by SMagnusson·Rendering
Images © SMagnusson. Used for product review; image policy.
Light Painter earns its place in the blender_extensions library for inverting the usual approach to lighting: you indicate how light should appear by painting its influence, and it handles placement. BlenderNation called it 'very cool and innovative,' noting it turns light design in Blender on its head.
Light Painter is a Blender add-on for adding lights and shadows interactively. Rather than manipulating lamps directly, you draw where you want the light to affect your scene, and the add-on adds and places the light for you.
It supports lamp objects of all types, mesh lights as both convex hulls and tube lights, and sky textures, along with flags that cast shadows for lamp objects. Within the modal tools, you can adjust a lamp's distance, power, and size using keyboard shortcuts. A separate utility adds a basic procedural gobos node setup for lamps, available in Cycles only.
It runs on Blender 4.2 LTS and newer, is released under the GNU General Public License v3.0 or later, and requires no special permissions. Documentation lives on the developer's repository.
Light Painter is best for adding and placing lights and shadows in Blender scenes by painting where you want the light to fall, including lamps, mesh lights, and sky textures.
Light Painter is completely free to download and use.
Light Painter is compatible with Blender 4.2 LTS and newer, so current 4.2 LTS installations and later releases are covered. The add-on is distributed through the Blender extensions platform and can be added by dragging the downloaded file into Blender or installing it from disk. It requires no special permissions to run. Documentation is available on the developer's repository if you need setup or usage details for your specific Blender version.
Light Painter is listed here as free and is released under the GNU General Public License v3.0 or later. For current licensing terms and any distribution details, check the developer's page. The GPL v3.0-or-later license also means the add-on's source can be studied and modified in line with that license's terms. No special permissions are required to install or use it.
Light Painter can be installed by dragging and dropping the downloaded file into Blender, or by downloading it and using Blender's Install from Disk option. It runs on Blender 4.2 LTS and newer and requires no special permissions. The extension is distributed through the Blender extensions platform if you prefer to grab it there, and documentation covering setup and usage is available on the developer's repository.
Light Painter includes a utility that adds a basic procedural gobos node setup for lamps, and that feature is available in Cycles only. The rest of the add-on's tools cover lamp objects of all types, mesh lights as convex hulls and tube lights, sky textures, and flags for casting shadows. Within the modal tools you can also adjust a lamp's distance, power, and size using keyboard shortcuts. Check the developer's repository documentation for details on engine support.
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