A minimalistic CLI tool for creating palette texture images for low-poly 3D graphics. Each pixel in the generated PNG represents a distinct color in your palette, perfect for UV mapping in low-poly models.
LowTexPal builds palettes incrementally - each command adds colors to an existing file (or creates a new one). Colors can be added individually or as gradients using hex codes or CSS color names.
Gradients support three colorspaces: rgb (default), oklab, and oklch. OKLab produces perceptually uniform gradients without muddy midpoints.
# RGB gradient (muddy middle)
lowtexpal -f pal.png add-gradient --start-color red --end-color lime --steps 16
# OKLab gradient (smooth, perceptually uniform)
lowtexpal -f pal.png add-gradient --start-color red --end-color lime --steps 16 --colorspace oklab
Top: RGB (muddy). Bottom: OKLab (smooth). OKLab preserves vibrancy and handles complementary colors, high saturation, and extreme lightness ranges better.
RGB vs OKLab strips for extreme gradient cases. From top to bottom: Red↔Blue (RGB), Red↔Blue (OKLab), Magenta↔Lime (RGB), Magenta↔Lime (OKLab), Yellow↔Cyan (RGB), Yellow↔Cyan (OKLab), DarkRed↔Pink (RGB), DarkRed↔Pink (OKLab).
lowtexpal -f example_01.png add-color --color "#000000"
lowtexpal -f example_01.png add-color --color "#ffffff"
lowtexpal -f example_01.png add-color --color "#ff0000"
lowtexpal -f example_01.png add-color --color "#00ff00"
lowtexpal -f example_01.png add-color --color "#0000ff"
lowtexpal -f example_01.png add-color --color "#ffff00"
lowtexpal -f example_01.png add-color --color "#ff00ff"
lowtexpal -f example_01.png add-color --color "#00ffff"
Scaled up:
#!/bin/sh
png="example_02.png"
rm ${png}
lowtexpal -f ${png} add-color --color "black"
lowtexpal -f ${png} add-color --color "white"
lowtexpal -f ${png} add-color --color "red"
lowtexpal -f ${png} add-color --color "lime"
lowtexpal -f ${png} add-color --color "blue"
lowtexpal -f ${png} add-color --color "yellow"
lowtexpal -f ${png} add-color --color "fuchsia"
lowtexpal -f ${png} add-color --color "cyan"
gm convert ${png} -filter point -resize 128x128 big_${png}
Scaled up:
#!/bin/sh
png="example_03.png"
rm ${png}
lowtexpal -f ${png} add-gradient --start-color "black" --end-color "white" --steps "4"
lowtexpal -f ${png} add-gradient --start-color "yellowgreen" --end-color "thistle" --steps "12"
lowtexpal -f ${png} add-gradient --start-color "black" --end-color "blue" --steps "4"
lowtexpal -f ${png} add-gradient --start-color "blue" --end-color "skyblue" --steps "8"
lowtexpal -f ${png} add-gradient --start-color "skyblue" --end-color "white" --steps "4"
lowtexpal -f ${png} add-gradient --start-color "black" --end-color "red" --steps "112"
lowtexpal -f ${png} add-gradient --start-color "red" --end-color "white" --steps "112"
gm convert ${png} -filter point -resize 128x128 big_${png}
Scaled up:
Same gradients using OKLab colorspace:
#!/bin/sh
png="example_03b.png"
rm -f ${png}
lowtexpal -f ${png} add-gradient --start-color "black" --end-color "white" --steps "4" --colorspace oklab
lowtexpal -f ${png} add-gradient --start-color "yellowgreen" --end-color "thistle" --steps "12" --colorspace oklab
lowtexpal -f ${png} add-gradient --start-color "black" --end-color "blue" --steps "4" --colorspace oklab
lowtexpal -f ${png} add-gradient --start-color "blue" --end-color "skyblue" --steps "8" --colorspace oklab
lowtexpal -f ${png} add-gradient --start-color "skyblue" --end-color "white" --steps "4" --colorspace oklab
lowtexpal -f ${png} add-gradient --start-color "black" --end-color "red" --steps "112" --colorspace oklab
lowtexpal -f ${png} add-gradient --start-color "red" --end-color "white" --steps "112" --colorspace oklab
gm convert ${png} -filter point -resize 128x128 big_${png}
Scaled up:
