3d Lighting

3D Lighting for Summer Engine

Set up lighting and environment for 3D scenes. Follow these patterns for outdoor and indoor setups.

Light Types

| Type | Use case | |------|----------| | DirectionalLight3D | Sun, moon, outdoor primary light | | OmniLight3D | Point lights (lamps, torches) | | SpotLight3D | Flashlights, stage lights |

Basic Outdoor Setup

1. Directional Light (Sun)

summer_add_node(parent="./World", type="DirectionalLight3D", name="Sun")
summer_set_prop(path="./World/Sun", key="rotation_degrees", value="Vector3(-45, 30, 0)")
summer_set_prop(path="./World/Sun", key="light_energy", value="1.0")
summer_set_prop(path="./World/Sun", key="shadow_enabled", value="true")
summer_set_prop(path="./World/Sun", key="light_color", value="Color(1, 0.95, 0.9, 1)")

Warm sunlight: Color(1, 0.95, 0.9, 1). Cool moonlight: Color(0.8, 0.85, 1, 1).

2. WorldEnvironment (Sky + Ambient)

summer_add_node(parent="./World", type="WorldEnvironment", name="WorldEnvironment")
summer_set_prop(path="./World/WorldEnvironment", key="environment", value="Environment")

Then configure the Environment's sub-properties. The Environment resource has:

• background_mode — 2 for sky, 1 for color, 3 for canvas
• sky — Sky resource (ProceduralSkyMaterial or PhysicalSkyMaterial)
• ambient_light_source — AMBIENTSOURCESKY or AMBIENTSOURCECOLOR
• ambient_light_color
• tonemap_mode

For a simple procedural sky:

summer_set_resource_property(nodePath="./World/WorldEnvironment", resourceProperty="environment", subProperty="background_mode", value="2")

You may need to create a Sky resource and assign it. In the editor this is done via the inspector; via MCP, SetResourceProperty on nested resources may require the resource to exist first. If environment is "Environment", the engine creates a default. For sky, you might set sky to "ProceduralSkyMaterial" or similar—check Godot docs for the exact property chain.

Simpler path: Use the 3d-basic template which already has a sky. Copy that structure.

3. Fill Light (Optional)

A second, weaker directional or omni for shadow fill:

summer_add_node(parent="./World", type="DirectionalLight3D", name="FillLight")
summer_set_prop(path="./World/FillLight", key="rotation_degrees", value="Vector3(-30, -120, 0)")
summer_set_prop(path="./World/FillLight", key="light_energy", value="0.3")
summer_set_prop(path="./World/FillLight", key="shadow_enabled", value="false")
summer_set_prop(path="./World/FillLight", key="light_color", value="Color(0.7, 0.8, 1, 1)")

Indoor / Point Lights

summer_add_node(parent="./World", type="OmniLight3D", name="Lamp")
summer_set_prop(path="./World/Lamp", key="position", value="Vector3(2, 3, 2)")
summer_set_prop(path="./World/Lamp", key="light_energy", value="0.8")
summer_set_prop(path="./World/Lamp", key="light_color", value="Color(1, 0.9, 0.7, 1)")
summer_set_prop(path="./World/Lamp", key="omni_range", value="8")

Property Reference

| Property | Type | Example | |----------|------|---------| | lightenergy | float | 1.0, 1.5 | | lightcolor | Color | "Color(1, 0.95, 0.9, 1)" | | shadowenabled | bool | true | | rotationdegrees | Vector3 | "Vector3(-45, 30, 0)" | | position | Vector3 | "Vector3(0, 10, 0)" | | omnirange | float | 10 (OmniLight3D) | | spotrange | float | 10 (SpotLight3D) | | spot_angle | float | 45 (degrees, SpotLight3D) |

Color Format

Always use Color(r, g, b, a) with values 0.0–1.0:

• Warm white: Color(1, 0.95, 0.9, 1)
• Cool white: Color(0.9, 0.95, 1, 1)
• Orange (torch): Color(1, 0.6, 0.2, 1)
• Green (alien): Color(0.5, 1, 0.5, 1)

Fallback (no MCP — edit .tscn directly)

If Summer MCP isn't connected, append the lighting block to your scene file:

[node name="Sun" type="DirectionalLight3D" parent="World"]
transform = Transform3D(0.866, 0, -0.5, 0.354, 0.707, 0.612, 0.354, -0.707, 0.612, 0, 0, 0)
light_color = Color(1, 0.95, 0.9, 1)
light_energy = 1.0
shadow_enabled = true

[node name="WorldEnvironment" type="WorldEnvironment" parent="World"]

Then create Environment and Sky resources via the inspector or load from .tres.

Collaborative protocol

This skill mutates the scene (adds lights + WorldEnvironment + tunes Environment sub-properties). Always ask before applying: "May I add a DirectionalLight3D Sun with shadows + a WorldEnvironment with a procedural sky?". See ../../references/collaborative-protocol.md.

Source & license

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

• Author: SummerEngine
• Source: SummerEngine/summer-engine-agent
• License: MIT
• Homepage: https://summerengine.com/

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