Light Stack

Add lights#

The compact + Light button in the Light Stack header opens light creation, HDRi Environment import, and HDRi to Light Stack conversion. Its plus icon is yellow. The separate HDRi lights creation strip has been removed to leave more room for the list. Yellow plus icons consistently identify creation actions in Materials, Object Layers and Geometry Tree.

Read the order#

Light Stack contains ordered light layers. The top layer is composited last, so a blocker or blend can affect what is below it. New environment images and fill lighting are editable layers. Older projects retain separate lighting contributions under Scene Settings → Legacy lighting, when present.

Select and reorder#

• Click anywhere on a row outside its action buttons to edit it. Click the only selected row again to deselect it.
• Ctrl-click (Windows/Linux) or Command-click (macOS) adds or removes individual rows. The selection checkbox does the same without a modifier. Shift-click selects a range; Ctrl/Command + Shift-click adds that range. Option/Alt is not a selection modifier; macOS Control-click remains a context-menu gesture.
• Drag the grip to reorder a selected light or a selected set. You can also use Move Up and Move Down.
• When more than one light is selected, Light Properties becomes Mass Actions in the same panel. Its grouped controls operate on the selection and identify locked members. Click one row to return to single-light properties; Clear clears the selection.
• Use Mass Actions for operations across selected lights, or make a Light Group for recurring adjustments.
• After deleting a selected layer, the next surviving row below it is selected automatically. If none is below, the nearest row above is selected. This stays within the current Composite or root stack; an empty stack has no selection. Locked layers and Composites containing locked children are protected.

Understand the row controls#

Row action order is Composite → Selection → Preview exclusion → Solo → Lock → Hide/Show → Delete. The grip and number sit slightly closer together. The stack reserves at least 340 px before Interface Zoom so the controls remain usable.

The red trash beside Hide/Show deletes only that row, even if other layers are selected. Surviving selected layers remain selected. Toolbar, menu and Mass Actions deletion still act on the selection. When deletion leaves an affected Light Group with fewer than two members, the group dissolves and the surviving light stays. Undo restores both together.

Preview exclusion is different from visibility. Ignore Excluded Lights is on by default in Export HDRi; turn it off when those layers should be included in the exported map.

Layer menu#

Right-click a selected row and choose Create Light Group to turn two or more selected lights into an automatically named group. The folder icon denotes Composite commands; target, pointer and preview icons distinguish Solo, picking and preview inclusion from the Show/Hide eyes. Right-click a row for operations such as rename, copy, cut, paste, duplicate and linked-light commands. Available actions depend on the current selection and whether a light is locked. Linked lights can be converted, changed between mirror types, or unlinked. See linked lights.

Limits#

A project supports up to 256 light layers. Linked definitions expand to multiple contributions; unlinking or converting a large selection can hit the limit. Save a .lumen backup before major restructuring.

See Light Properties, Mass Actions and Environments and fill lighting.

Solo and picking#

Right-click selected rows for Solo selected · toggle or Solo others · toggle. Solo others isolates the visible siblings outside the selection; it is also beside Solo in single-light properties and in Mass Actions. These choices replace each other within the current stack. Click the active choice again, or Clear Solo in this stack, to restore enabled lights. Enabled, Lock and preview-exclusion states are preserved. Turning off the single-light Solo switch removes that member from an existing isolation set; Clear Solo clears the whole stack.

Solo affects HDR Canvas, Render Preview and export within its sibling stack. In a Composite, children solo locally; root Composite solo isolates the parent. Isolation in other sibling stacks is retained. Legacy Environment and Ambient remain underneath. Hidden lights stay hidden and do not isolate the scene.

Pickable on canvas in Light Properties controls numbered handles independently of Lock. A non-pickable light still renders and remains selectable in the stack. Right-click a model reflection to select the pickable light with the largest sampled contribution at that direction. This is a radiance-direction picker, not an analysis of every blurred or refracted reflection.

Stack cleanup and boundaries#

The row menu includes Bring to Top and Send to Bottom for the selected unlocked layers. In the + Light menu, Review disabled lights… appears only when there are safely removable disabled lights. It lists unlocked disabled lights and their removable child layers before removal; locked descendants protect their parent Composite. One Undo restores the removed set. Both Rename and Light Properties accept 80-character light names.

Add lighting and convert an HDRi#

+ Light contains the light types, HDRi Environment and the highlighted HDRi to Light Stack command. HDRi File and HDRi Environment share the same image icon; the Environment description identifies it as Full Canvas HDRi Environment. Hovering or focusing a light type highlights both its name and icon in yellow.

Choose HDRi Environment for a panorama that contributes to lighting immediately. Choose HDRi to Light Stack to analyze a source into editable lights.

Hover and spacing#

With Show light numbers enabled, hover a canvas number for its name and a dashed cue on its stack row. Hovering a row highlights its canvas number too. The dashed cue is separate from the solid gold selected state and never changes the selection. Keyboard focus also identifies the matching light.

The expanded stack reserves enough height for at least three standard rows. Consistent inner padding includes the final row; drag insertion uses a thin line between rows without moving them. The Scene/Composite navigation strip appears only in Advance.

Retained selection and group markers#

Selecting a Light Group dims your retained layer selection. Group actions affect the named group, not the dimmed selection. Colored dots beside layer numbers and the Editing caption identify group targets; a parent marker can indicate affected children. Click a retained layer or Resume to return to layer Mass Actions. See Light Groups.