3D light sources are a key component of rendering and lighting in 3D graphics. There are many different types of light sources, which can be categorized as point lights (like a flashlight), spotlights (like the sun), directional lights (like an LED bulb), or area lights (like a candle). Each type has its own set of properties that define how much light it emits and where the light comes from. This blog post will explain each type of 3D lighting source in detail so you can use them better in your projects!
Table of Contents
Point Light
A point light is a light source that emits light equally in all directions and can be used to simulate the sun or other point sources of light.
It has a high intensity and is used to simulate bright lights. It’s often used as an ambient light source in scenes that need to show illumination on all surfaces instead of simulating individual spotlights or area lamps.
Spot Light
Spot Light is a light source that simulates a single point in space, which is useful for creating shadows and lighting up small areas. Spot Lights are good for simulating a flashlight or the spotlight in an auditorium.
Spotlights simulate light coming from a single point in space (like your car’s headlight). You can use spotlights to create shadows, and you can use them to illuminate small areas of your scene without bleeding into other areas.
Adobe 3D AR experts say, “A spot light is just like a flashlight. The intensity of the light fades away the farther an object is from the source and diminishes along the edges of the cone of light.”
Directional Light
Directional lights are approximated by a parallel beam of light traveling in a single direction. They are often used as the sun or moon in outdoor scenes because they can be pointed at whatever angle you wish. Directional lights are also used to light large areas with a single light source, such as an office building’s exterior at night or an interior hallway.
Area Light
Area lights are 3D light sources that behave in a similar way to real-world light sources such as the sun.
- They emit light in all directions uniformly and have no control over the direction of their emitted rays.
- This makes them useful for modeling things like sunlight or other environmental illumination, which can come from any direction and doesn’t have a defined source point.
You’ll often see area lights used in 3D graphic applications, often called “sky” lights or “ambient” light sources.
Area lights are not supported by all graphics APIs (such as OpenGL), so if you’re working with one of these, you may need to find an alternative solution for your scene lighting needs—such as using directional or point lights instead.
Hopefully, you now know more about the different types of light in 3D. It’s important to know what each one does so that you can choose the right type for your project.
