Arcgis Scene Environment

ArcGIS Scene Environment

Use this skill for configuring SceneView environment: lighting, weather, shadows, atmosphere, backgrounds, underground navigation, and elevation settings.

Import Patterns

ESM (npm)

import Environment from "@arcgis/core/views/3d/environment/Environment.js";
import SunLighting from "@arcgis/core/views/3d/environment/SunLighting.js";
import VirtualLighting from "@arcgis/core/views/3d/environment/VirtualLighting.js";
import SunnyWeather from "@arcgis/core/views/3d/environment/SunnyWeather.js";
import CloudyWeather from "@arcgis/core/views/3d/environment/CloudyWeather.js";
import RainyWeather from "@arcgis/core/views/3d/environment/RainyWeather.js";
import FoggyWeather from "@arcgis/core/views/3d/environment/FoggyWeather.js";
import SnowyWeather from "@arcgis/core/views/3d/environment/SnowyWeather.js";
import ShadowCastAnalysis from "@arcgis/core/analysis/ShadowCastAnalysis.js";

CDN (dynamic import)

const SunLighting = await $arcgis.import(
  "@arcgis/core/views/3d/environment/SunLighting.js",
);
const RainyWeather = await $arcgis.import(
  "@arcgis/core/views/3d/environment/RainyWeather.js",
);
const ShadowCastAnalysis = await $arcgis.import(
  "@arcgis/core/analysis/ShadowCastAnalysis.js",
);

Environment Settings

Basic Environment Configuration

const view = new SceneView({
  container: "viewDiv",
  map: scene,
  environment: {
    lighting: {
      date: new Date("Sun Mar 15 2019 16:00:00 GMT+0100"),
    },
    atmosphereEnabled: true,
    starsEnabled: true,
  },
});

Map Component Environment

  

  const viewElement = document.querySelector("arcgis-scene");
  await viewElement.viewOnReady();

  viewElement.environment = {
    lighting: {
      date: new Date(),
    },
    atmosphereEnabled: true,
    starsEnabled: true,
  };

Environment Properties

| Property | Type | Description | | ------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------- | | lighting | SunLighting \| VirtualLighting | Lighting configuration | | weather | SunnyWeather \| CloudyWeather \| RainyWeather \| FoggyWeather \| SnowyWeather | Weather effects | | weatherAvailable | boolean (readonly) | Whether weather effects are supported | | atmosphereEnabled | boolean | Show atmospheric haze | | starsEnabled | boolean | Show stars at night | | background | ColorBackground \| null | Scene background color/transparency |

Lighting

Sun Lighting

Realistic lighting based on sun position calculated from date, time, and geographic location.

view.environment = {
  lighting: {
    date: new Date("2024-06-21T14:00:00"),
    directShadowsEnabled: true,
  },
};

// Update sun position dynamically
view.environment.lighting.date = new Date("2024-06-21T18:00:00");

Virtual Lighting

Consistent directional lighting without sun position calculations.

view.environment = {
  lighting: {
    type: "virtual",
  },
};

Shadows

Enable Direct Shadows

view.environment = {
  lighting: {
    directShadowsEnabled: true,
    date: new Date("Sun Mar 15 2019 16:00:00 GMT+0100"),
  },
};

Toggle Shadows on Symbols

const clone = layer.renderer.clone();
clone.symbol.symbolLayers.getItemAt(0).castShadows = true;
layer.renderer = clone;

Shadow Cast Analysis

const shadowAnalysis = new ShadowCastAnalysis({
  startTime: new Date("2024-03-21T09:00:00"),
  endTime: new Date("2024-03-21T17:00:00"),
});

view.analyses.add(shadowAnalysis);

Weather

Weather Types

// Sunny
view.environment.weather = {
  type: "sunny",
  cloudCover: 0.2,
};

// Cloudy
view.environment.weather = {
  type: "cloudy",
  cloudCover: 0.8,
};

// Rainy
view.environment.weather = {
  type: "rainy",
  cloudCover: 0.8,
  precipitation: 0.3,
};

// Foggy
view.environment.weather = {
  type: "foggy",
  visibility: 1000,
};

// Snowy
view.environment.weather = {
  type: "snowy",
  cloudCover: 0.9,
};

Weather Properties

| Weather Type | Key Properties | | ------------ | ----------------------------------------- | | sunny | cloudCover (0–1), visibility (meters) | | cloudy | cloudCover (0–1) | | rainy | cloudCover (0–1), precipitation (0–1) | | foggy | visibility (meters) | | snowy | cloudCover (0–1) |

Weather and Daylight Components

Daylight Component

| Attribute | Type | Description | | ----------------------- | ---------------------- | --------------------------- | | date-or-season | "date" \| "season" | Calendar or season selector | | play-speed-multiplier | number | Animation speed multiplier | | hide-timezone | boolean | Hide timezone display |

Events:

• arcgis-daylight-change — Date/time changed
• arcgis-season-change — Season changed

Weather Component

Shadow Cast Component

Transparent Background

Configure Transparent Background

const view = new SceneView({
  container: "viewDiv",
  map: scene,
  alphaCompositingEnabled: true,
  environment: {
    background: {
      type: "color",
      color: [255, 252, 244, 0],
    },
    starsEnabled: false,
    atmosphereEnabled: false,
  },
});

Toggle Background Transparency

const backgroundColor = view.environment.background.color.clone();
backgroundColor.a = 0;
view.environment.background.color = backgroundColor;

Underground Navigation

Enable Underground Navigation (Map Component)

  

  const viewElement = document.querySelector("arcgis-scene");
  await viewElement.viewOnReady();

  viewElement.map.ground.navigationConstraint = { type: "none" };
  viewElement.map.ground.opacity = 0.4;
  viewElement.map.ground.surfaceColor = "#fff";

Underground Navigation (Core API)

const view = new SceneView({
  container: "viewDiv",
  map: scene,
});

view.when(() => {
  view.map.ground.navigationConstraint = { type: "none" };
  view.map.ground.opacity = 0.4;
});

// Navigate underground
view.goTo({
  position: {
    x: -122.4,
    y: 37.8,
    z: -500,
    spatialReference: { wkid: 4326 },
  },
  tilt: 80,
});

Ground Configuration

// World elevation
map.ground = "world-elevation";

// Custom elevation layer
import ElevationLayer from "@arcgis/core/layers/ElevationLayer.js";

map.ground = {
  layers: [
    new ElevationLayer({
      url: "https://elevation.arcgis.com/arcgis/rest/services/WorldElevation3D/Terrain3D/ImageServer",
    }),
  ],
};

// Underground navigation + semi-transparent ground
map.ground.navigationConstraint = { type: "none" };
map.ground.opacity = 0.5;

Local Scene Mode

Create Local Scene

Local Scene with Clipping Area

const viewElement = document.querySelector("arcgis-scene");
await viewElement.viewOnReady();

const clippingExtent = {
  xmax: -10834217,
  xmin: -10932882,
  ymax: 4493918,
  ymin: 4432667,
  spatialReference: { wkid: 3857 },
};

viewElement.clippingArea = clippingExtent;
viewElement.extent = clippingExtent;

viewElement.environment = {
  atmosphereEnabled: false,
  starsEnabled: false,
};

Elevation Modes

layer.elevationInfo = {
  mode: "on-the-ground", // Draped on ground
  // mode: "relative-to-ground"  // Offset from ground
  // mode: "relative-to-scene"   // Offset from scene
  // mode: "absolute-height"     // Absolute Z values
};

// With offset
layer.elevationInfo = {
  mode: "relative-to-ground",
  offset: 100,
  unit: "meters",
};

// With Arcade expression
layer.elevationInfo = {
  mode: "relative-to-ground",
  featureExpressionInfo: {
    expression: "Geometry($feature).z * 10",
  },
  unit: "meters",
};

Scene Quality

view.qualityProfile = "high"; // "low", "medium", "high"

Screenshot Capture

// Full view screenshot
const screenshot = await view.takeScreenshot({ format: "png" });

const img = document.createElement("img");
img.src = screenshot.dataUrl;
document.body.appendChild(img);

// Specific area
const screenshot = await view.takeScreenshot({
  area: { x: 100, y: 100, width: 500, height: 400 },
  format: "png",
});

// Download
function downloadImage(filename, dataUrl) {
  const element = document.createElement("a");
  element.href = dataUrl;
  element.download = filename;
  element.click();
}

downloadImage("scene-screenshot.png", screenshot.dataUrl);

View Constraints

const view = new SceneView({
  container: "viewDiv",
  map: scene,
  constraints: {
    altitude: {
      min: 20000000,
      max: 25000000,
    },
  },
});

Common Pitfalls

1. Alpha compositing: Must set alphaCompositingEnabled: true on SceneView for transparent backgrounds.

1. Local scenes: Require clipping area and typically disable atmosphere/stars.

1. Underground navigation: Must set ground.navigationConstraint.type = "none".

1. Shadow performance: directShadowsEnabled can impact rendering performance significantly.

1. Elevation modes: "on-the-ground" ignores offset and featureExpressionInfo.

1. Weather only in SceneView: Weather effects do not work in MapView.

1. Screenshot CORS: External layers may block screenshot capture due to CORS.

Reference Samples

• daylight — Daylight widget for sun position
• weather — Weather effects in SceneView
• scene-shadow — Shadow casting in 3D
• analysis-shadow-cast — Shadow cast analysis
• scene-underground — Underground navigation
• scene-environment — Environment settings

Related Skills

• arcgis-3d-layers — SceneLayer, PointCloudLayer, VoxelLayer
• arcgis-custom-rendering — RenderNode for custom 3D effects
• arcgis-core-maps — SceneView setup and initialization

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: SaschaBrunnerCH
• Source: SaschaBrunnerCH/arcgis-maps-sdk-js-ai-context
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.