# Lights

Incari has two types of **Light Object**; the **Spot Light** and the **Point Light**.

The **Point** **Light** is *omnidirectional*, meaning that light is emitted equally in all directions; while the **Spot Light** is *directional* and will only light the area that it is rotated towards. Additionally, unlike **Point Light**, **Spot Light** supports shadow mapping, and has an extra set of **Attributes** for that purpose.

| Attribute        | Spot Light | Point Light |
| ---------------- | ---------- | ----------- |
| `Color`          | ✔          | ✔           |
| `Brightness`     | ✔          | ✔           |
| `Attenuation`    | ✔          | ✔           |
| `Radial Falloff` | ✔          | ✘           |
| `Shadow Mapping` | ✔          | ✘           |

## Light

### Color

`Color` determines the color of the light being emitted.

Please note that the `Color` **Attribute**'s *brightness* level will affect the brightness of the light itself. It is therefore recommended that you always have the brightness level set to 1, and use the actual `Brightness` **Attribute** to alter the intensity of the light.

`Color`'s *alpha* level has no effect.

### Brightness

`Brightness` governs the intensity of the light, with lower values giving less intense light emission and vice versa.

![](/files/-MIx_oSUzl5YZprseO-F)

### Attenuation

`Attenuation` relates to the spread, or reach, of the light. Lower levels only illuminate close **Objects**, whereas high levels allow the light to reach **Objects** that are further away.

![](/files/-MIx_oSVUNsALwY7XkdM)

### Radial Falloff

`Radial Falloff` is used to change the smoothness of the light falloff. Lower levels will give a smoother transition between light and dark areas, but will be darker overall. Higher levels give a much more contrasting light-to-dark transition and will appear comparatively brighter.

This **Attribute** is only available on the **Spot Light Object**.

![](/files/-MIx_oSWxjw2agY_SPQ_)

## Shadow Mapping

**Shadow Mapping** is a performance-based method of approximating shadows in real-time. Without getting too technical, **Shadow Mapping** takes the depth and normal passes of the **Scene** from the perspective of the **Spot Light**, calculates which areas are occluded, and projects the shadow map onto the **Scene**.

There is no 'one size fits all' setup for **Shadow Mapping**. It is invariably a matter of tweaking and adjusting to achieve the desired *visual* result for your **Scene**, as well as meeting the *performance* requirements of your project.

### Enable

**Shadow Mapping** can be turned on/off using the `Enable` switch. Whether or not you use this effect often comes down to performance. If you are having performance issues, then you should consider removing the effect, or adjusting the other settings.

### Resolution

`Resolution` alters the size of the shadow map. Just like with normal 2D textures, higher resolutions produce better quality, at the cost of processing time and file size.

![](/files/-MIx_oSXbhAVhF91b_ZE)

### Kernel Size

`Kernel Size` relates to the size of each sampled area during the calculation. It is a fairly complex subject, but it affects the smoothness of the shadow map. Lower levels give crisp, but jagged, shadows; whereas higher levels give smoother, but less defined results.

Increased `Kernel Size` may help improve results that suffer from *shadow acne*, or to reduce artifacts in cases where the shadow map `Resolution` is low.

![](/files/-MIx_oSY3o8aqCJV2Hxi)

### Clip Near

As stated above, **Shadow Mapping** takes passes from the **Light**'s perspective. Like the `Clip Near` **Attribute** of **Camera**, everything within the defined distance isn't rendered and is therefore excluded from those passes and the **Shadow Mapping** algorithm.

![](/files/-MIx_oSZisiKEm-_azn-)

### Offset

`Offset` offsets the depth of the shadow map and can massively improve its appearance, by reducing *shadow acne*. It is recommended that you increase this value by very small increments (0.0001) until you get an acceptable reduction in artifacts.

Due to the effect `Offset` has on the **Shadow Mapping** algorithm, higher values can cause shadows to appear to be disconnected from the geometry that casts them.

![](/files/-MIx_oS_YXGOQIqontdR)


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