Omniarch Editor

Light Sources

Light Sources are dynamic elements that simulate illumination within a 3D environment. They are essential for shaping the visual mood and realism of a scene. They can be placed in the scene and customized using various adjustment parameters. Light Sources can be switched on and off manually or automatically, providing full control over lighting behavior during both design and presentation phases. When Dynamic Sky System is active, lights can also be automated by setting custom on and off times based on the Time of Day, allowing lights to respond naturally to changing daylight conditions.

Light Sources are added to the scene in the same way as meshes and currently use the same container UI system. To access the Light Source Container UI, click the Light Icon located in the Main Toolbar on the left edge of the interface.

Each light can be added to the scene by clicking and dragging its icon to the desired location within the viewport.

Light Manipulation

Lights can be directly manipulated in the viewport using the standard Gizmo Types:

Translate Gizmo– Move the light to a new position.
Rotate Gizmo – Adjust the light’s direction (useful for Spotlights and Area Lights).
Scale Gizmo – Affects the area or radius of light depending on the type.

Light Source Types

There are 3 Light Source Types available in Omniarch:

Point Light – Emits light uniformly in all directions from a single point in space. Suitable for simulating bulbs, lanterns, or any compact light sources.
Area Light – Emits light from a flat, rectangular surface in one direction, providing soft and evenly distributed lighting. Ideal for panels, fluorescent-style lighting, or to add more artificial skylight light into your interiors.
Spotlight – Projects a cone of light in a single direction. Useful for focused lighting effects such as wall mounted lamps, foliage illumination, stage lights, or desk lamps.

Light Source Types can be changed at any time on the right side Light Settings UI via the Light Type Dropdown. This change replaces the light in place while preserving its position, which makes it easy to experiment and iterate with different lighting styles without repositioning Light Sources already placed in the scene.

Light Parameters

Each Light Source Type comes with its own set of parameters that provide extensive customization. These parameters include intensity, color, attenuation distance, shadow settings, and other parameters specific to each type.

Shared Parameters

Enabled – Turns the light on or off in the scene. Even if the light is off you can still interact with it in the First-Person Mode
Disable Player Interaction – Prevents viewport light toggling in First-Person Mode or Editor Mode if interactions are enabled. This setting will make light inoperable in Omniarch Explorer
Automated by Time – When enabled it automates lights on/off switching based on Time of Day, only when Dynamic Sky System is used. When enabled, additional Day Time and Night Time parameters appear that allow custom on and off time triggers
Light Intensity – Adjusts the brightness of the light
Cast Radius – Sets how far the light spreads in the scene
Indirect Light Intensity – Controls how much light bounces off surfaces
Casts Shadows – Enables or disables shadow casting. (Disable for optimization or stylistic visuals)
Show in Reflections – Toggles whether the light is visible in reflective surfaces
Light Temperature – Adjusts between warm, natural and cool light color using Kelvin scale
Use Light Color – Enables additional HSL color parameters for adjusting light color