How Do I Add Environment Light in After Effects?

To add environment light in Adobe After Effects, go to Layer > New > Light and set the Light Type to Environment.

Here's a more detailed breakdown:

1. Open Your After Effects Project: Begin by opening the After Effects project you wish to add environment lighting to.

2. Create a New Light Layer: Navigate to the top menu and select Layer > New > Light. This opens the Light Settings dialog box.

3. Choose Environment Light Type: In the Light Settings dialog box, you'll see a dropdown menu labeled Light Type. Select Environment from this menu.

4. Adjust Light Properties: The Environment Light doesn't have a specific "position" in the traditional sense like Point or Spot lights. Instead, it affects the entire scene equally. You can adjust properties such as:

   • Intensity: Controls the overall brightness of the environment light.
   • Color: Determines the color of the environmental illumination.

5. Working with 3D Layers: Environment lights primarily affect 3D layers. Make sure the layers you want to be affected are set to be 3D layers (by clicking the 3D Layer switch, which resembles a small cube, in the Timeline panel for each layer).

6. Experiment and Refine: Environment lighting can significantly alter the mood and realism of your scene. Experiment with different intensity and color values to achieve the desired effect. You can also combine environment lighting with other light types (Point, Spot, Parallel) for more complex lighting setups.

7. Use with Ray-traced 3D Renderer: The Environment Light is best used when your Composition Settings are set to the Ray-traced 3D renderer (Composition > Composition Settings > 3D Renderer). This renderer leverages the environment light more effectively than the Classic 3D renderer. Note that the Ray-traced 3D renderer is more demanding on system resources.