0
love.graphics.setDepthMode	Configures depth testing and writing to the depth buffer.	11.0
love.graphics.setFont	Set an already-loaded Font as the current font.
love.graphics.setFrontFaceWinding	Sets whether triangles with clockwise- or counterclockwise-ordered vertices are considered front-facing.	11.0
love.graphics.setInvertedStencil	Defines an inverted stencil.	0.8.0	0.10.0
love.graphics.setLine	Sets the line width and style.		0.9.0
love.graphics.setLineJoin	Sets the line join style.
love.graphics.setLineStipple	Sets the line stipple pattern.		0.8.0
love.graphics.setLineStyle	Sets the line style.	0.3.2
love.graphics.setLineWidth	Sets the line width.	0.3.2
love.graphics.setMeshCullMode	Sets whether back-facing triangles in a Mesh are culled.	11.0
love.graphics.setPixelEffect	Routes drawing operations through a pixel shader.	0.8.0	0.9.0
love.graphics.setPoint	Sets the point size and style.		0.9.0
love.graphics.setPointSize	Sets the point size.
love.graphics.setPointStyle	Sets the point style.		0.10.0
love.graphics.setRenderTarget	Captures drawing operations to a Framebuffer	0.7.0	0.8.0
love.graphics.setScissor	Sets or disables scissor.	0.4.0
love.graphics.setShader	Routes drawing operations through a shader.	0.9.0
love.graphics.setStencil	Defines or releases a stencil.	0.8.0	0.10.0
love.graphics.setStencilTest	Configures or disables stencil testing.	0.10.0
love.graphics.setWireframe	Sets whether wireframe lines will be used when drawing.	0.9.1

Coordinate System

love.graphics.applyTransform	Applies the given Transform object to the current coordinate transformation.	11.0
love.graphics.inverseTransformPoint	Converts the given 2D position from screen-space into global coordinates.	11.0
love.graphics.origin	Resets the current coordinate transformation.	0.9.0
love.graphics.pop	Pops the current coordinate transformation from the transformation stack.
love.graphics.push	Copies and pushes the current coordinate transformation to the transformation stack.
love.graphics.replaceTransform	Replaces the current coordinate transformation with the given Transform object.	11.0
love.graphics.rotate	Rotates the coordinate system in two dimensions.
love.graphics.scale	Scales the coordinate system in two dimensions.
love.graphics.shear	Shears the coordinate system.	0.8.0
love.graphics.transformPoint	Converts the given 2D position from global coordinates into screen-space.	11.0
love.graphics.translate	Translates the coordinate system in two dimensions.

Window

love.graphics.checkMode	Checks if a display mode is supported.		0.9.0
love.graphics.getCaption	Gets the window caption.		0.9.0
love.graphics.getDPIScale	Gets the DPI scale factor of the window.	11.0
love.graphics.getDimensions	Gets the width and height of the window.	0.9.0
love.graphics.getHeight	Gets the height in pixels of the window.	0.2.1
love.graphics.getMode	Returns the current display mode.	0.8.0	0.9.0
love.graphics.getModes	Gets a list of supported fullscreen modes.		0.9.0
love.graphics.getPixelDimensions	Gets the width and height in pixels of the window.	11.0
love.graphics.getPixelHeight	Gets the height in pixels of the window.	11.0
love.graphics.getPixelWidth	Gets the width in pixels of the window.	11.0
love.graphics.getWidth	Gets the width in pixels of the window.	0.2.1
love.graphics.hasFocus	Checks if the game window has keyboard focus.	0.8.0	0.9.0
love.graphics.isCreated	Checks if the window has been created.		0.9.0
love.graphics.setCaption	Sets the window caption.		0.9.0
love.graphics.setIcon	Set window icon.	0.7.0	0.9.0
love.graphics.setMode	Changes the display mode.		0.9.0
love.graphics.toggleFullscreen	Toggles fullscreen.		0.9.0

System Information

love.graphics.getCanvasFormats	Gets the available Canvas formats, and whether each is supported.	0.9.2
love.graphics.getCompressedImageFormats	Gets the available compressed image formats, and whether each is supported.	0.9.2	11.0
love.graphics.getImageFormats	Gets the pixel formats usable for Images, and whether each is supported.	11.0
love.graphics.getMaxImageSize	Gets the max supported width or height of Images and Canvases.	0.9.0	0.10.0
love.graphics.getMaxPointSize	Gets the max supported point size.		0.10.0
love.graphics.getRendererInfo	Gets information about the system's video card and drivers.	0.9.0
love.graphics.getStats	Gets performance-related rendering statistics.	0.9.2
love.graphics.getSupported	Gets the optional graphics features and whether they're supported.	0.10.0
love.graphics.getSystemLimit	Gets the system-dependent maximum value for a love.graphics feature.	0.9.1	0.10.0
love.graphics.getSystemLimits	Gets the system-dependent maximum values for love.graphics features.	0.10.0
love.graphics.getTextureTypes	Gets the available texture types, and whether each is supported.	11.0

Enums

AlignMode	Text alignment.
ArcType	Different types of arcs that can be drawn.	0.10.1
AttributeDataType	Data types used in a Mesh's vertex format.	0.9.0
BlendAlphaMode	Different ways alpha affects color blending.	0.10.0
BlendMode	Different ways to do color blending.	0.2.0
BufferDataUsage	Usage hints for SpriteBatches, Meshes, and GraphicsBuffers to optimize data storage and access.	0.8.0
CanvasFormat	Canvas texture formats.	0.9.0
ColorMode	Controls how drawn images are affected by current color.	0.2.0	0.9.0
CompareMode	Different types of stencil test and depth test comparisons.	0.10.0
CullMode	How Mesh geometry is culled when rendering.	11.0
DrawMode	Controls whether shapes are drawn as an outline, or filled.
FilterMode	How the image is filtered when scaling.
GraphicsFeature	Graphics features that can be checked for with love.graphics.getSupported.	0.8.0
GraphicsLimit	Types of system-dependent graphics limits.	0.9.1
IndexDataType	Vertex map datatype.	11.0
LineJoin	Line join style.
LineStyle	The styles in which lines are drawn.
MeshDrawMode	How a Mesh's vertices are used when drawing.	0.9.0
MipmapMode	Controls whether a Canvas has mipmaps, and its behaviour when it does.	11.0
PixelFormat	Pixel formats for Textures, ImageData, and CompressedImageData.	11.0
PointStyle	How points should be drawn.		0.10.0
StackType	Graphics state stack types used with love.graphics.push.	0.9.2
StencilAction	How a stencil function modifies the stencil values of pixels it touches.	0.10.0
TextureFormat	Controls the canvas texture format.	0.9.0	0.10.0
TextureType	Types of textures (2D, cubemap, etc.)	11.0
VertexAttributeStep	The frequency at which a vertex shader fetches the vertex attribute's data from the Mesh when it's drawn.	11.0
VertexWinding	Vertex winding.	11.0
WrapMode	How the image wraps inside a large Quad.

See Also

• love

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