Lighting and Rendering: Lights, the Sun, Render Quality and Photo Renders

Lights

**Point light** (`LIGHT`, `LT`): light in every direction from a point, like a bare bulb.

**Spot light** (`SPOTLIGHT`, `SP`): a cone of light, with its cone angle and edge softness.

**Area light** (`AREALIGHT`, `AL`): a panel of light, with its width and height.

Lights are in the model, so these tools switch to 3D. Each has its colour, brightness, range, height and whether it casts shadows.

Lamps in the catalogue give light of their own. Settings › Lighting has **Lamps on** and **Lamp brightness**.

Tip: Settings › Editor › **Light markers** hides the lights' markers for a clean view.

Settings › Lighting

**Light**: the overall brightness and **Time of day**, which moves the sun.

**Sky**: show the sky, or a skybox.

**Look**: the colour style, sun softness and light effects.

The time of day and the sky are saved with the project; render quality is a setting of your device.

The sun is placed by the latitude and longitude in Settings › Site. See [Site plan](/docs/site-plan).

Render quality

**Basic**: a CAD look: flat even light, no shadows and a line along every edge. The lightest, so the fastest to work in.

**Draft**: real time light and shadows, the one to build in.

**High**: adds soft shadows in corners and a sharper sun shadow. Real time, but heavier on a laptop.

**Studio**: path traced. Rough while the camera moves, then sharpens into a photoreal image once it settles. Its own settings trade speed against detail.

On a phone the choice is Basic or Draft.

Photo renders

In 3D or 2.5D, **Render photo** at the top saves the current view as an image, with its lighting and quality. A straight down 2.5D render makes a presentation plan.

For the best image, set Studio, frame the view, and let it settle before you render.

Read next

• Furniture and kitchens
• Site plan
• Getting started
• Public pages and the community

Frequently asked questions