Relight an image

Last updated: October 11, 2026

Change where the light falls on an image, and its color and strength, without repainting it: put a character drawn in studio light into a night scene, a sunset, or a neon-lit street.

Before you start

  • The image is in a session, or in your library ready to add to one.

  • Each relight costs Creative Units. The cost depends on the model you choose.

Steps

  1. In the session, press ⌘K (Ctrl+K on Windows) and choose Add asset….

  2. Select the image, then click Select 1 asset. It lands on the board.

  3. Hover the image on the board and click View to open it full-size. The viewer shows the file's details on the left and the Actions panel on the right.

  4. Under Tools in the Actions panel, choose Relight image. The image appears on a 3D stage with the light around it.

  5. Under Lighting, pick a preset such as Candlelit or Golden hour (use the arrows to see more), or drag the light on the stage. Fine-tune it with Horizontal, Vertical, Brightness and Color. To steer the mood further, describe the setting in Describe the scene.

  6. Click Relight.

  7. Wait while the image is relit. The viewer stays open, and the new version appears beside the original.

Result

The relit image opens in the viewer as a new file. The original is unchanged: both sit in the strip on the left of the viewer, newest first, so you can switch between them. The new file is also added to the session's board.

Production tips

  • Match the light to the scene it goes into. Before you relight, note where the key light sits in the background plate (a campfire low on the left, a moon high behind) and set Horizontal and Vertical to match. A character lit from the wrong side reads as pasted in.

  • Pick the light color from the plate. Click the Color swatch and enter the hex value of the dominant light in the background, so the warm or cold cast on the character agrees with it.

  • Keep brightness low for night scenes. Night and firelight look right with Brightness below 1; pushing it up flattens the shadows that sell the mood.

  • Relight a set the same way. For a cast that has to share one scene, use the same preset and values on every character so their lighting matches.

  • Cut it out afterwards. If the character goes onto a separate background in the engine, run Remove image background on the relit result.

If something goes wrong

  • Relight will not run and the form says Change the lighting before you generate. The light is still on Original, which is the image as it is. Pick a preset or move a slider.

  • The character's design or pose changed, not only the light. Try another model from the model menu at the top of the tool, or add what must stay the same in Describe the scene.

  • The edit failed. The new version shows the failure in the strip. Try again; if it fails again, try another model.

  • You are out of Creative Units. The edit will not start. Top up from your workspace's billing settings, or ask a workspace admin.

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