Ready to take your adventure to the next level with Dynamic Lighting? All great adventures start with a single step, and for Dynamic Lighting, that first step is on your Page Settings.
“How do I get started?”
First, you’ll want to open your Page Toolbar by clicking the blue page icon in the top right corner of the VTT. In the Page Toolbar, you’ll see a chronological list of all the pages in your game.
Hovering over a particular page will reveal a cogwheel icon on the left side of the page. From there, there will be a tab labeled “Dynamic Lighting.” Under this tab, you can browse the various Lighting Settings.
Under the Dynamic Lighting tab, the first toggle you’ll see is also called “Dynamic Lighting.” That toggle needs to be turned on for any of the following features to work.
How to set up Dynamic Lighting
In this tutorial, we quickly show you how to set Dynamic Lighting on a map for your virtual campaign fast. Dynamic Lighting is one of the benefits of having a Plus or Pro account on Roll20.
“What are the ‘Lighting Settings?’”
Explorer Mode
- Allows players to see areas of the map that they’ve already explored in grayscale.
- Note: When disabled, players will only see what their token can see, based on the token's vision and available lighting.
Resetting Explorer Mode and combine Hide/Reveal tool
In this video, we break down Explorer Mode, go over the Dynamic Lighting Hide / Reveal Areas tools, and how to reset explorer mode. Dynamic Lighting is a feature for Plus and Pro accounts
Daylight Mode
- Illuminate the entire map!
- Adjust the brightness between bright as day, or set it up as dim morning mood lighting.
- Note: Perfect for when you want to set up barriers (like the walls of a house), but don't want to create individual light sources (like torches) to reveal bits and pieces of it.
Use Daylight Mode with Hide/Reveal tool
This Dynamic Lighting feature can be used to hide areas from your players and then reveal those areas at the perfect time. Dynamic Lighting is a feature for Plus and Pro accounts
Update when Token Drop
Dynamic Lighting updates line-of-sight for players in real-time, creating games that are tense, immersive, and tactile.
- Allows you to drag a token onto the map without revealing anything before the token has been placed.
- Note: This option is awesome for GM's who want to move their player's token's and not have them see secrets or spoilers during the movement.
- Example: If your party’s Wizard needs to teleport into another room, you can move that player's token to the other room without revealing anything, besides where it came from and where it was dropped.
GM Darkness Opacity
In this video, we show you how to adjust opacity on the Dynamic Lighting layer. This can help you better understand what your players are seeing.
- This setting allows you to adjust the opacity of the darkness to your own personal taste without revealing anything to your players. Make it super dark, super light, or somewhere in between, it's totally up to you!
“Are there any other features?”
We’re so glad you asked! For extra control, we suggest Restrict Movement, which you’ll find in the Page Details tab, on the left side of the Page Settings pop-up.
Movement restriction uses a selected token's Bounding Box (pictured below) to block player-controlled tokens from crossing over Dynamic Lighting barriers, ensuring that they don't accidentally reveal parts of the map their tokens couldn't otherwise see. In other words, Restrict Movement can help you set up hit detection for players’ tokens.
| Free | Plus | Pro | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dynamic Lighting |  |
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Looking to set up Dynamic Lighting quickly, or need to double check your work?
You can visit the Dynamic Lighting Checklist for a quick and easy walkthrough!