Lights & environment

01Quick tour

1. Select the scene and click Presets in the canvas toolbar → Three-point. Three lights named key, fill and rim appear under the scene in the layer tree.
2. Select key. Its Light section shows Type: Spot, Color, Intensity, the cone settings and Cast shadow.
3. Press E (Rotate) and drag a ring on the canvas — a light points along its own axis, so rotating it aims it. Scale does not exist for lights.
4. Select the scene again and open Environment. Set Shadows to Soft, turn on Ambient occlusion.

02Light types

+ Light in the toolbar offers eight types. Hover each for its description. Right-click Add › Light here drops a Point light at the 3D pointer instead — then change Type in the section. The row is greyed unless a 3D scene (or something inside it) is selected; see Mesh here and Light here.

Intensities use physical units, so the numbers differ a lot between types. When you change Type, the intensity is moved to the new type's scale so the scene does not go black.

03The Light section

Projection (Spot only)

A spot can throw an image from its cone — a gobo. The Projection sub-block has Source: — none —, Image, Video or Layer. Image and Video add a File row; Layer adds a Layer dropdown so any 2D layer's drawing becomes the projected picture. The sources are the same ones a material texture can use.

A gobo lights the cone. To stamp a picture onto mesh color — and keep it after you move the light — use a Projector.

Projector

A Projector throws an image at meshes the way a real lamp throws a slide: only faces inside its frustum, facing it, receive the stamp. It does not light the scene and it does not cast shadows. Rotate it with E — it aims along its own axis, like a Spot.

This is not a material's Camera projection — that is on Materials.

Stamp

The Stamp sub-block has the same Source as a Spot gobo: — none —, Image, Video or Layer. Image and Video add a File row; Layer adds a Layer dropdown. Until a source is picked, a hint under the block says the stamp hits every mesh in the frustum and Intensity is stamp strength.

Up to four Projectors can stamp live at once. Where they overlap, later ones draw on top. Hide or delete extras if a fifth does nothing.

Clones of a mesh share the host's stamp. Back faces are skipped. A 1 % Intensity is almost invisible — leave it at 100 for a full stamp.

Bake stamp

Bake stamp writes the live frustum onto each receiver so the picture stays on that face after you move the projector.

1. Aim at a face. Set Receivers (All, or tick the mesh). Intensity at 100.
2. Click Bake stamp.
3. Rotate the projector (E) onto another face. Bake again.

On a cube, each face keeps its own stamp — the second bake does not wipe the first. The live preview stays after a bake until you move or hide the projector, so the two look the same until then.

Clear baked on the Projector removes the baked stamps from its receivers. The live stamp is unchanged. A mesh that has a bake also shows Baked stamp → Clear baked in its Geometry / Model / 3D Text section — that clears only that mesh.

Ctrl+Z undoes a bake. The bake is saved with the project.

Shadows on a light

Only Directional, Point and Spot cast shadows. Their Cast shadow toggle is on by default; ▸ More under it holds the fine-tuning:

An Area light shows a note instead: it cannot cast shadows (an engine limit). Pair it with a Spot and the scene's Contact shadow mode for a soft look with shadows. A Point light warns you when the scene is in Soft mode — point shadows do not render there; use Contact or Crisp.

04Light presets

Presets in the canvas toolbar replaces the scene's current lights with a named setup in one undo step. An HDRI or Projector is kept.

The lights are ordinary layers afterwards — move, recolor or delete them one by one.

05The Environment section

Select the scene. Environment has two sub-blocks: Look (how the scene reads) and Render quality (how expensive and realistic it is). Each feature is a toggle that opens its settings underneath.

Look

Render quality

06Shortcut recap