AmbientLight [col]
is a three-dimensional graphics directive that specifies the uniform ambient light of color col to use in coloring 3D surfaces.
AmbientLight
AmbientLight [col]
is a three-dimensional graphics directive that specifies the uniform ambient light of color col to use in coloring 3D surfaces.
Details
- AmbientLight is also known as natural light.
- AmbientLight is typically used to fill areas that do not have enough illumination by casting soft light rays in every direction.
- AmbientLight [col] yields a uniform ambient light of color col.
- Colors of light sources col can be defined by RGBColor , Hue or any other color specification.
- The setting for AmbientLight affects only colors associated with diffuse and specular reflection on a 3D surface.
- Light sources with color specifications of the form {dcol,Specularity [scol]} are effectively taken to have colors dcol for purposes of diffuse reflection, and scol for purposes of specular reflection.
- Diffuse reflection is taken to follow Lambert's law, with light effectively scattered equally in all directions from a surface.
- Specular reflection effectively takes light to be scattered only close to the mirror‐reflection direction, as specified in the notes for Specularity .
Examples
open all close allBasic Examples (2)
Ambient light on surfaces:
Style a surface in a plot:
Scope (2)
Ambient light is uniformly applied to all the surfaces in the scene:
Ambient light gives overall lighting on the scene:
Generalizations & Extensions (2)
Predefined colored lighting:
The colored lighting is equivalent to the following explicit setting:
Predefined neutral lighting:
The neutral lighting is equivalent to the following explicit setting:
Applications (1)
Build a scene with multiple objects and light sources:
Animate the spotlights:
Possible Issues (1)
Neat Examples (1)
A simple light show:
Related Guides
History
Text
Wolfram Research (2021), AmbientLight, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/AmbientLight.html.
CMS
Wolfram Language. 2021. "AmbientLight." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/AmbientLight.html.
APA
Wolfram Language. (2021). AmbientLight. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/AmbientLight.html
BibTeX
@misc{reference.wolfram_2025_ambientlight, author="Wolfram Research", title="{AmbientLight}", year="2021", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/AmbientLight.html}", note=[Accessed: 10-January-2026]}
BibLaTeX
@online{reference.wolfram_2025_ambientlight, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={AmbientLight}, year={2021}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/AmbientLight.html}, note=[Accessed: 10-January-2026]}