Lighting

is an option for Graphics3D and related functions that specifies what simulated lighting to use in coloring 3D surfaces.

Details

The following settings can be given:
Automatic default lighting schemes

None no lighting

"light" named lighting

{s₁,s₂,…} light sources s₁, s₂, …
Possible named lighting settings "light" include:

		"Standard"	colored light sources in default positions
		"Neutral"	white light sources in default positions
		"Accent"	a directional white light source in default direction
		"ThreePoint"	three directional white light sources in default directions

Each light source s_i can be of the following forms:
AmbientLight uniform ambient light

DirectionalLight directional light

PointLight spherical point light

SpotLight spotlight
Lighting{s₁,…} combines the light sources s_i with any inherited light sources. To prevent combining with inherited light sources, use Lighting{None, s₁,…}.
Lighting->Automatic uses ambient light together with four light sources fixed relative to the final displayed image.
Lighting can be specified separately for particular objects in Graphics3D by giving a style option Style[obj,Lighting->spec].

Examples

open allclose all

Basic Examples (4)

Default lighting on gray specular sphere:

Neutral lighting on gray specular sphere:

Directional light from the top of the specular surface:

Specify lighting for each object:

Scope (24)

Lighting Specification (18)

Default lighting on a white surface:

Default lighting when ColorFunction is specified:

No lighting means diffuse or specular colors will not be visible:

Using Glow specifies pure color without interaction with lights:

Ambient light is uniformly applied to all the surfaces in the scene:

Ambient light gives overall lighting on the scene:

Directional light is specified by a color and a vector defined by two points:

Directional lights with different colors:

Directional lights with different directions:

Directional lights on a specular surface:

Specify a spherical point light source by a color and a position:

Point lights with different colors:

Point lights at various positions:

Point lights on specular surfaces:

Specify spotlight by position, target position, and half-angle:

Spotlights with different colors:

Spotlights from different positions:

Spotlights with different half-angles:

Spotlights on specular surfaces:

Lighting Positions (3)

Specify the light source position in the graphics coordinate system by default:

The light source moves with the graphic when the view point changes:

Specify the light position by a fraction of the graphics coordinates using Scaled:

The light source moves with the graphic when the view point changes:

Specify the light position in the view coordinate system using ImageScaled:

The light source position is always fixed relative to the view point:

Lighting Attenuation (3)

By default, point lights are not affected by the distance from an object:

Specify a point light that attenuates with respect to the distance:

Specify a point light that attenuates by the square of the distance:

By default, spotlights fall off sharply outside the cone:

Spotlights with different spot exponent has intensity :

Spotlight without attenuation:

Spotlight with linear attenuation:

Spotlight with quadratic attenuation:

Generalizations & Extensions (8)

Predefined colored lighting:

The colored lighting is equivalent to the following explicit setting:

Predefined accent lighting:

The accent lighting is equivalent to the following explicit setting:

Predefined neutral lighting:

The neutral lighting is equivalent to the following explicit setting:

Predefined three-point lighting:

The three-point lighting is equivalent to the following explicit setting:

Specify lighting for each object:

Specify lighting within the graphics:

If not specified, the target direction is given toward the center of the objects:

Specify diffuse and specular colors separately for both objects and lights:

Applications (3)

Set up four white spheres on a plane:

Directional light:

Point light:

Spotlight:

Different light instruments at the corner points:

Build a scene with multiple objects and light sources:

Animate the spotlights:

Properties & Relations (8)

Surface color and lighting interact with each other:

Diffuse object and lighting colors can be exchanged and produce the same effect:

Specular object and lighting colors can be exchanged and produce the same effect:

Specularity gives mirror-like reflection:

The final color is a linear combination of all the surface colors as well as lighting:

Directional light yields rays parallel to the specified direction:

Point light yields rays toward all the directions from the position:

A spotlight emits conic rays toward the specified direction:

Possible Issues (5)

The default lighting may not be suitable for light surface colors:

Neutral lighting can be used to reflect surface colors more naturally:

If a color function is given to a plot, then neutral lighting is used automatically:

Restore the default colored lighting:

Flat surfaces may show little or no reflection:

A spotlight on a sphere may display a jagged boundary:

Increasing the spot exponent may reduce the effect:

Inline Lighting directives specifying light sources add those sources to any inherited specification:

Set LightingNone on the graphic to override the default LightingAutomatic setting:

Similarly, a sequence of Lighting{s₁,…} specifications cumulatively adds the lights together:

Use list braces to ensure the lighting specification does not leak into subsequent specifications:

Neat Examples (2)

Random light setups for ring models:

A simple light show:

Top

Lighting

Details

Examples

Basic Examples (4)