Core Concepts

MGFX is an immediate renderer. Your UI code owns layout, input, focus, animation state, and hit testing. MGFX draws the explicit arguments you pass every frame.

Runtime Choice

Start with the runtime you actually use:

Project	Entry	API Style
Plain Garry's Mod addon	lua-mgfx/ addon	MGFX.RoundedBoxEx(...)
Lux project	@lux/mgfx package	mgfx.api.roundedBoxEx(...)

The functions are equivalent. GLua uses PascalCase on the MGFX table; Lux uses lowerCamelCase under mgfx.api.

Frame Scope

GLua

function PANEL:Paint(w, h)
    MGFX.StartPanel(self, w, h)
    MGFX.RoundedBox(0, 0, w, h, 8, Color(20, 24, 32, 230))
    MGFX.EndPanel()
end

Lux

import * as mgfx from "@lux/mgfx"

fn PANEL:Paint(w, h) {
  local draw = mgfx.api
  draw.startPanel(self, w, h)
  draw.roundedBox(0, 0, w, h, 8, Color(20, 24, 32, 230))
  draw.endPanel();
}

StartPanel creates a panel-local coordinate system. StartScreen creates a screen-space coordinate system for HUDPaint or overlays. Pair every start call with its matching end call in the same draw.

Text and clip commands may be queued and flushed at EndPanel / EndScreen, so issue text after the shapes it should appear above.

Name And NameEx

Public drawing functions use two layers:

Name(...)    short hot-path signature for simple drawing
NameEx(...)  table style signature for advanced effects and readable arguments

Use the short function when the call is simple and stable. Switch to Ex when you need fields such as shadow, outerGlow, backdrop, pattern, mask, fit, crop, transform, or per-corner radius/cuts.

Pick The API

Need	Preferred API
Panels, buttons, rows	RoundedBox / RoundedBoxEx
Chamfered HUD cards	ChamferBoxEx
Badges, arrows, convex shapes	RegularPolyEx, DiamondEx, CaretEx, PolyEx
Avatars, icons, item art	ImageEx, IconEx, Mask
Health, ammo, loading bars	ProgressBarEx, SegmentBarEx
Circular meters and radial menus	RingEx, ArcEx, SectorEx
Plain text	Text or native GMod text
Text with shader effects	TextEx, TextBoxEx
Gradients and patterns	LinearGradient, RadialGradient, EllipticalRadialGradient, WornPattern

Style Tables

All draw state is explicit. MGFX has no global fill or stroke state.

GLua

MGFX.RoundedBoxEx(x, y, w, h, {
    radius = 10,
    fill = Color(18, 24, 32, 220),
    stroke = Color(255, 255, 255, 32),
    strokeWidth = 1,
})

Lux

import * as mgfx from "@lux/mgfx"

mgfx.api.roundedBoxEx(x, y, w, h, {
  radius = 10,
  fill = Color(18, 24, 32, 220),
  stroke = Color(255, 255, 255, 32),
  strokeWidth = 1,
});

Stroke order is always fill, stroke, strokeWidth. stroke == nil, strokeWidth == nil, or strokeWidth <= 0 means no stroke.

Text Route

Plain labels, table rows, player names, chat text, and fast-changing counters should stay native or use MGFX.Text. Use TextEx only when you need shader text effects such as gradient fill, stroke, glow, shadow, weight bias, or composed text boxes.

Reference Boundary

Concepts and recipes live in this guide. Exact signatures, parameter tables, defaults, return values, and caveats live in API Reference.