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Source: Roblox Creator Hub · CC BY 4.0 · View source · Code samples: MIT Imported 2026-10-03. Formatting adapted for this site.

Lighting

Inherits from: Instance → Object

The Lighting service controls global lighting in an experience. It includes a range of adjustable properties that you can use to change how lighting appears and interacts with other objects, as summarized in Lighting Properties.

Lighting may also contain an Atmosphere object to render realistic atmospheric effects, including particle density, haze, glare, and color. See Atmospheric Effects for details.

In addition, Lighting (along with Workspace.CurrentCamera) may contain post‑processing effects such as SunRaysEffect and BlurEffect.

Inherits from: Instance

Memory category: Instances

Tags: NotCreatable, Service

Properties

NameType / ReturnsDescription
Lighting.AmbientColor3The lighting hue applied to areas that are occluded from the sky, such as indoor areas.
Lighting.BrightnessfloatThe intensity of illumination in the place.
Lighting.ClockTimefloatA numerical representation (in hours) of the current time of day used by Lighting.
Lighting.ColorShift_BottomColor3The hue represented in light reflected in the opposite surfaces to those facing the sun or moon.
Lighting.ColorShift_TopColor3The hue represented in light reflected from surfaces facing the sun or moon.
Lighting.EnvironmentDiffuseScalefloatAmbient light that is derived from the environment.
Lighting.EnvironmentSpecularScalefloatSpecular light derived from environment.
Lighting.ExposureCompensationfloatThe exposure compensation value.
Lighting.ExtendLightRangeTo120RolloutStateUnused. Light Range is always clamped to 120 studs.
Lighting.FogColorColor3A Color3 value giving the hue of Lighting fog.
Lighting.FogEndfloatThe depth from the Workspace.CurrentCamera, in studs, at which fog will be completely opaque.
Lighting.FogStartfloatThe depth from the Workspace.CurrentCamera, in studs, at which fog begins to show.
Lighting.GeographicLatitudefloatThe geographic latitude, in degrees, of the scene, influencing the result of Lighting time on the position of the sun and moon.
Lighting.GlobalShadowsbooleanToggles voxel-based dynamic lighting for the place.
Lighting.LightingStyleLightingStyleThe artistic intent behind lighting in the experience.
Lighting.OutdoorAmbientColor3The lighting hue applied to outdoor areas.
Lighting.OutlinesbooleanDetermines whether outlines are enabled or disabled in a place.
Lighting.PrioritizeLightingQualitybooleanIndicates whether you prefer lighting/shading quality or view distance to scale down first.
Lighting.ShadowColorColor3This is supposed to change the color of player shadows, but currently doesn't do anything.
Lighting.ShadowSoftnessfloatControls how blurry the shadows are.
Lighting.TechnologyTechnologyDetermines the lighting system for rendering the 3D world. Non-scriptable.
Lighting.TimeOfDaystringA 24-hour string representation of the current time of day used by Lighting.

Inherited from Instance

NameType / ReturnsDescription
Instance.ArchivablebooleanDetermines if an Instance and its descendants can be cloned using Instance:Clone(), and can be saved/published.
Instance.archivableboolean
Instance.CapabilitiesSecurityCapabilitiesThe set of capabilities allowed to be used for scripts inside this container.
Instance.IsInSandboxbooleanIndicates whether the instance is inside a sandboxed container.
Instance.NamestringA non-unique identifier of the Instance.
Instance.ParentInstanceDetermines the hierarchical parent of the Instance.
Instance.PredictionModePredictionModeReflects the client-side prediction mode applied to the instance under server-authoritative physics.
Instance.RobloxLockedbooleanA deprecated property that used to protect CoreGui objects.
Instance.SandboxedbooleanWhen enabled, the instance can only access abilities in its Capabilities list.
Instance.UniqueIdUniqueIdA unique identifier for the instance.

Inherited from Object

NameType / ReturnsDescription
Object.ClassNamestringA read-only string representing the class this Object belongs to.
Object.classNamestring

Lighting.Ambient

Ambient is the lighting hue applied to areas that are occluded from the sky, such as indoor areas.

Ambient defaults to [0, 0, 0] (black). As long as the red, green, and blue channels of this property do not exceed the corresponding channels in OutdoorAmbient, the change in hue will be reserved for areas occluded from the sun/moon.

Note that when GlobalShadows is disabled, there is no distinction between areas occluded from the sky and non‑occluded areas. In this case, OutdoorAmbient will be ignored and the hue from the Ambient property will be applied everywhere.

FieldValue
typeColor3
security{"read":"None","write":"None"}
thread safetyReadSafe
categoryAppearance
serialization{"can_load":true,"can_save":true}
capabilities["Environment"]

Lighting.Brightness

The intensity of illumination in the place.

Changing this value will influence the impact of the light source (sun or moon) on the place's lighting. Note that Ambient and OutdoorAmbient can also be used to influence how bright a place appears. For example, setting OutdoorAmbient to [255, 255, 255] will make the place appear brighter than its default value of 127, 127, 127

(as it is more white).

FieldValue
typefloat
security{"read":"None","write":"None"}
thread safetyReadSafe
categoryAppearance
serialization{"can_load":true,"can_save":true}
capabilities["Environment"]

Lighting.ClockTime

A numerical representation (in hours) of the current time of day used by Lighting. Note that this property does not correspond with the actual time of day and will not change during gameplay unless it has been changed by a script.

For a measure of Lighting time formatted as a 24-hour string, use TimeOfDay. Changing TimeOfDay or using SetMinutesAfterMidnight() will also change this property.

FieldValue
typefloat
tags["NotReplicated"]
security{"read":"None","write":"None"}
thread safetyReadSafe
categoryData
serialization{"can_load":true,"can_save":false}
capabilities["Environment"]

Lighting.ColorShift_Bottom

The hue represented in light reflected in the opposite surfaces to those facing the sun or moon.

The surfaces of a BasePart influenced by ColorShift_Bottom depends on the position and orientation of the BasePart relative to the sun or moon's position. Where the sun is directly overhead a BasePart, the shift in color will only apply to the bottom surface.

This effect can be increased or reduced by altering Brightness.

Note that ColorShift_Top and ColorShift_Bottom will interact with the Ambient and OutdoorAmbient properties if they are greater than [0, 0, 0] . Also note that the influence of ColorShift_Bottom can be very hard to identify when GlobalShadows is enabled (default).

FieldValue
typeColor3
security{"read":"None","write":"None"}
thread safetyReadSafe
categoryAppearance
serialization{"can_load":true,"can_save":true}
capabilities["Environment"]

Lighting.ColorShift_Top

The hue represented in light reflected from surfaces facing the sun or moon.

The surfaces of a BasePart influenced by ColorShift_Top depends on the position and orientation of the BasePart relative to the sun or moon's position. Where the sun is directly overhead a BasePart, the shift in color will only apply to the top surface.

This effect can be increased or reduced by altering Brightness.

Note that ColorShift_Top and ColorShift_Bottom will interact with the Ambient and OutdoorAmbient properties if they are greater than [0, 0, 0] .

FieldValue
typeColor3
security{"read":"None","write":"None"}
thread safetyReadSafe
categoryAppearance
serialization{"can_load":true,"can_save":true}
capabilities["Environment"]

Lighting.EnvironmentDiffuseScale

Ambient light that is derived from the environment with a default of 0. This property is similar to Ambient and OutdoorAmbient but it's dynamic and can change according to the sky and time of day. When this property is increased, it's recommended to decrease Ambient and OutdoorAmbient accordingly.

FieldValue
typefloat
security{"read":"None","write":"None"}
thread safetyReadSafe
categoryAppearance
serialization{"can_load":true,"can_save":true}
capabilities["Environment"]

Lighting.EnvironmentSpecularScale

Specular light derived from environment with a default of 0. This property will make smooth objects reflect the environment and it is especially important to make metal look more realistic.

FieldValue
typefloat
security{"read":"None","write":"None"}
thread safetyReadSafe
categoryAppearance
serialization{"can_load":true,"can_save":true}
capabilities["Environment"]

Lighting.ExposureCompensation

This property determines the exposure compensation amount which applies a bias to the exposure level of the scene prior to the tonemap step. Defaults to 0 (no exposure compensation) and has a range from -5 to 5. A value of 1 indicates twice as much exposure and -1 means half as much exposure.

FieldValue
typefloat
security{"read":"None","write":"None"}
thread safetyReadSafe
categoryExposure
serialization{"can_load":true,"can_save":true}
capabilities["Environment"]

Lighting.ExtendLightRangeTo120

Unused. The maximum Range of PointLight, SpotLight, and SurfaceLight objects is always 120 studs; this property does not change that clamp.

This property is typed as RolloutState. It is non-scriptable and hidden in the Studio Properties window.

FieldValue
typeRolloutState
tags["NotScriptable"]
security{"read":"None","write":"None"}
thread safetyReadSafe
categoryAppearance
serialization{"can_load":true,"can_save":true}
capabilities["Environment"]

Lighting.FogColor

A Color3 value giving the hue of Lighting fog. Note that fog properties are hidden when Lighting contains an Atmosphere object.

FieldValue
typeColor3
security{"read":"None","write":"None"}
thread safetyReadSafe
categoryFog
serialization{"can_load":true,"can_save":true}
capabilities["Environment"]

Lighting.FogEnd

The depth from the Workspace.CurrentCamera, in studs, at which fog will be completely opaque. Note that fog properties are hidden when Lighting contains an Atmosphere object.

FieldValue
typefloat
security{"read":"None","write":"None"}
thread safetyReadSafe
categoryFog
serialization{"can_load":true,"can_save":true}
capabilities["Environment"]

Lighting.FogStart

The depth from the Workspace.CurrentCamera, in studs, at which fog begins to show. Note that fog properties are hidden when Lighting contains an Atmosphere object.

FieldValue
typefloat
security{"read":"None","write":"None"}
thread safetyReadSafe
categoryFog
serialization{"can_load":true,"can_save":true}
capabilities["Environment"]

Lighting.GeographicLatitude

The geographic latitude, in degrees, of the scene, influencing the result of Lighting time on the position of the sun and moon. When calculating the position of the sun, the earth's tilt is also taken into account.

Changing GeographicLatitude will alter the position of the sun at every TimeOfDay. If you're looking to obtain the sun or moon's position, use GetSunDirection() or GetMoonDirection().

FieldValue
typefloat
security{"read":"None","write":"None"}
thread safetyReadSafe
categoryData
serialization{"can_load":true,"can_save":true}
capabilities["Environment"]

Lighting.GlobalShadows

Toggles voxel-based dynamic lighting in the place. When set to true, shadows are rendered in sheltered areas depending on the position of the sun and moon. The lighting hue applied to these sheltered areas is determined by the Ambient property while the lighting hue in all other areas is determined by the OutdoorAmbient property.

When false, shadows are not drawn and no distinction is made between indoor and outdoor areas. As a result, the Ambient property determines the lighting hue and OutdoorAmbient will do nothing.

Shadows are calculated using a voxel system and each lighting voxel is 4×4×4 studs. This means objects need to be larger than 4×4×4 studs to display a realistic shadow. Shadows are also recalculated when BaseParts are moving.

FieldValue
typeboolean
security{"read":"None","write":"None"}
thread safetyReadSafe
categoryAppearance
serialization{"can_load":true,"can_save":true}
capabilities["Environment"]

Lighting.LightingStyle

LightingStyle indicates the artistic intent behind lighting in the experience, as an LightingStyle option. LightingStyle.Soft is the stylized look; LightingStyle.Realistic is the naturalistic look. The actual shadowing path also depends on PrioritizeLightingQuality (for example, Soft with that property enabled uses shadow maps rather than voxel lighting).

FieldValue
typeLightingStyle
security{"read":"None","write":"None"}
thread safetyReadSafe
categoryAppearance
serialization{"can_load":true,"can_save":true}
capabilities["Environment"]

Lighting.OutdoorAmbient

OutdoorAmbient is the lighting hue applied to outdoor areas.

OutdoorAmbient defaults to [127, 127, 127]. As long as the red, green, and blue channels of Ambient do not exceed the corresponding channels in OutdoorAmbient, the hue of the lighting in outdoor areas will be determined by this property.

The effective OutdoorAmbient value is clamped to be greater than or equal to Ambient in all channels, meaning that if a channel of Ambient exceeds its corresponding OutdoorAmbient channel, the hue of Ambient will begin to apply to outdoor areas.

Note that when GlobalShadows is disabled, there is no distinction between areas occluded from the sky and non‑occluded areas. In this case, OutdoorAmbient will be ignored and the hue from the Ambient property will be applied everywhere.

FieldValue
typeColor3
security{"read":"None","write":"None"}
thread safetyReadSafe
categoryAppearance
serialization{"can_load":true,"can_save":true}
capabilities["Environment"]

Lighting.Outlines

Deprecated. This item is no longer supported as the outlines feature was removed from the Roblox platform.

This property determines whether outlines are enabled or disabled in a place.

Outlines can be disabled on a global basis, using this Lighting property, or alternatively on a surface-by-surface basis for BaseParts using SurfaceType.

Although this property can be set by scripts, it recommended this property is set in Roblox Studio prior to publishing the place.

FieldValue
typeboolean
tags["Deprecated"]
security{"read":"None","write":"None"}
thread safetyReadSafe
categoryAppearance
serialization{"can_load":true,"can_save":true}
capabilities["Environment"]

Lighting.PrioritizeLightingQuality

This property indicates whether you prefer lighting/shading quality or view distance to scale down first. As the rendering quality level reduces, a setting of true prioritizes features such as advanced shadows and high‑quality shaders at closer distances, while a setting of false prioritizes view distance.

FieldValue
typeboolean
security{"read":"None","write":"None"}
thread safetyReadSafe
categoryAppearance
serialization{"can_load":true,"can_save":true}
capabilities["Environment"]

Lighting.ShadowColor

Deprecated. This item is deprecated and has no current functionality. Do not use it for new work.

This is supposed to change the color of player shadows, but currently doesn't do anything.

FieldValue
typeColor3
tags["NotReplicated","Deprecated"]
security{"read":"None","write":"None"}
thread safetyReadSafe
categoryAppearance
serialization{"can_load":true,"can_save":false}
capabilities["Environment"]

Lighting.ShadowSoftness

Controls how blurry the shadows are with a default of 0.2. This property only works when Technology mode is ShadowMap or Future and the device is capable of rendering shadow maps.

FieldValue
typefloat
security{"read":"None","write":"None"}
thread safetyReadSafe
categoryAppearance
serialization{"can_load":true,"can_save":true}
capabilities["Environment"]

Lighting.Technology

Deprecated. This property has been superseded by LightingStyle which determines the artistic intent behind lighting, and PrioritizeLightingQuality which indicates whether you prefer lighting/shading quality or view distance to scale down first.

Determines the lighting system for rendering the 3D world. This property is non‑scriptable and only modifiable in Studio.

FieldValue
typeTechnology
security{"read":"RobloxScriptSecurity","write":"RobloxScriptSecurity"}
thread safetyReadSafe
categoryAppearance
serialization{"can_load":true,"can_save":true}
capabilities["Environment"]

Lighting.TimeOfDay

A 24-hour string representation of the current time of day used by Lighting. For example:

local Lighting = game:GetService("Lighting")

Lighting.TimeOfDay = "11:00" -- Set time of day to 11:00 AM
Lighting.TimeOfDay = "21:30" -- Set time of day to 9:30 PM

Note that this property does not correspond with the real-world time of day and will not change during gameplay unless it has been changed by a script.

For a numeric measure of Lighting time, use ClockTime. Changing ClockTime or using SetMinutesAfterMidnight() will also change this property.

FieldValue
typestring
security{"read":"None","write":"None"}
thread safetyReadSafe
categoryData
serialization{"can_load":true,"can_save":true}
capabilities["Environment"]

Methods

NameType / ReturnsDescription
Lighting:GetMinutesAfterMidnightdoubleReturns the number of minutes that have passed after midnight for the purposes of lighting.
Lighting:getMinutesAfterMidnightdouble
Lighting:GetMoonDirectionVector3Returns a Vector3 representing the direction of the moon.
Lighting:GetMoonPhasefloatReturns the moon's current phase.
Lighting:GetSunDirectionVector3Returns a Vector3 representing the direction of the sun.
Lighting:SetMinutesAfterMidnight()Sets TimeOfDay and ClockTime to the given number of minutes after midnight.
Lighting:setMinutesAfterMidnight()

Inherited from Instance

NameType / ReturnsDescription
Instance:AddTag()Applies a tag to the instance.
Instance:childrenInstancesReturns an array of the object's children.
Instance:ClearAllChildren()This method destroys all of an instance's children.
Instance:CloneInstanceCreate a copy of an instance and all its descendants, ignoring instances that are not Archivable.
Instance:cloneInstance
Instance:Destroy()Sets the Instance.Parent property to nil, locks the Instance.Parent property, disconnects all connections, and calls Destroy() on all children.
Instance:destroy()
Instance:FindFirstAncestorInstance?Returns the first ancestor of the Instance whose Instance.Name is equal to the given name.
Instance:FindFirstAncestorOfClassInstance?Returns the first ancestor of the Instance whose Object.ClassName is equal to the given className.
Instance:FindFirstAncestorWhichIsAInstance?Returns the first ancestor of the Instance for whom Object:IsA() returns true for the given className.
Instance:FindFirstChildInstance?Returns the first child of the Instance found with the given name.
Instance:findFirstChildInstance
Instance:FindFirstChildOfClassInstance?Returns the first child of the Instance whose ClassName is equal to the given class name.
Instance:FindFirstChildWhichIsAInstance?Returns the first child of the Instance for whom Object:IsA() returns true for the given className.
Instance:FindFirstDescendantInstance?Returns the first descendant found with the given Instance.Name.
Instance:GetActorActor?Returns the Actor associated with the Instance, if any.
Instance:GetAttributeVariantReturns the value which has been assigned to the given attribute name.
Instance:GetAttributeChangedSignalRBXScriptSignalReturns an event that fires when the given attribute changes.
Instance:GetAttributesDictionaryReturns a dictionary of the instance's attributes.
Instance:GetChildrenInstancesReturns an array containing all of the instance's children.
Instance:getChildrenInstances
Instance:GetDebugIdstringReturns a coded string of the debug ID used internally by Roblox.
Instance:GetDescendantsInstancesReturns an array containing all of the descendants of the instance.
Instance:GetFullNamestringReturns a string describing the instance's ancestry.
Instance:GetStyledVariantReturns the styled or explicitly modified value of the specified property, or else the default property value if it hasn't been styled/modified.
Instance:GetStyledPropertyChangedSignalRBXScriptSignalReturns an event that fires when the given style property changes on the instance.
Instance:GetTagsArrayGets an array of all tags applied to the instance.
Instance:HasTagbooleanCheck whether the instance has a given tag.
Instance:IsAncestorOfbooleanReturns true if an Instance is an ancestor of the given descendant.
Instance:IsDescendantOfbooleanReturns true if an Instance is a descendant of the given ancestor.
Instance:isDescendantOfboolean
Instance:IsPropertyModifiedbooleanReturns true if the value stored in the specified property is not equal to the code-instantiated default.
Instance:QueryDescendantsInstancesReturns an array containing all descendants of the instance that match the selector string.
Instance:Remove()Sets the object's Parent to nil, and does the same for all its descendants.
Instance:remove()
Instance:RemoveTag()Removes a tag from the instance.
Instance:ResetPropertyToDefault()Resets a property to its default value.
Instance:SetAttribute()Sets the attribute with the given name to the given value.
Instance:WaitForChildInstanceReturns the child of the Instance with the given name. If the child does not exist, it will yield the current thread until it does.

Inherited from Object

NameType / ReturnsDescription
Object:GetPropertyChangedSignalRBXScriptSignalGet an event that fires when a given property of the object changes.
Object:IsAbooleanReturns true if an object's class matches or inherits from a given class.
Object:isAboolean

Lighting:GetMinutesAfterMidnight

Returns the number of minutes that have passed after midnight for the purposes of lighting. This number will be nearly identical to ClockTime multiplied by 60.

Note that this number will not always be equal to the value given in SetMinutesAfterMidnight() as it returns minutes after midnight in the current day.

Returns

TypeDescription
doubleThe number of minutes after midnight.
FieldValue
securityNone
thread safetySafe
capabilities["Environment"]

Lighting:getMinutesAfterMidnight

Deprecated. This method is a deprecated variant of Lighting:GetMinutesAfterMidnight() which should be used instead.

Returns

TypeDescription
double
FieldValue
tags["Deprecated"]
securityNone
thread safetyUnsafe
capabilities["Environment"]

Lighting:GetMoonDirection

Returns a Vector3 representing the direction of the moon from the position (0, 0, 0) . Note that when the moon has "set" and is no longer visible, the Vector3 returned by this method will continue to point towards the moon below the horizon.

GetSunDirection() is a variant of this method for obtaining the direction of the sun.

Returns

TypeDescription
Vector3Vector3 representing the direction of the moon.
FieldValue
securityNone
thread safetySafe
capabilities["Environment"]

Lighting:GetMoonPhase

Deprecated. There is currently no way to change the moon's phase, and thus this method should not be used.

Returns the moon's current phase. There is no way to change the moon's phase so this will always return 0.75.

Returns

TypeDescription
float
FieldValue
securityNone
thread safetyUnsafe
capabilities["Environment"]

Lighting:GetSunDirection

Returns a Vector3 representing the direction of the sun from the position (0, 0, 0) . Note that when the sun has "set" and is no longer visible, the Vector3 returned by this method will continue to point towards the sun below the horizon.

GetMoonDirection() is a variant of this method for obtaining the direction of the moon.

Returns

TypeDescription
Vector3Vector3 representing the direction of the sun.
FieldValue
securityNone
thread safetySafe
capabilities["Environment"]

Lighting:SetMinutesAfterMidnight

Sets TimeOfDay and ClockTime to the given number of minutes after midnight.

This method allows a numerical value to be used, for example in a day/night cycle Script, without the need to convert to a string in the format required by TimeOfDay. It also allows values greater than 24 hours to be given that correspond to times in the next day.

The following code sample includes a simple day/night cycle script. The speed of time and the initial time can be changed using the TIME_SPEED and START_TIME parameters.

Parameters

NameTypeDefaultDescription
minutesdoubleThe number of minutes after midnight.

Returns

TypeDescription
()
FieldValue
securityNone
thread safetyUnsafe
capabilities["Environment"]

Code samples: View on Creator Hub (Lighting-SetMinutesAfterMidnight).

Lighting:setMinutesAfterMidnight

Deprecated. This method is a deprecated variant of Lighting:SetMinutesAfterMidnight() which should be used instead.

Parameters

NameTypeDefaultDescription
minutesdouble

Returns

TypeDescription
()
FieldValue
tags["Deprecated"]
securityNone
thread safetyUnsafe
capabilities["Environment"]

Events

NameType / ReturnsDescription
Lighting.LightingChangedThis event fires when a Lighting property is changed or a Sky is added or removed from Lighting.

Inherited from Instance

NameType / ReturnsDescription
Instance.AncestryChangedFires when the Instance.Parent property of this object or one of its ancestors is changed.
Instance.AttributeChangedFires whenever an attribute is changed on the Instance.
Instance.ChildAddedFires after an object is parented to this Instance.
Instance.childAdded
Instance.ChildRemovedFires after a child is removed from this Instance.
Instance.DescendantAddedFires after a descendant is added to the Instance.
Instance.DescendantRemovingFires immediately before a descendant of the Instance is removed.
Instance.DestroyingFires immediately before (or is deferred until after) the instance is destroyed via Instance:Destroy().
Instance.StyledPropertiesChangedFires whenever any style property is changed on the instance, including when a property is set to nil.

Inherited from Object

NameType / ReturnsDescription
Object.ChangedFires immediately after a property of the object changes, with some limitations.

Lighting.LightingChanged

This event fires when a Lighting property is changed or a Sky is added or removed from Lighting. See the skyChanged parameter for when that flag is true versus false. Some Lighting property changes never fire this event:

In cases where this behavior is not desired, the Object.Changed event or Object:GetPropertyChangedSignal() method can be used.

Parameters

NameTypeDefaultDescription
skyChangedbooleantrue when a Sky is added or removed, or when a Sky property other than Sky.SkyboxOrientation changes. false for Lighting property changes, Atmosphere property changes, and SkyboxOrientation changes.
FieldValue
securityNone
capabilities["Environment"]