Lighting

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:
  • Automaticdefault lighting schemes
    Noneno 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 si can be of the following forms:
  • AmbientLightuniform ambient light
    DirectionalLightdirectional light
    PointLightspherical point light
    SpotLightspotlight
  • Lighting{s1,…} combines the light sources si 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

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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 LightingNone on the graphic to override the default LightingAutomatic 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:

Wolfram Research (1988), Lighting, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Lighting.html (updated 2021).

Text

Wolfram Research (1988), Lighting, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Lighting.html (updated 2021).

CMS

Wolfram Language. 1988. "Lighting." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. Last Modified 2021. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Lighting.html.

APA

Wolfram Language. (1988). Lighting. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Lighting.html

BibTeX

@misc{reference.wolfram_2025_lighting, author="Wolfram Research", title="{Lighting}", year="2021", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Lighting.html}", note=[Accessed: 24-July-2025 ]}

BibLaTeX

@online{reference.wolfram_2025_lighting, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={Lighting}, year={2021}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Lighting.html}, note=[Accessed: 24-July-2025 ]}