gulp.spritesmith
Advanced tools
Convert a set of images into a spritesheet and CSS variables via gulp
Convert a set of images into a spritesheet and CSS variables via gulp
This is the official port of grunt-spritesmith, the grunt equivalent of a wrapper around spritesmith.
Alternative output formats include SASS, Stylus, LESS, and JSON.
As of gulp.spritesmith@3.5.0, retina spritesheets/templates are supported. See the Retina parameters section for more information.
gulp.spritesmith?Support us via donations or spread word on Twitter
We are normalizing sprite variables even further to convert any non-alphanumeric/non-dash/non-underscore character to a delimiter character (e.g. -). This allows us to support naming retina sprites with @2x suffixes, to prevent regressions like grunt-spritesmith#137.
We have moved from spritesmith-engine-spec@1.1.0 to spritesmith-engine-spec@2.0.0. This means if you use an custom engine (e.g. gmsmith, canvassmith), then you will need to upgrade it.
npm install my-engine-smith@latest --save-dev
This is enables us to use streaming outputs from engines in a future release.
Additionally, we have added support for buffer and stream content for in-memory engines (e.g. pixelsmith, canvassmith) which resolves #53.
We have completed our integration with streaming outputs from engines. As a result, Vinyl img files will have stream contents which were previously buffers.
If your img pipeline requires Buffer contents, then this can be remedied via vinyl-buffer:
// Throws error due to not supporting streams
spriteData.img.pipe(imagemin());
// Back to operational
var buffer = require('vinyl-buffer');
spriteData.img.pipe(buffer()).pipe(imagemin());
Gulp 5.0.0 introduced default encodings for src and dest streams of utf8.
Since gulp.spritesmith inputs and outputs images, we need to set {encoding: false} for the image .src() and .dest() streams.
See "Getting Started" for an hands-on example.
Install the module with: npm install gulp.spritesmith
var gulp = require('gulp');
var spritesmith = require('gulp.spritesmith');
gulp.task('sprite', function () {
var spriteData = gulp.src('images/*.png', {encoding: false}).pipe(spritesmith({
imgName: 'sprite.png',
cssName: 'sprite.css'
}));
return spriteData.pipe(gulp.dest('path/to/output/', {encoding: false}));
});
In addition to the spriteData stream, we offer individual streams for images and CSS. This allows for image optimization and CSS minification.
var gulp = require('gulp');
var buffer = require('vinyl-buffer');
var csso = require('gulp-csso');
var imagemin = require('gulp-imagemin');
var merge = require('merge-stream');
var spritesmith = require('gulp.spritesmith');
gulp.task('sprite', function () {
// Generate our spritesheet
var spriteData = gulp.src('images/*.png', {encoding: false}).pipe(spritesmith({
imgName: 'sprite.png',
cssName: 'sprite.css'
}));
// Pipe image stream through image optimizer and onto disk
var imgStream = spriteData.img
// DEV: We must buffer our stream into a Buffer for `imagemin`
.pipe(buffer())
.pipe(imagemin())
.pipe(gulp.dest('path/to/image/folder/', {encoding: false}));
// Pipe CSS stream through CSS optimizer and onto disk
var cssStream = spriteData.css
.pipe(csso())
.pipe(gulp.dest('path/to/css/folder/'));
// Return a merged stream to handle both `end` events
return merge(imgStream, cssStream);
});
gulp.spritesmith presents the spritesmith function as its module.exports.
spritesmith(params)gulp plugin that returns a transform stream with 2 readable stream properties.
The input/output streams interact with Vinyl objects which are gulp's format of choice.
Object - Container for gulp.spritesmith parameters
String - Filename to save image as
.png and .jpg/jpeg (limited to specfic engines)imgOpts.formatString - Filename to save CSS as
String - Optional path to use in CSS referring to image locationNumber - Optional amount of pixels to include between images
0)String - Optional method for how to pack images
binary-tree, which packs images as efficiently as possibleObject - Options to pass through to algorithm
{algorithmOpts: {sort: false}}
String - Optional image generating engine to use
pixelsmith, a node based engine that supports all common image formatsnpm installObject - Options to pass through to engine for settings
phantomjssmith accepts timeout via {engineOpts: {timeout: 10000}}Object - Options to pass through to engine uring export
gmsmith supports quality via {imgOpts: {quality: 75}}String - CSS format to use
cssName's extension
.styl -> stylusString|Function - CSS template to use for rendering output CSS
cssFormatString is provided, it must be a path to a handlebars template
Function is provided, it must have a signature of function (data)
Object - Container for helpers to register to handlebars for our template
{half: function (num) { return num/2; } will add a handlebars helper that halves numbersFunction - Mapping function for each filename to CSS variable
String - Name to use for spritesheet related variables in preprocessor templatesObject - Options to pass through to templater
{cssOpts: {functions: false}} skips output of mixinsReturns:
stream.Transform - Stream that outputs image and CSS as Vinyl objectsstream.Readable - Stream for image output as a Vinyl object
contents will be a Streamstream.Readable - Stream for CSS output as a Vinyl object
contents will be a Buffergulp.spritesmith supports retina spritesheet generation via retinaSrcFilter and retinaImgName. If at least one of these is provided, then we will expect the other and enable retina spritesheet generation.
Repeated parameters have the same properties as above but are repeated for clarity with respect to retina spritesheets.
An example retina spritesheet setup can be found in the Examples section.
We receive both normal and retina sprites from the same gulp.src so please include them in your original glob. (e.g. *.png should include icon-home.png and icon-home@2x.png).
We strongly encourage using the @2x suffix for retina sprites over -retina or -2x. There are known ordering issues caused when sharing a - delimiter between sprite names and the retina suffix (see grunt-spritesmith#137).
Object - Container for gulp.spritesmith parameters
String|String[] - Filepaths to filter out from incoming stream for our retina spritesheet
src (e.g. sprite/*@2x.png)gulp.src (e.g. gulp.src('sprite/*.png', {encoding: false}), retinaSrcFilter: 'sprite/*@2x.png')sprites/*@2x.png will filter out sprite1@2x.png for a separate retina spritesheet
sprite1.png and sprite1@2x.png as a group of normal/retina spritesString - Filename to save retina spritesheet asString - Optional path to use in CSS referring to image location
../sprite@2x.png will yield CSS with:
background-image: url(../sprite@2x.png);Number - Padding to place to right and bottom between sprites
cssName's extension
.styl -> stylus_retinaFunction - Mapping function for each filename to CSS variable
$icon-home will have group $icon-home-group)String - Name to use for retina spritesheet related variables in preprocessor templatesString - Name to use for retina groups related variables in preprocessor templatesReturns:
stream.Transform - Stream that outputs image, retina image, and CSS as Vinyl objectsstream.Readable - Stream for image outputs (normal and retina) as a Vinyl object
contents will be a Streamstream.Readable - Stream for retina CSS output as a Vinyl object
contents will be a BufferImages can be laid out in different fashions depending on the algorithm. We use layout to provide you as many options as possible. At the time of writing, here are your options for algorithm:
top-down | left-right | diagonal | alt-diagonal | binary-tree |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |  |  |  |  |
More information can be found in the layout documentation:
https://github.com/twolfson/layout
The cssTemplate option allows for using a custom template. An example template can be found at:
The parameters passed into your template are known as data. We add some normalized properties via spritesheet-templates for your convenience.
Object Container for parameters
Object[] - Array of sprite information
String - Name of the sprite file (sans extension)Number - Horizontal position of sprite's left edge in spritesheetNumber - Vertical position of sprite's top edge in spritesheetNumber - Width of spriteNumber - Height of spriteNumber - Width of entire spritesheetNumber - Height of entire spritesheetString - Relative URL path from CSS to spritesheetString - URL encoded imageString - Path to the original sprite fileNumber - Negative value of x. Useful to background-positionNumber - Negative value of y. Useful to background-positionObject - Container for numeric values including px
String - x suffixed with pxString - y suffixed with pxString - width suffixed with pxString - height suffixed with pxString - total_width suffixed with pxString - total_height suffixed with pxString - offset_x suffixed with pxString - offset_y suffixed with pxObject - Information about spritesheet
Number - Width of entire spritesheetNumber - Height of entire spritesheetString - Relative URL path from CSS to spritesheetString - URL encoded imageObject - Container for numeric values including px
String - width suffixed with pxString - height suffixed with pxObject - Container for spritesheet metadata and its representation
String - Prefix for spritesheet variablesObject[] - Array of retina sprite information
sprites (e.g. name, width, source_image)Object - Information about retina spritesheet
spritesheet (e.g. width, px)Object - Container for retina_spritesheet metadata and its representation
String - Prefix for spritesheet variablesObject[] - Array of objects that maps to normal and retina sprites
Object - Container for data about sprite mapping
String - Name to refer to mapping byNumber - Index of corresponding normal/retina sprites from data.sprites/data.retina_spritesObject - Normal sprite from data.sprites that corresponds to our mapping
data.sprites[*] (e.g. name, x, offset_y, px)Object - Retina sprite from data.retina_sprites that corresponds to our mapping
data.retina_sprites[*] (e.g. name, x, offset_y, px)Object - Optional container for metadata about retina_groups and its representation
String - Name for retina_groupsObject - Options passed in via cssOpts in gulp.spritesmith configAn example sprite is
{
"name": "sprite2",
"x": 10,
"y": 20,
"width": 20,
"height": 30,
"total_width": 80,
"total_height": 100,
"image": "nested/dir/spritesheet.png",
"escaped_image": "nested/dir/spritesheet.png",
"source_image": "path/to/original/sprite.png",
"offset_x": -10,
"offset_y": -20,
"px": {
"x": "10px",
"y": "20px",
"width": "20px",
"height": "30px",
"total_width": "80px",
"total_height": "100px",
"offset_x": "-10px",
"offset_y": "-20px"
}
}
If you are defining a Handlebars template, then you can inherit from an existing template via handlebars-layouts (e.g. {{#extend "scss"}}). An example usage can be found in the Examples section.
Example usages can be found as:
The cssVarMap option allows customization of the CSS variable names
If you would like to customize CSS selectors in the
csstemplate, please see https://github.com/twolfson/spritesheet-templates#css
Your cssVarMap should be a function with the signature function (sprite). It will receive the same parameters as sprites from Templating except for escaped_image, offset_x, offset_y, and px.
// Prefix all sprite names with `sprite-` (e.g. `home` -> `sprite-home`)
cssVarMap: function (sprite) {
sprite.name = 'sprite_' + sprite.name;
}
// Generates:
// $sprite_fork_x = 0px;
// $sprite_fork_y = 0px;
// As oppposed to default:
// $fork_x = 0px;
// $fork_y = 0px;
An engine can greatly improve the speed of your build (e.g. canvassmith) or support obscure image formats (e.g. gmsmith).
All spritesmith engines adhere to a common specification:
https://github.com/twolfson/spritesmith-engine-spec
This repository adheres to specification version: 2.0.0
Below is a list of known engines with their tradeoffs:
pixelsmith is a node based engine that runs on top of get-pixels and save-pixels.
Key differences: Doesn't support uncommon image formats (e.g. tiff) and not as fast as a compiled library (e.g. canvassmith).
phantomjssmith is a phantomjs based engine. It was originally built to provide cross-platform compatibility but has since been succeeded by pixelsmith.
Requirements: phantomjs must be installed on your machine and on your PATH environment variable. Visit the phantomjs website for installation instructions.
Key differences: phantomjs is cross-platform and supports all image formats.
canvassmith is a node-canvas based engine that runs on top of Cairo.
Requirements: Cairo and [node-gyp][] must be installed on your machine.
Instructions on how to install Cairo are provided in the [node-canvas wiki][].
[node-gyp][] should be installed via npm:
npm install -g node-gyp
Key differences: canvas has the best performance (useful for over 100 sprites). However, it is UNIX only.
[node-canvas wiki]: (https://github.com/LearnBoost/node-canvas/wiki/_pages [node-gyp]: https://github.com/TooTallNate/node-gyp/
gmsmith is a gm based engine that runs on top of either Graphics Magick or Image Magick.
Requirements: Either Graphics Magick or Image Magick must be installed on your machine.
For the best results, install from the site rather than through a package manager (e.g. apt-get). This avoids potential transparency issues which have been reported.
Image Magick is implicitly discovered. However, you can explicitly use it via engineOpts
{
engineOpts: {
imagemagick: true
}
}
Key differences: gmsmith allows for configuring image quality whereas others do not.
In this example, we are using the alt-diagonal algorithm to guarantee no overlap if images overflow.
Configuration:
{
imgName: 'sprite.png',
cssName: 'sprite.styl',
algorithm: 'alt-diagonal'
}
Output:
In this example, we are using the phantomjssmith engine as an alternative to the pixelsmith default.
Requirements:
Install phantomjssmith to our node_modules via npm install.
npm install phantomjssmith
Alternatively, we can use --save or --save-dev to save to our package.json's dependencies or devDependenices.
npm install phantomjssmith --save # Updates {"dependencies": {"phantomjssmith": "1.2.3"}}
npm install phantomjssmith --save-dev # Updates {"devDependencies": {"phantomjssmith": "1.2.3"}}
Configuration:
// var phantomjssmith = require('phantomjssmith');
{
imgName: 'sprite.png',
cssName: 'sprite.styl',
engine: phantomjssmith
}
Output:
The padding option allows for inserting spacing between images.
Configuration:
{
imgName: 'sprite.png',
cssName: 'sprite.styl',
padding: 20 // Exaggerated for visibility, normal usage is 1 or 2
}
Output:
In this example, we will use generate a normal and retina spritesheet via the retinaSrcFilter and retinaImgName parameters.
Configuration:
{
// This will filter out `fork@2x.png`, `github@2x.png`, ... for our retina spritesheet
// The normal spritesheet will now receive `fork.png`, `github.png`, ...
retinaSrcFilter: ['images/*@2x.png'],
imgName: 'sprite.png',
retinaImgName: 'sprite@2x.png',
cssName: 'sprite.styl'
}
Normal spritesheet:
Retina spritesheet:
In this example, we will use cssTemplate with a handlebars template to generate CSS that uses :before selectors.
Template:
{{#sprites}}
.icon-{{name}}:before {
display: block;
background-image: url({{{escaped_image}}});
background-position: {{px.offset_x}} {{px.offset_y}};
width: {{px.width}};
height: {{px.height}};
}
{{/sprites}}
Configuration:
{
imgName: 'sprite.png',
cssName: 'sprite.css',
cssTemplate: 'handlebarsStr.css.handlebars'
}
Output:
.icon-fork:before {
display: block;
background-image: url(sprite.png);
background-position: 0px 0px;
width: 32px;
height: 32px;
}
.icon-github:before {
/* ... */
In this example, we will extend the SCSS template to provide minimal variables. The JSON at the front comes from the original template and is required to provide consistent casing and default options.
Different block sections for each template are documented in:
https://github.com/twolfson/spritesheet-templates
Template:
{
// Default options
'functions': true,
'variableNameTransforms': ['dasherize']
}
{{#extend "scss"}}
{{#content "sprites"}}
{{#each sprites}}
${{strings.name}}: ({{px.x}}, {{px.y}}, {{px.offset_x}}, {{px.offset_y}}, {{px.width}}, {{px.height}}, {{px.total_width}}, {{px.total_height}}, '{{{escaped_image}}}', '{{name}}', );
{{/each}}
{{/content}}
{{#content "spritesheet"}}
${{spritesheet_info.strings.name_sprites}}: ({{#each sprites}}${{strings.name}}, {{/each}});
${{spritesheet_info.strings.name}}: ({{spritesheet.px.width}}, {{spritesheet.px.height}}, '{{{spritesheet.escaped_image}}}', ${{spritesheet_info.strings.name_sprites}}, );
{{/content}}
{{/extend}}
Configuration:
{
imgName: 'sprite.png',
cssName: 'sprite.scss',
cssTemplate: 'handlebarsInheritance.scss.handlebars'
}
Output:
$fork: (0px, 0px, 0px, 0px, 32px, 32px, 64px, 64px, 'sprite.png', 'fork', );
$github: (32px, 0px, -32px, 0px, 32px, 32px, 64px, 64px, 'sprite.png', 'github', );
$twitter: (0px, 32px, 0px, -32px, 32px, 32px, 64px, 64px, 'sprite.png', 'twitter', );
$spritesheet-sprites: ($fork, $github, $twitter, );
$spritesheet: (64px, 64px, 'sprite.png', $spritesheet-sprites, );
/* ... */
In this example, we will use cssTemplate with a custom function that generates YAML.
Configuration:
// var yaml = require('js-yaml');
{
imgName: 'sprite.png',
cssName: 'sprite.yml',
cssTemplate: function (data) {
// Convert sprites from an array into an object
var spriteObj = {};
data.sprites.forEach(function (sprite) {
// Grab the name and store the sprite under it
var name = sprite.name;
spriteObj[name] = sprite;
// Delete the name from the sprite
delete sprite.name;
});
// Return stringified spriteObj
return yaml.safeDump(spriteObj);
}
}
Output:
fork:
x: 0
'y': 0
width: 32
height: 32
source_image: /home/todd/github/gulp.spritesmith/docs/images/fork.png
image: sprite.png
total_width: 64
total_height: 64
escaped_image: sprite.png
offset_x: -0.0
offset_y: -0.0
px:
x: 0px
'y': 0px
offset_x: 0px
offset_y: 0px
height: 32px
width: 32px
total_height: 64px
total_width: 64px
github:
# ...
gulp.spritesmith doesn't directly support cache busting but gulp-spritesmash is a plugin that takes gulp.spritesmith's output and generates cache busted filenames and CSS URLs. Here's an example usage:
https://github.com/MasterOfMalt/gulp-spritesmash
var gulp = require('gulp');
var buffer = require('vinyl-buffer');
var spritesmash = require('gulp-spritesmash');
var spritesmith = require('gulp.spritesmith');
gulp.task('sprite', function () {
return gulp.src('images/*.png', {encoding: false})
.pipe(spritesmith({
imgName: 'sprite.png',
cssName: 'sprite.css'
}))
.pipe(buffer())
.pipe(spritesmash());
.pipe(gulp.dest('path/to/output/', {encoding: false}));
});
In lieu of a formal styleguide, take care to maintain the existing coding style. Add unit tests for any new or changed functionality. Lint via npm run lint and test via npm test.
GitHub and Twitter icons were taken from Alex Peattie's JustVector Social Icons.
Fork designed by P.J. Onori from The Noun Project.
As of Feb 09 2014, Todd Wolfson has released this repository and its contents to the public domain.
It has been released under the UNLICENSE.
FAQs
Convert a set of images into a spritesheet and CSS variables via gulp
We found that gulp.spritesmith demonstrated a healthy version release cadence and project activity because the last version was released less than a year ago. It has 0 open source maintainers collaborating on the project.
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