AmbientLight

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`AmbientLight`

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AmbientLight[col]

is a three-dimensional graphics directive that specifies the uniform ambient light of color col to use in coloring 3D surfaces.

Details

AmbientLight is also known as natural light.
AmbientLight is typically used to fill areas that do not have enough illumination by casting soft light rays in every direction.

AmbientLight[col] yields a uniform ambient light of color col.
Colors of light sources col can be defined by RGBColor, Hue or any other color specification.
The setting for AmbientLight affects only colors associated with diffuse and specular reflection on a 3D surface.
Light sources with color specifications of the form {dcol,Specularity[scol]} are effectively taken to have colors dcol for purposes of diffuse reflection, and scol for purposes of specular reflection.
Diffuse reflection is taken to follow Lambert's law, with light effectively scattered equally in all directions from a surface.
Specular reflection effectively takes light to be scattered only close to the mirror‐reflection direction, as specified in the notes for Specularity.

Examples

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Basic Examples (2)Summary of the most common use cases

Ambient light on surfaces:

In[3]:=3

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https://wolfram.com/xid/0bnijrxowfa3a-gr84zo

Out[3]=3

Style a surface in a plot:

In[1]:=1

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https://wolfram.com/xid/0bnijrxowfa3a-hybyas

Out[1]=1

Scope (2)Survey of the scope of standard use cases

Ambient light is uniformly applied to all the surfaces in the scene:

In[3]:=3

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https://wolfram.com/xid/0bnijrxowfa3a-j9x8e3

Out[3]=3

Ambient light gives overall lighting on the scene:

In[1]:=1

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https://wolfram.com/xid/0bnijrxowfa3a-gsh9e4

In[2]:=2

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https://wolfram.com/xid/0bnijrxowfa3a-f3mwaz

Out[2]=2

Generalizations & Extensions (2)Generalized and extended use cases

Predefined colored lighting:

In[5]:=5

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https://wolfram.com/xid/0bnijrxowfa3a-cglwya

Out[5]=5

The colored lighting is equivalent to the following explicit setting:

In[6]:=6

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https://wolfram.com/xid/0bnijrxowfa3a-fn9jvz

Out[6]=6

Predefined neutral lighting:

In[1]:=1

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https://wolfram.com/xid/0bnijrxowfa3a-bjc71q

Out[1]=1

The neutral lighting is equivalent to the following explicit setting:

In[2]:=2

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https://wolfram.com/xid/0bnijrxowfa3a-flc8mp

Out[2]=2

Applications (1)Sample problems that can be solved with this function

Build a scene with multiple objects and light sources:

In[20]:=20

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https://wolfram.com/xid/0bnijrxowfa3a-kwdbl8

Animate the spotlights:

In[25]:=25

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https://wolfram.com/xid/0bnijrxowfa3a-mqjf2m

Out[25]=25

Possible Issues (1)Common pitfalls and unexpected behavior

The default light scheme uses several colored light sources:

In[1]:=1

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https://wolfram.com/xid/0bnijrxowfa3a-hmqvj9

Out[1]=1

Set Lighting to None to turn off the default lights:

In[2]:=2

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https://wolfram.com/xid/0bnijrxowfa3a-1ojl57

Out[2]=2

Neat Examples (1)Surprising or curious use cases

A simple light show:

In[11]:=11

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https://wolfram.com/xid/0bnijrxowfa3a-lm54gk

In[15]:=15

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https://wolfram.com/xid/0bnijrxowfa3a-bega18

Out[15]=15

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