# Debug-Draw - Lines, boxes, circles, etc **URL:** \ **Category:** The Defoldmine\ **Created:** [August 27, 2019, 7:12pm UTC](https://forum.defold.com/t/debug-draw-lines-boxes-circles-etc/61393 "2019-08-27T19:12:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ross.grams](https://forum-defold.b-cdn.net/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/cab0a1/32.png) [@ross.grams](https://forum.defold.com/u/ross.grams)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2019, 7:12pm UTC](https://forum.defold.com/t/debug-draw-lines-boxes-circles-etc/61393/1 "2019-08-27T19:12:14Z")
I made a little module of convenience functions to help draw lines, shapes, and text for visual debugging. The render [“draw\_line”](https://www.defold.com/ref/render/#draw_line:start_point-end_point-color) and [“draw\_text”](https://www.defold.com/ref/render/#draw_text:position-text) messages are really long and cumbersome to type, so this wraps them up and makes things simple. It’s not an exhaustive shape-drawing library, just enough to draw a few different kinds of indicators and things. ![debug-draw_rabid-robots_screenshot](https://forum-defold.b-cdn.net/uploads/default/original/3X/9/8/98059b5a7086eebbfb2c9b50084f32fa64e2c0c8.png) You can use it as a library dependency with the following link, or just grab the lua file and drop it in your project wherever suits you. > [https://github.com/rgrams/debug-draw/archive/master.zip](https://github.com/rgrams/debug-draw/archive/master.zip) See the Readme on github for documentation (though it’s all pretty straightforward). > **[GitHub - rgrams/debug-draw: A set of convenience functions for drawing debug...](https://github.com/rgrams/debug-draw)** > > A set of convenience functions for drawing debug lines, shapes, and text with Defold. ---
**Author:** ![Pawel](https://forum-defold.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/forum.defold.com/pawel/32/24623_2.png) [@Pawel](https://forum.defold.com/u/Pawel)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2019, 8:20am UTC](https://forum.defold.com/t/debug-draw-lines-boxes-circles-etc/61393/2 "2019-08-29T08:20:46Z")
Add it to our asset portal, it’s great and convenient 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ross.grams](https://forum-defold.b-cdn.net/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/cab0a1/32.png) [@ross.grams](https://forum.defold.com/u/ross.grams)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2019, 10:16am UTC](https://forum.defold.com/t/debug-draw-lines-boxes-circles-etc/61393/3 "2019-08-29T10:16:12Z")
Yeah I know. 😛 Since the dashboard’s going to be removed and the asset portal shuffled around in a few weeks I figured I might as well wait. ---
**Author:** ![Ragetto](https://forum-defold.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/forum.defold.com/ragetto/32/32785_2.png) [@Ragetto](https://forum.defold.com/u/Ragetto)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2020, 12:20pm UTC](https://forum.defold.com/t/debug-draw-lines-boxes-circles-etc/61393/4 "2020-12-24T12:20:10Z")
Hello! I just discovered your library, it looks soooo convenient! I just followed the instructions here ([Working with library projects in Defold](https://defold.com/manuals/libraries/)), but… can’t make it work ☹ The library seems to be properly installed: ![debugdraw001](https://forum-defold.b-cdn.net/uploads/default/original/3X/5/5/55e283a145e24566e5748749044dcb0b7bb4d501.png) But this simple line… `debugdraw.circle(100,100,100)` (in the “update” function) … generates an error message: ![debugdraw002](https://forum-defold.b-cdn.net/uploads/default/original/3X/3/b/3b89d875b56dadd18e805f1b374f65558d4e8ea1.png) Did I miss something? Rag’ ---
**Author:** ![Mathias\_Westerdahl](https://forum-defold.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/forum.defold.com/mathias_westerdahl/32/228_2.png) [@Mathias\_Westerdahl](https://forum.defold.com/u/Mathias_Westerdahl)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2020, 12:30pm UTC](https://forum.defold.com/t/debug-draw-lines-boxes-circles-etc/61393/5 "2020-12-24T12:30:43Z")
How do you “require” the Lua module? ---
**Author:** ![Ragetto](https://forum-defold.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/forum.defold.com/ragetto/32/32785_2.png) [@Ragetto](https://forum.defold.com/u/Ragetto)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2020, 1:29pm UTC](https://forum.defold.com/t/debug-draw-lines-boxes-circles-etc/61393/6 "2020-12-24T13:29:02Z")
`require "debug-draw.debug-draw"` 1st line of the same script 🤔 ---
**Author:** ![Mathias\_Westerdahl](https://forum-defold.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/forum.defold.com/mathias_westerdahl/32/228_2.png) [@Mathias\_Westerdahl](https://forum.defold.com/u/Mathias_Westerdahl)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2020, 1:32pm UTC](https://forum.defold.com/t/debug-draw-lines-boxes-circles-etc/61393/7 "2020-12-24T13:32:49Z")
Then you’ll get the variable “debug-draw”, and not the “debugdraw” as you wrote. Try this instead: ```lua local debugdraw = require("debug-draw.debug-draw") ``` ---
**Author:** ![Ragetto](https://forum-defold.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/forum.defold.com/ragetto/32/32785_2.png) [@Ragetto](https://forum.defold.com/u/Ragetto)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2020, 1:48pm UTC](https://forum.defold.com/t/debug-draw-lines-boxes-circles-etc/61393/8 "2020-12-24T13:48:59Z")
Oh ok… As you expected, it works 🙂 Thank you very much Ross for this super useful library, and Mathias for the help! ---
**Author:** ![ross.grams](https://forum-defold.b-cdn.net/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/cab0a1/32.png) [@ross.grams](https://forum.defold.com/u/ross.grams)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2020, 6:08pm UTC](https://forum.defold.com/t/debug-draw-lines-boxes-circles-etc/61393/9 "2020-12-25T18:08:56Z")
Thanks Mathias for helping out. I’ve added a line about this to the readme. ---
**Author:** ![Pkeod](https://forum-defold.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/forum.defold.com/pkeod/32/606_2.png) [@Pkeod](https://forum.defold.com/u/Pkeod)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2026, 10:55pm UTC](https://forum.defold.com/t/debug-draw-lines-boxes-circles-etc/61393/10 "2026-01-20T22:55:47Z")
[debug-draw.zip](https://forum.defold.com/uploads/short-url/hPvb5Hr0oOljBdKZBaaAcJxsKsm.zip) (12.6 KB) Updated version with more features and a nice animated demo! @ross.grams If you’re interested in updating the main repo version still please do. ![debug-draw](https://forum-defold-uploads.b-cdn.net/original/3X/3/7/3722dbdb01c9eecb29f71246b53292b0e8163dfa.png) ---
**Author:** ![roccosaienz](https://forum-defold.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/forum.defold.com/roccosaienz/32/19991_2.png) [@roccosaienz](https://forum.defold.com/u/roccosaienz)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2026, 2:01pm UTC](https://forum.defold.com/t/debug-draw-lines-boxes-circles-etc/61393/11 "2026-02-28T14:01:54Z")
First of all, thanks for the demo! Really nice! I don’t know if this is a known issue or it is an issue only on my mac. But text is not aligned with the other graphic elements. It seems like text is not behaving well with window size changing. Here is a screenshot: ![Screenshot 2026-02-28 alle 15.01.06](https://forum-defold-uploads.b-cdn.net/original/3X/2/0/20ad2b17c4ee5950466eb5e0cdd728556ddb527a.png) ---
**Author:** ![Pkeod](https://forum-defold.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/forum.defold.com/pkeod/32/606_2.png) [@Pkeod](https://forum.defold.com/u/Pkeod)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2026, 2:40pm UTC](https://forum.defold.com/t/debug-draw-lines-boxes-circles-etc/61393/12 "2026-02-28T14:40:00Z")
Demo is meant for demonstration so not really an issue. You can position debug draw text however you want but for a real game you want to use labels / gui text anyway. ---
**Author:** ![roccosaienz](https://forum-defold.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/forum.defold.com/roccosaienz/32/19991_2.png) [@roccosaienz](https://forum.defold.com/u/roccosaienz)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2026, 3:13pm UTC](https://forum.defold.com/t/debug-draw-lines-boxes-circles-etc/61393/13 "2026-02-28T15:13:21Z")
Yes, of course, this is only for debug. I like this demo so much and, in my opinion, it is a pity that the labels haven’t the correct positions. Just this. Thanks again! ---
**Author:** ![britzl](https://forum-defold.b-cdn.net/user_avatar/forum.defold.com/britzl/32/23_2.png) [@britzl](https://forum.defold.com/u/britzl)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2026, 1:48pm UTC](https://forum.defold.com/t/debug-draw-lines-boxes-circles-etc/61393/14 "2026-03-01T13:48:02Z")
> [@roccosaienz](#): > > I like this demo so much and, in my opinion, it is a pity that the labels haven’t the correct positions. Just this. The fix is to apply the display scale: ```lua function M.text(text, x, y, color) local scale = window.get_display_scale() color = color or M.default_color if M.COLORS[color] then color = M.COLORS[color] end V1.x, V1.y = x * scale, y * scale TEXTMSGDATA.text, TEXTMSGDATA.position, TEXTMSGDATA.color = text, V1, color msg.post("@render:", "draw_debug_text", TEXTMSGDATA) end ``` The display scale should obviously be cached and not called every time.