SpotLight3D

Inherits: Light3D < VisualInstance3D < Node3D < Node < Object

A spotlight, such as a reflector spotlight or a lantern.

Description

A Spotlight is a type of Light3D node that emits lights in a specific direction, in the shape of a cone. The light is attenuated through the distance. This attenuation can be configured by changing the energy, radius and attenuation parameters of Light3D.

Note: When using the Mobile rendering method, only 8 spot lights can be displayed on each mesh resource. Attempting to display more than 8 spot lights on a single mesh resource will result in spot lights flickering in and out as the camera moves. When using the Compatibility rendering method, only 8 spot lights can be displayed on each mesh resource by default, but this can be increased by adjusting ProjectSettings.rendering/limits/opengl/max_lights_per_object.

Note: When using the Mobile or Compatibility rendering methods, spot lights will only correctly affect meshes whose visibility AABB intersects with the light’s AABB. If using a shader to deform the mesh in a way that makes it go outside its AABB, GeometryInstance3D.extra_cull_margin must be increased on the mesh. Otherwise, the light may not be visible on the mesh.

Tutorials

• 3D lights and shadows

• Faking global illumination

• Third Person Shooter (TPS) Demo

Properties

Property Descriptions

float spot_angle = 45.0 🔗

• void set_param(value: float)

• float get_param()

The spotlight’s angle in degrees.

Note: spot_angle is not affected by Node3D.scale (the light’s scale or its parent’s scale).

float spot_angle_attenuation = 1.0 🔗

• void set_param(value: float)

• float get_param()

The spotlight’s angular attenuation curve. See also spot_attenuation.

float spot_attenuation = 1.0 🔗

• void set_param(value: float)

• float get_param()

Controls the distance attenuation function for spotlights.

A value of 0.0 will maintain a constant brightness through most of the range, but smoothly attenuate the light at the edge of the range. Use a value of 2.0 for physically accurate lights as it results in the proper inverse square attenutation.

Note: Setting attenuation to 2.0 or higher may result in distant objects receiving minimal light, even within range. For example, with a range of 4096, an object at 100 units is attenuated by a factor of 0.0001. With a default brightness of 1, the light would not be visible at that distance.

Note: Using negative or values higher than 10.0 may lead to unexpected results.

float spot_range = 5.0 🔗

• void set_param(value: float)

• float get_param()

The maximal range that can be reached by the spotlight. Note that the effectively lit area may appear to be smaller depending on the spot_attenuation in use. No matter the spot_attenuation in use, the light will never reach anything outside this range.

Note: spot_range is not affected by Node3D.scale (the light’s scale or its parent’s scale).

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