Lighting

Any number of light sources can be defined in a 3D view, including ambient, directional, point and spot light sources. The color, position, intensity and direction of the light source - depending on its type - can also be varied.

Light sources can be:

  • Atmospheric (like the sun) and referred to as scene light sources.

  • Attached to stationary and mobile VR objects (like buildings, trucks and equipment). These are referred to as object light sources.

An example of an object light source

Note: Independent 3D views have their own light sources. See Independent 3D Windows.

To add or change a scene light source:

  1. Display the Environmental Settings screen.

  2. Adjust the background light source, known as an Ambient Light source. This lighting affects all lit and untextured 3D surfaces, including wireframes (providing they are not unlit - see Wireframe Properties: General), 3D strings, block model cuboids, drillholes rendered as cylinders and 3D point symbols.

    Ambient light is non-directional, and is applied equally to all 3D surfaces regardless of orientation.

    • If checked, an ambient light source is applied and its intensity can be adjusted using the slider.

    • If unchecked, no ambient light source is applied and lighting is derived solely from Directional Light (see below) or object light sources (see further below).

  3. Check or uncheck Directional Light to control the directional light applied to the scene.

    • If checked, a single directional light source is applied to the scene.

      Change the intensity with the slider, or change the light source position with the Azimuth and Latitude dials.

      • The Azimuth of the Directional Light corresponds to the time of day (0º for midday and 90º for sunset or dawn).

      • The Latitude of the Directional Light corresponds to the equatorial latitude (0º for tropical and 90º for arctic).

        Tip: Negative Azimuth and Latitude settings can be used for back lighting effects.

  4. Use the Headlight option to increase the focus of global lighting applied to the scene. Consider the examples below, where Headlight is unchecked (left) and checked (right):

  5. By default, light is applied to both sides of a surface because 2 Sided is checked by default. If unchecked, light is only rendered on the side of a surface facing a light source (scene or object).

  6. Click OK or Apply to update your scene.

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