Generate procedural lightning bolts and electrical effects in your browser. Customizable branching, glow, and color. Export transparent PNG up to 4K.
Open Lightning GeneratorGenerate striking procedural lightning bolts and electrical arc effects with the FX Labs Lightning Generator. This tool creates jagged branching bolts with full control over segment count, jaggedness, thickness, fork count, and fork spread. Increase the segments for smoother, more detailed bolts, or crank up the jaggedness for aggressive, chaotic electrical discharges. The branching system generates realistic fork patterns that split off from the main bolt at natural angles, with spread control determining how far branches diverge. A multi-layer glow system gives each bolt a bright burning core surrounded by a softer atmospheric bloom, with independent core glow, outer glow, and glow size parameters for precise control over the light falloff. The HSB color system lets you shift the hue from classic blue-white lightning to purple sci-fi energy, green magical effects, or warm orange electrical arcs. Saturation and intensity controls round out the color palette for any creative direction. The seed system makes every bolt reproducible, and you can generate endless unique variations by changing the seed value. Export your lightning effects as transparent PNG files at resolutions up to 4K. These overlays are ready to composite into storm photography, sci-fi film sequences, poster and album art, game VFX sprite sheets, and motion graphics projects in After Effects, Photoshop, or any editing tool.
Set segment count, jaggedness, and thickness to control the overall geometry of the bolt.
Adjust fork count and fork spread to generate natural-looking branch patterns from the main bolt.
Fine-tune core glow, outer glow, glow size, and HSB color for the perfect electrical look.
Choose your resolution up to 4K with transparency and export a compositing-ready lightning overlay.
Yes. The Segments parameter controls how many line segments make up the bolt (more segments means more detail), while Jaggedness determines how much each segment deviates from a straight line. Thickness sets the width of the bolt. Together these give you full control over the bolt geometry.
The Forks parameter sets how many secondary branches split off from the main bolt. Fork Spread controls the angle at which branches diverge. Each branch is generated procedurally from the seed, creating natural-looking electrical discharge patterns that vary with every seed value.
Yes. The Hue control shifts the bolt color across the spectrum, from blue-white natural lightning to purple, green, red, or any other color. Saturation controls color intensity, so you can create anything from stark white bolts to deeply saturated sci-fi energy effects.
Core Glow controls the bright, intense center of the lightning bolt that represents the actual electrical channel. Outer Glow controls the softer atmospheric bloom around the bolt that simulates light scattering through air. Glow Size determines how far the outer glow extends.
Yes. Set Background to "Transparent" and export. The resulting PNG will have only the lightning bolt and its glow on a transparent background, perfect for compositing over storm footage, sci-fi scenes, or any other content in Photoshop, After Effects, or similar tools.
Lightning bolts can be exported at 720p, 1080p, 1440p, or 4K (3840x2160). Higher resolutions capture more detail in the bolt segments and produce smoother glow gradients. For print work or large-format displays, 4K export is recommended.
For natural storm lightning, use high Jaggedness (0.6-0.8), moderate Forks (5-10), and blue-white color. For sci-fi energy beams, lower the Jaggedness, reduce branches, and shift the Hue to purple or green. For magical effects, increase Glow Size and Outer Glow with saturated colors.
Yes. Each seed value produces a completely different bolt path, branch pattern, and detail arrangement. Keep your other parameters fixed and change only the seed to generate as many unique bolt variations as you need while maintaining a consistent overall style.
Explore our curated collection of pre-made VFX overlays, ready to download in transparent PNG format.
View Effect Library