Compositing in 3D Space with Action > About Lights and Lighting Effects >

# Adding a Light Source

When you add a light to a scene, it is applied to all objects. Before adding another light, you may want to position the light and modify its attributes. In the Lights menu, you can set lighting properties such as position, orientation, spread, falloff, and colour.

To add a light to the scene:

1. Do one of the following:
   - Drag the light node from the node bin and place it in the schematic.
   - Drag the light node from the node bin to Result view, so you can see its effect on the scene before placing it exactly where you want.
   - Double-click the light node. The node appears next to the last added object. You do not need to be in Schematic view to add a node in this manner.

   A light is added to the scene. An icon representing the light source is added to the schematic.

   Unlike many objects, a light is added without an axis. To set the position and rotation of a light source, use the Position and Rotation fields in the Light menu.

2. To display the Light menu, double-click the selected light in the schematic, or follow the tab population rules for the Object menu. See Populating Menu Tabs of Selected Objects.
3. Enable the Active button in the Light menu to activate the light source.

   The light icon appears in the scene.

   (a) Light sources in the scene.

## Importing Lights

In Action, you can import 3D data saved in the FBX format. FBX files may have lights and their data included, and you can use these same lights in Action. Supported light types from FBX files are Area, Directional, Ambient, Point, or Spot. See Importing the FBX Format .

#### Topics in this section

- Selecting a Light Source