Highlight

Based on game build 714014 | Last updated: 2026-03-03

Overview

The Highlight component applies and animates custom highlight colors on an entity's AnimState and optional child entities. It supports persistent highlighting, custom additive RGB color offsets, and timed flash effects using cubic easing. This component is typically used for targeting indicators, status effects, or visual feedback on important entities and is automatically removed when no highlight or flash is active.

Usage example

local inst = CreateEntity()
inst:AddComponent("highlight")

-- Apply a persistent highlight with custom color
inst.components.highlight:Highlight(0.3, 0.1, 0.1)

-- Trigger a 0.5-second fade-in + 0.5-second fade-out red flash
inst.components.highlight:Flash(1.0, 0.5, 0.5)

Dependencies & tags

Components used: None directly — relies on AnimState and optional highlightchildren property.
Tags: Checks player tag and uses ThePlayer for visibility detection.

Properties

Property	Type	Default Value	Description
inst	Entity	nil	The entity this component is attached to.
highlit	boolean or nil	nil	Indicates if a persistent highlight is currently active.
base_add_colour_red, base_add_colour_green, base_add_colour_blue	number	0	Additive RGB values set via SetAddColour.
highlight_add_colour_red, highlight_add_colour_green, highlight_add_colour_blue	number or nil	nil	Additive RGB values applied during highlight state.
flash_val	number or nil	nil	Current flash intensity value computed during animation.
flashing	boolean	false	Whether a flash animation is currently active.
flashadd	number	0	Peak flash intensity for the flash effect.
flashtimein	number	0	Duration (in seconds) of the flash fade-in.
flashtimeout	number	0	Duration (in seconds) of the flash fade-out.
t	number	0	Accumulated time during the current flash phase.
goingin	boolean	true	Direction of the current flash phase (true = fade-in, false = fade-out).

Main functions

SetAddColour(col)

• Description: Sets a persistent additive RGB highlight color on the entity. If not currently flashing, immediately applies the color.
• Parameters: col (vector3) — col.x, col.y, col.z correspond to red, green, and blue values (typically 0–1 range).
• Returns: Nothing.
• Error states: Has no effect if the entity lacks an AnimState component.

Flash(toadd, timein, timeout)

• Description: Starts a flash animation, gradually increasing then decreasing additive color intensity using easing.outCubic.
• Parameters:
  • toadd (number) — peak additive value to reach (applied to all RGB channels).
  • timein (number) — duration of the fade-in phase in seconds.
  • timeout (number) — duration of the fade-out phase in seconds.
• Returns: Nothing.
• Error states: None. Automatically stops updating if the entity becomes invalid or highlight/flash ends.

Highlight(r, g, b)

• Description: Activates a persistent highlight with optional RGB override values. Checks if the entity is visible to ThePlayer or has the player tag before applying highlights; otherwise, clears highlight color.
• Parameters:
  • r, g, b (number or nil) — override red, green, and blue additive values. If nil, uses highlightoverride (if present) or defaults to 0.2 for all channels.
• Returns: Nothing.
• Error states: None. Silently skips applying color if the entity is not visible or lacks required properties.

UnHighlight()

• Description: Removes the persistent highlight. If not flashing, schedules the component for removal.
• Parameters: None.
• Returns: Nothing.
• Error states: None. Does not interrupt an active flash.

ApplyColour()

• Description: Computes the final additive color (base + highlight + flash) and applies it to the entity’s AnimState and highlightchildren.
• Parameters: None.
• Returns: Nothing.
• Error states: None. Skips if AnimState is missing.

OnRemoveFromEntity()

• Description: Resets highlight colors to default (no highlight) for the entity and its children when the component is removed.
• Parameters: None.
• Returns: Nothing.
• Error states: None.

Events & listeners

• Listens to: None directly — updates are managed via inst:StartUpdatingComponent(self) and inst:StopUpdatingComponent(self) from OnUpdate.
• Pushes: None — this component does not fire custom events.