Outlines

game.Highlight draws an outline round a thing in the world. The outline follows the shape of the model and shows through walls and trees. It can also fill the model with a colour.

local wolf = game.Creatures:GetNearest("Wolf")
local mark = game.Highlight:Add(wolf, { Color = "Red" })

-- later
mark:Remove()

What can be outlinedCopy Anchor Link

Anything that has a shape:

• An actor: a creature, a player's character, an item on the ground, a bench, a wall.
• One part of an actor, such as a single mesh. Pass the part in place of the actor.

-- only the body of the nearest creature
local creature = game.Creatures:GetNearest()
game.Highlight:Add(creature.Mesh, { Color = "Pink" })

-- every player's character
for _, character in ipairs(game.Players:GetCharacters()) do
    game.Highlight:Add(character, { Color = "Cyan" })
end

For other things, find the actor first. game:FindAll("ClassName") returns every object of a class. It searches every object, so call it once, not every frame.

A whole kind at onceCopy Anchor Link

game.Creatures:Highlight("Wolf", { Color = "#ff7a00" })

This outlines every wolf that is here now and every wolf that appears later. It returns a connection. Call :Disconnect() on it to take the outlines off again.

OptionsCopy Anchor Link

A colour is a name from game.Highlight.Colors, a string such as "#ff7a00", or a table such as { R = 1, G = 0.5, B = 0 } with values from 0 to 1.

game.Highlight:Add(creature, { Color = "#00ff66", FillColor = "#ffd60a" })

Change many outlines at onceCopy Anchor Link

A look is a colour and fill that many outlines share. Change the look and every outline that uses it changes.

local look = game.Highlight:Look({ Color = "Cyan" })

game.Creatures:Observe("Deer", function(deer)
    local mark = game.Highlight:Add(deer, look)
    return function() mark:Remove() end
end)

-- every deer turns orange
look:Set({ Color = "Orange" })

Settings for every outlineCopy Anchor Link

game.Highlight:Configure({ Fill = 0.3, Width = 2 })

Fill is how strong the fill is, from 0 to 1. Width is the line width, from 1 to 4.

LimitsCopy Anchor Link

Wax uses the outline that the game itself draws. That gives it these limits:

• There is room for four colours with a fill and three colours without one at the same time. A colour counts once, however many things use it. When there is no room left, the nearest colour in use is shown.
• An outline always shows through walls.
• Trees, rocks and bushes cannot be outlined one at a time.
• The outline needs your character. It is not drawn at the space station.

Example: outline what you pickCopy Anchor Link

local look = game.Highlight:Look({ Color = "#ff7a00", Fill = true })
local watch = nil

local window = ui.Window({ title = "Outlines", width = 320, height = 220 })

window:Dropdown("Kind", game.Creatures:GetLiveKinds(), nil, function(kind)
    if watch then watch:Disconnect() end
    watch = game.Creatures:Highlight(kind, look)
end)

window:Color("Colour", "#ff7a00", function(color)
    look:Set({ Color = color })
end)