There are two light sources to choose from:

• Spot light
• Rectangular light (Rect)

These can be easily placed with four clicks, which is described below.

A spot light is placed with four clicks, the first two clicks determining the end point and the second two clicks determining the direction of the light cone. It is sometimes easier to quickly place the light and then adjust it to how you want it to be after the initial placement.

So, to place a spotlight, click once to select the surface or axis off which the placement of the actual light source is based of.

Moving the mouse will then allow you to define the axis or face that you wish the light to run along or be placed.

Once decided, make the second click to define the lights light source.

Move the mouse again to select the surface or axis off which the placement of the light target is based of.

Once you have clicked to select the face or axis, move your mouse to finally select the actual light target.

Once placement has finished you will see three red control points on the light. These can be individually clicked to alter the lights ‘From Point’, ‘Target’, and ‘Beam Angle’. You will also notice that more options become available for the light in the Enscape Objects window.

Now, you can see all of the above steps in action when placing a Spot light.

Clicking on the SketchUp Select button, or hitting the ESC key on the keyboard, will result in the Spot Light’s control points being hidden. Double click the light to show the light’s three red control points again.

As already mentioned, the Enscape Object window will show two sliders which will allow you to adjust the Luminous Intensity, which defines the brightness and range of the light (measured in Candelas), and the Beam Angle to control the width of the light’s beam.

Also available is the option to load an IES Profile file.

Here, the light is shown in the Enscape window when a low Luminous Intensity and Beam Angle is set.

Now shown with a high Luminous Intensity and Beam Angle being set for the light.

The difference between the Rectangular (Rect) light and the Spot light is that the Spot light acts as a single source point, whereas the Rect light acts as a complete rectangular source. Placing it is done in the same way as with the Spot Light, using the four click system.

Once a Rect light has been placed, you will get a number of control points which allow you to adjust the length and width of the beam.

One difference with the Rect light is that it has one control point which is colored pink.

Clicking that point will make it turn blue, and will also display two blue arrows horizontally placed either side of your mouse pointer. You can then drag the mouse horizontally to rotate the light around the light direction’s axis.  This rotation is based on the local co-ordinates of the light.

We can adjust the initial size of the Rect lights source by adjusting the the four control points, as shown here.

We can also achieve the same result using the sliders in the Enscape Objects window.

We can adjust the intensity of the light via the Luminous Power slide, which is measured in Lumens.

Lastly, one other lighting option that is not available in the Enscape Objects window are the Self-illuminated materials.

This feature can be implemented either by adding the keyword Emissive to the material name, or through the Material Editor, which allows you more control over the materials options such as luminance, intensity, and color. You can change your object material type to Self-illuminated. You can read more about how to use this technique by clicking here.