---
title: Global lighting
description: Explains how to customize the global lighting with the Lighting service.
---
The `Class.Lighting` service contains properties that you can adjust to update
and customize the global lighting in an experience. There are five categories of
lighting properties:
- [Color](#color) — Configures hue within the experience.
- [Intensity](#intensity) — Configures the intensity or amount of light hitting the camera.
- [Shadows](#shadows) — Configures how a user experiences shadows within the experience.
- [Appearance](#appearance) — Properties that determine the lighting style and lighting/shading quality or view distance prioritization.
- [Environment](#environment) — Configures the conditions of the experience's world, such as the time of day and geographic latitude.
## Color
### Ambient
The `Class.Lighting.Ambient|Ambient` property sets a hue for the **entirety** of an experience. This property affects the lighting for both outdoor and indoor environments.
### OutdoorAmbient
The `Class.Lighting.OutdoorAmbient|OutdoorAmbient`
property sets a hue for **outdoor areas** of an experience. This can
help simulate how the ambient color of real-life lighting changes
throughout the day. For example, sunlight in the early morning or late
afternoon is usually warmer and more pink and orange in tone, while late
evening is usually cooler and more blue and purple in tone.
In the following images, note that the lighting inside the garage and cafe doesn't change like it would if you were changing the [Ambient](#ambient) property.
### ColorShift_Top
The `Class.Lighting.ColorShift_Top|ColorShift_Top` property sets a hue that reflects from surfaces facing the sun or moon.
### ColorShift_Bottom
The `Class.Lighting.ColorShift_Bottom|ColorShift_Bottom` property sets a hue that reflects from surfaces that are facing away from the sun or moon.
In the following images, note the hue change on the sandstone wall facing away from the sun.
## Intensity
### Brightness
The `Class.Lighting.Brightness|Brightness` property sets the intensity of illumination. This can help increase the contrast between brightly illuminated areas and shadows, simulating bright sunshine and warmer weather.
### ExposureCompensation
The `Class.Lighting.ExposureCompensation|ExposureCompensation` property applies exposure to an experience. Exposure is the amount of light that reaches the camera.
A lower value is similar to under-exposure in photography, while a higher value is similar to over-exposure.
## Shadows
### GlobalShadows
When enabled, the `Class.Lighting.GlobalShadows|GlobalShadows` property renders shadows.
### ShadowSoftness
The `Class.Lighting.ShadowSoftness|ShadowSoftness` property adjusts how blurry shadows are from a value of `0` (hard edges) to `1` (soft edges). This property is only valid when `Class.Lighting.LightingStyle|LightingStyle` is set to `Enum.LightingStyle|Realistic`.
## Appearance
### LightingStyle
`Class.Lighting.LightingStyle|LightingStyle` indicates the artistic intent behind lighting in the experience, as an `Enum.LightingStyle` option. `Enum.LightingStyle|Realistic` provides the most advanced and realistic lighting and shadows Roblox can deliver, while `Enum.LightingStyle|Soft` produces a flat, retro‑Roblox look with softer lights and shadows.
### PrioritizeLightingQuality
The `Class.Lighting.PrioritizeLightingQuality|PrioritizeLightingQuality` 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. If lighting and shadows are very important to the artistic feel of your experience, set this to `true`.
## Environment
### ClockTime and TimeOfDay
The `Class.Lighting.ClockTime|ClockTime` and `Class.Lighting.TimeOfDay|TimeOfDay` property both represent the current time of day in hours, and they are directly related; if you change one property, the other also changes.
The only difference between these properties is their numeric value; `Class.Lighting.ClockTime|ClockTime` represents time from hour `0` through `24` while
`Class.Lighting.TimeOfDay|TimeOfDay` represents time through a 24 hour string.
Note that each property doesn't follow the actual time of day, and they will not change during an experience unless changed through a script.
### GeographicLatitude
The `Class.Lighting.GeographicLatitude|GeographicLatitude` property represents the geographic latitude in degrees. Note that while this property changes the position of the sun and moon, it does not change the `Class.Lighting.ClockTime|ClockTime` and `Class.Lighting.TimeOfDay|TimeOfDay` properties.
### EnvironmentDiffuseScale
The `Class.Lighting.EnvironmentDiffuseScale|EnvironmentDiffuseScale` property determines how much ambient light is derived from the environment.
In the following images, note how the ambient light changes, particularly inside the kitchen of the ramen shop.
### EnvironmentSpecularScale
The `Class.Lighting.EnvironmentSpecularScale|EnvironmentSpecularScale`
property determines how much specular light is derived from the
environment. When set near a value of 1, smooth objects better reflect
the environment and metal appears more realistic.