Lights for Three.js & React Three Fiber

Lights decide what a 3D scene looks like more than any other object. 3DRise has the four standard lights every 3D tool has, and five fixtures that are both a visible object and a light source: a bulb, a stage spot with a beam in the air, an LED array, a fluorescent tube and a candle.

The standard lights

• Ambient Light: even light from every direction with no source and no shadows. It lifts the darkest areas or tints the whole scene; pair it with a key light.
• Directional Light: parallel rays from one direction, like the sun. Use it for daylight, moonlight and the main key light.
• Point Light: light from a single point in every direction, for bulbs, lamps and fires.
• Spot Light: a cone of light, with Angle for its width and Penumbra for how soft its edge is.

Point and spot lights also have Distance, the range of the light, and Decay, how fast it dims with distance (2 is physically correct).

The fixtures

• Light Bulb: Classic, Globe, Edison or Tube glass, Clear, Frosted or Tinted, with a filament that warms up when you switch the Power on and cools down more slowly when you switch it off.
• Spot Beam: a stage lamp whose beam shows in the air, shaped by a Gobo (Round, Slot, Bars, Blinds, Window, Leaves), with Haze breaking the beam up like smoke drifting through it.
• LED Array: dies laid out as a Single, Strip, Panel or Ring, a Diffuser sheet to soften them, and an RGB colour mode that runs a hue along the array with Chase.
• Fluorescent Tube: one to four tubes, a Stutter startup with false starts, Ballast hum and an Age setting that dims the tube and blackens its ends.
• Candle: a pillar, taper or tealight with a moving flame and a blue base, whose light moves with the flame so shadows sway.

The fixtures set their colour by Temperature (K), the way real lamps are sold (2700K warm, 4000K neutral, 6500K daylight), or by a custom colour. Flicker adds random dips and Halo the glow around the source.

Shadows

Every light except ambient can cast shadows. The shadow settings cover Resolution, Softness and how dark the shadow is, with Bias and Normal bias to clean up artefacts. A point light or bulb shadow costs six extra renders, so give shadows to the one or two lights that matter.

Choosing lights

• Product shots: a directional key light with soft shadows, a low ambient fill, and a spot or Spot Beam behind the product as a rim.
• Interiors and cosy scenes: light bulbs and candles at warm temperatures, with a touch of flicker.
• Stage, club and event scenes: Spot Beams with gobos and haze, LED arrays in RGB chase.
• Offices, garages and sci-fi corridors: fluorescent tubes, with Age and Stutter for unease.

Light settings can be keyframed, and the Power switch runs each fixture's own warm-up, so a light coming on can be part of the story.