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DirectionalLight3D¶
Inherits: Light3D < VisualInstance3D < Node3D < Node < Object
Directional light from a distance, as from the Sun.
Description¶
A directional light is a type of Light3D node that models an infinite number of parallel rays covering the entire scene. It is used for lights with strong intensity that are located far away from the scene to model sunlight or moonlight. The worldspace location of the DirectionalLight3D transform (origin) is ignored. Only the basis is used to determine light direction.
Tutorials¶
Properties¶
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Enumerations¶
enum ShadowMode:
ShadowMode SHADOW_ORTHOGONAL = 0
Renders the entire scene's shadow map from an orthogonal point of view. This is the fastest directional shadow mode. May result in blurrier shadows on close objects.
ShadowMode SHADOW_PARALLEL_2_SPLITS = 1
Splits the view frustum in 2 areas, each with its own shadow map. This shadow mode is a compromise between SHADOW_ORTHOGONAL and SHADOW_PARALLEL_4_SPLITS in terms of performance.
ShadowMode SHADOW_PARALLEL_4_SPLITS = 2
Splits the view frustum in 4 areas, each with its own shadow map. This is the slowest directional shadow mode.
enum SkyMode:
SkyMode SKY_MODE_LIGHT_AND_SKY = 0
Makes the light visible in both scene lighting and sky rendering.
SkyMode SKY_MODE_LIGHT_ONLY = 1
Makes the light visible in scene lighting only (including direct lighting and global illumination). When using this mode, the light will not be visible from sky shaders.
SkyMode SKY_MODE_SKY_ONLY = 2
Makes the light visible to sky shaders only. When using this mode the light will not cast light into the scene (either through direct lighting or through global illumination), but can be accessed through sky shaders. This can be useful, for example, when you want to control sky effects without illuminating the scene (during a night cycle, for example).
Property Descriptions¶
bool directional_shadow_blend_splits = false
If true, shadow detail is sacrificed in exchange for smoother transitions between splits. Enabling shadow blend splitting also has a moderate performance cost. This is ignored when directional_shadow_mode is SHADOW_ORTHOGONAL.
float directional_shadow_fade_start = 0.8
Proportion of directional_shadow_max_distance at which point the shadow starts to fade. At directional_shadow_max_distance, the shadow will disappear. The default value is a balance between smooth fading and distant shadow visibility. If the camera moves fast and the directional_shadow_max_distance is low, consider lowering directional_shadow_fade_start below 0.8 to make shadow transitions less noticeable. On the other hand, if you tuned directional_shadow_max_distance to cover the entire scene, you can set directional_shadow_fade_start to 1.0 to prevent the shadow from fading in the distance (it will suddenly cut off instead).
float directional_shadow_max_distance = 100.0