LightSets
The LightSets tab lets you create and manage named collections of dynamic lights for your showroom or track. Each LightSet can contain multiple lights with full control over position, color, intensity, shadows, and animated color gradients. Activate a LightSet to apply it instantly to the scene — the lights animate in real time even when the Steel Studio window is hidden.
LightSet files are saved as lightset_[name].json in [track_folder]/extension/steelstudio/.
The tile grid
The main view shows all saved LightSets as thumbnail tiles. Click a tile to activate that LightSet. Hover a tile to reveal the edit and delete icons.
To create a new LightSet, click the + tile or New Lightset and give it a name.
The editor
Opening a LightSet puts you into the editor, where you manage its lights. Each light is shown as a collapsible card. Use the Add Light button to add a new light to the set.
The editor header has Save, Save as…, and Cancel buttons. Cancelling reverts to the last saved state.
Per-light properties
Position and direction
| Control | Description |
|---|---|
| Position X / Y / Z | Offset of the light in world space (−500 to 500) |
| Direction X / Y / Z | Direction the spotlight faces |
| Spot Angle | Cone angle of the spotlight (0–175°) |
| Spot Sharpness | How hard the cone edge is (0 = soft, 1 = sharp) |
Color and intensity
Each light can have a single color or an animated color gradient.
-
Single color — pick a color and set the intensity (0.1–50.0).
-
Gradient — add up to 6 color stops. The light cycles through them automatically using:
- Hold time — seconds to stay at each color before transitioning
- Transition time — seconds to blend into the next color
Hold and transition times are shared across all lights in the set, so all lights stay in sync.
Range and volume
| Control | Description |
|---|---|
| Range | Maximum light radius (0.1–500 m) |
| Volumetric | Enables the volumetric (fog/haze) light effect |
| Fade distance | Distance at which the light begins to fade |
| Fade smoothness | How gradually the fade happens |
Render properties
| Control | Description |
|---|---|
| Specular multiplier | Strength of specular highlights (0–5) |
| Diffuse concentration | Focuses diffuse light toward the center (0–1) |
| Range gradient offset | Adjusts how intensity falls off across range (0–1) |
| Affects cars | Whether the light illuminates car models (default: on) |
| Show in reflections | Whether the light appears in mirror/reflection surfaces |
| Skip lightmap | Excludes the light from baked lightmap calculations |
Shadows
| Control | Description |
|---|---|
| Shadows | Enable real-time shadows for this light |
| Static shadows | Bake shadows against static geometry only |
| Half-resolution | Render shadow map at half resolution (better performance) |
| Extra blur | Apply additional softening to shadow edges |
Emissive (ksEmissive) control
Enable Emissive to link a mesh's ksEmissive material property to this light. This makes the mesh glow in sync with the light's animated color — useful for making light fixtures visually emit the same color the light source projects.
| Control | Description |
|---|---|
| Enabled | Toggle emissive control on/off |
| Override intensity | Custom emissive brightness (0–10) |
| Meshes / Material | Which mesh or material to drive emissive on |
Mesh targeting
| Control | Description |
|---|---|
| Meshes | Comma-separated list of mesh names to attach the light to |
| Material | Material string for material-only lights |
| Mesh picker | Click the picker icon, then click a mesh in the scene to select it |
Copy and paste
Each light card has a Copy button that copies its properties (intensity, range, shadows, render settings). Click Paste on another light to apply those values. Useful for quickly cloning a light's style without copying its position or color.
INI light conversion
If the track has legacy [LIGHT_x] sections in its track.ini extension config, Steel Studio shows a warning banner in the LightSets tab. Click Convert to import all those lights into a new LightSet automatically.
Before converting, Steel Studio creates a backup of your extension/lights.ini file as lights.ini.steelstudio.bak. Keep this backup until you have verified the converted LightSet looks correct.