Point Light Node

Point Light emits in every direction from a precise point in 3D space. A classic for a bare bulb, a candle, or any local source. Unlike the Directional, its position matters and it offers an adjustable falloff.

Since it emits in every direction, its rotation has no effect - only the position counts.

• Effects Library: Tools > 3D > Light > Point Light
• Quick add: right-click in the Node Editor → Add Tool > 3D > Light > Point Light

• SceneInput (orange) - optional. The transforms apply to the incoming scene.

Shape 3D ──┐
Point Light ─┼→ Merge 3D ← Camera 3D → Renderer 3D (Lighting enabled)

Enabled (default: on)

Mirrors the node's red switch.

Color (default: white)

Color of the light. Warm orange for a candle or a tungsten bulb, neutral white for LED, tinted for effects (green neon, blue spark).

Intensity (default: 1.0)

Base strength. The final effect also depends on the chosen Decay Type.

Decay Type

Type of falloff with distance. See the dedicated section below.

Crucial for realism: in real life, a bulb gets dimmer the farther you move away from it (1/distance² law). The Decay Type reproduces this behavior.

No Decay

Constant intensity, whatever the distance. Physically incorrect but useful for stylized work, motion graphics or very controllable lighting.

Linear

Linear attenuation (1/distance). More natural than No Decay, but still less realistic than true physical behavior.

Quadratic

Physically correct (1/distance²). This is what happens with real light. Use it for realism. Drawback: the intensity drops very quickly → you may need a high Intensity for the effect to be visible.

Rule of thumb: Quadratic for a photoreal render, No Decay for full control in motion graphics, Linear in between.

Unlike the Directional, the position of the Point Light is essential. Use the Transform tab to place the light in the scene (X/Y/Z coordinates).

The rotation is ignored - a point source emits in every direction.

Advice: placing the Point Light at the center of an emissive geometry (a modeled bulb, a ball of light) gives the illusion that the geometry emits the light - a classic technique for a convincing bulb.

The Point Light can cast shadows in every direction. It is expensive to compute (it needs a "cube shadow map" covering all 6 directions), so turn it on deliberately.

• Enable Shadows on the node.
• Shadow Map Size - careful, a Point Light uses 6 shadow maps. A size of 1024 needs 6× more memory than a Directional.
• Shadow Softness - available in the Software Renderer.

• Bare bulb / ceiling light - Point Light + warm orange-yellow Color, moderate Intensity, Quadratic Decay, shadows on. Place it at ceiling level.
• Candle - orange-red Color, low Intensity, Quadratic Decay, animate the Intensity slightly to simulate flickering.
• Explosion flash - Point Light with a strong Intensity, bright yellow Color, a flash animation (0 → max → 0 over 3 frames). Quadratic Decay to keep it localized.
• Lighting from a neon tube or an LED - several Point Lights lined up along a tubular geometry simulate an LED strip or a neon tube.
• Campfire - a Point Light with animated color (yellow-orange → red), fluctuating Intensity and a slightly animated position to simulate the movement of the flames.
• Stylized light painting - No Decay, several animated Point Lights that trace a path = a "light painting" effect in CG.

• Rotation = useless - only the X/Y/Z position matters. Do not waste time orienting it.
• Quadratic needs more Intensity - at a distance of 10 units, quadratic falloff has already divided the intensity by 100. If the scene is large, raise Intensity to 50-100 to compensate.
• Place it inside an emissive geometry - a real bulb has a visible volume. Modeling an emissive sphere around the Point Light gives a more believable render than an invisible light shining out of nowhere.
• Animate position + intensity together for dynamic effects (campfire, moving flashlight, sparks).
• Cube shadows = 6x the cost - in production, a Point Light with shadows is much slower than a Directional. Prefer a Directional if shadows are essential and the position matters less.
• For a tightly framed spot effect (e.g. a spotlight aimed somewhere), prefer the Spot Light, which has an adjustable cone angle.