DirectionalLight QML Type

Defines a directional light in the scene. More...

Import Statement: import QtQuick3D
Inherits:

Light

Detailed Description

The directional light emits light in one direction from an unidentifiable source located infinitely far away. This is similar to the way sunlight works in real life. A directional light has infinite range and does not diminish.

If castsShadow is enabled, shadows will be parallel to the light direction.

A directional light effectively have no position, so moving it does not have any effect. The light will always be emitted in the direction of the light's Z axis.

Rotating the light along its X or Y axis will change the direction of the light emission.

Scaling a directional light will only have an effect in the following cases:

  • If Z scale is set to a negative number, the light will be emitted in the opposite direction.
  • If the scale of any axis is set to 0, the light will be emitted along the world's Z axis.

    Note: Rotating the light will then have no effect.

Let's look at a simple example:

 import QtQuick
 import QtQuick3D
 View3D {
     anchors.fill: parent

     PerspectiveCamera { z: 600 }

     DirectionalLight {
     }

     Model {
         source: "#Sphere"
         scale: Qt.vector3d(4, 4, 4)
         materials: PrincipledMaterial {
             baseColor: "#40c060"
             roughness: 0.1 // make specular highlight visible
         }
     }
 }

Here the DirectionalLight uses the default white color, emitting in the direction of the DirectionalLight node's Z axis.

Rotating 60 degrees around the X axis would lead to the following. Instead of emitting straight in the direction of the Z axis, the light is now pointing 60 degrees "down":

 DirectionalLight {
     eulerRotation.x: 30
 }

For further usage examples, see Qt Quick 3D - Lights Example.

See also PointLight and SpotLight.