Area Light

Updated: 4 Dec 2023

Add a light that emits from a rectangle.

Method #

This node emits light from a rectangular area, giving a soft light across a scene. An image texture can be input to emit light from the image based on a texture - useful for adding light from a screen, for example.

This light is great for producing a long flat light source.

To render soft shadows, Raytracing must be enabled in the root and in the node attributes.

All nodes connected to this node are treated as if flowing to the parent node, and inherits any transformation changes along the chain.

Parameters

Transform

These properties control the 3D transforms of the node. Transforms will generally be inherited by child nodes, although they can be ignored through the Inherit Transform Channels attributes.

Parameter	Details
Position X	The objects position along the local x-axis.
Position Y	The objects position along the local y-axis.
Position Z	The objects position along the local z-axis.
Rotation Heading	The objects rotation around the local y-axis.
Rotation Pitch	The objects rotation around the local x-axis.
Rotation Bank	The objects rotation around the local z-axis.
Scale X	The objects scale along the local x-axis.
Scale Y	The objects scale along the local y-axis.
Scale Z	The objects scale along the local z-axis.

Parent Transform

Control the inheritance of the transforms from the parent.

Parameter	Details
Position	Toggle inheritance of the Position from the parent.
Rotation	Toggle inheritance of the Rotation from the parent.
Scale	Toggle inheritance of the Scale from the parent.
World Position Only	Inherit the world position from the parent only, rotation and scale will be ignored. Overrides above properties.
Inherit Time	Toggle inheritance of time from the parent.

Attributes

These properties control the core behaviours of the node.

Parameter	Details
Colour	The colour of the light.
Brightness	How bright the light is.
Scattering Intensity	How much the light is scattered by the light, creating a simple fog around it.
Light Cone Angle	Change the size of the area the light covers.
Light Inner Cone Angle	Change the inner angle of the lights focus.
Double Sided	Toggle whether light is emitted from both sides of the area light.
Visible Surface	Toggle whether the Area Light Surface is visible to the light.
Visible Surface Casts Shadows	Toggle whether the Area Light Surface can cast shadows from other light sources.
Normalise Intensity/Area	Normalises the intensity of the light over it’s area.
Cast Shadows	When Enabled, This light will cast shadows. Area Lights cant cast shadows with the Default Renderer or the Standard Renderer, so in those cases consider the Hybrid Renderer or careful SSAO usage.
Apply Specular	Control whether this light applies specular light onto objects.
Apply Diffuse	Control whether this light applies diffuse light onto objects.
Show Light Cone	Show a cone in the scene to represent the lights current position and rotation.

Inputs

Name	Description	Typical Input
Projection Image	Add in an image to be projected by the light. Useful for adding gobos to lights, or making a simple projector light.	Video Loader
Affected Nodes	Choose which nodes are affected by the light node. By default, all are affected.	3D Object
Excluded Nodes	Choose which nodes are excluded from the light node. By default, none are ecluded.	3D Object
Texture Projection Node	Controls the direction the image is projected from, independant of the light. Only functions if an image is being projected from the light.	Null
Multi-Source Controller	Depreciated feature.
Target Node	Modifiy the rotations of the node to always direct the z axis towards the input.	Null
Transform Modifiers	Apply the transforms of another node to this node.	Null
Local Transform Override	Apply the transforms of another node to this node, relative to its parent.	Null