Light and shadow

Scenes are lit with real light. The sun throws real shadows, painted lamps throw real shadows, and both move when the light moves. There are no fake shadow discs under figs; what you see on the ground is cast by the shapes above it.

The sun’s shadows

Every piece in the scene casts one shadow from the sun: figs, land, buildings, nature. Drag the sun disc in Atmosphere > Light and the shadows swing with it. A hill shades its own valley in the evening. Shadows are always on.

Lamps are lights

A fig with painted light lights the scene around it: the glow lands on the ground, on walls, on figs standing near. Lamp light casts its own shadows too, so a fig standing between a lamp and a wall throws a second shadow.

A painted face shapes its own light

The paint is the lamp shade. Light passes where the face is bright and stops where it is dark, so a window with painted panes throws paned light, and painted blinds stripe the floor. Nothing to set up: paint the face, and the light it casts is that painting.

Where the light lands

Land and buildings receive light like everything else: a streetlamp pools on the path, a window spills onto the lawn, and the pool climbs a fig that walks through it.

Night is where this pays off. Set a night mood, place two lamps, and the scene lights itself. See Night and lamps .