Realistic lighting (sunlight) with Three.js?

Question

I\'m attempting to create a small 1st-person game using Three.js, but I\'m having trouble with the lighting. Basically I want to simulate the sun and have it rotate around casti

Answer 1

Yes, you'll have to use multiple lights to achieve this, faking the reflected light. Computing real reflected light isn't built in (and computationally very complex/expensive). You have a variety of options.

A second directional light that could always be in the opposite position and direction of your sun.

A hemisphere light that remains constant. Hemisphere lighting gets a sky color and a ground color and intensity and adds a nice extra bit of depth to your lighting.

//                                    sky color ground color intensity 
hemiLight = new THREE.HemisphereLight( 0x0000ff, 0x00ff00, 0.6 ); 

here's a working example http://mrdoob.github.com/three.js/examples/webgl_lights_hemisphere.html

you could use any combination of different lights but be careful there's a performance trade off.

It's also worth mentioning half-lambert shading which is enabled by setting the wrapAround property to true in your material. This gives a nicer falloff to black that results in less harsh lighting. More mid tones and less blacks.