Light and shadow

Light and shadows come from the sun and from glowing things (lamps). Shadows update as the lights move. The app does not use fixed drop shadows.

The sun’s shadows

Everything placed (models, land, buildings, plants) casts shadows from the sun’s direction. Moving the sun in Atmosphere › Light moves every shadow. Shadows are always on. Flat sheets (standees, camera frames) and see-through building parts (glass windows, skylights) cast no shadows, so light comes through the openings.

Lamps

Models with glowing paint (Light paint) light up what is near them: the land, buildings, and models around them. The two brightest glowing models in the scene also cast shadows.

Painted faces

Where the glowing paint is sets the shape and size of the light cast. See-through or glowing pixels let light through; solid pixels block it. A window painted with separate see-through panes casts light in the shape of the panes.

Looks

The Handheld and Lofi looks have full shading with hard-edged sun shadows; Handheld shows glow soft, Lofi in stepped bands. The Flat and Pixel looks have hard-edged, all-or-nothing shadows and show glowing parts as solid, flat color. In these looks, the two lamps that cast shadows light things in hard-edged bands.

For light at night, see Night and lamps .