Viewport

Scene Light Manager (SLM) features high-performance viewport tools that allow you to adjust lights, rotate HDRI skies, and isolate illumination sources directly in the 3D viewport under your mouse cursor, avoiding N-Panel slider hunting.

1. Interactive HDRI & Sky Rotation

Ctrl + Alt + RMB

Instead of editing shader mapping nodes or diving into World tabs to rotate environment maps, SLM provides real-time Z-axis rotation shortcuts directly in the viewport. Press and hold the hotkey and drag horizontally to activate the rotation modal.

World Rotation Viewport Overlay
Interactive World Z-Rotation rotation overlay
World Strength Viewport Overlay
Interactive World Strength multiplier overlay

Keyboard & Mouse Controls

  • Ctrl + Alt + RMB (Drag)
    Trigger Rotation Hold the keys and drag the mouse horizontally in the viewport to rotate the active sky coordinate system.
  • Left Click or Enter
    Confirm Action Saves the current rotation angle.
  • Escape or Right Click
    Cancel & Reset Discards changes and resets coordinates to their initial values.
Interactive HDRI Rotation Modal Sub-controls Context: Active during k_tools.rotate_hdri modal loop
TAB Cycles adjustment property sub-mode: ROTATION → STRENGTH → SUN_INTENSITY (Nishita only) → SUN_ELEVATION (Nishita only)
R Resets the current active property back to its factory default value (Rotation: 0.0°, Strength: 1.0, Sun Intensity: 1.0, Sun Elevation: 5.0°).
Shift / Ctrl (Drag Mouse) Normal horizontal drag controls standard adjustment speed. Hold Shift for precision mode (0.1x adjustment speed) or Ctrl for stepped snapping (snaps in increments of 5°).
Confirming & Exiting Confirm and save adjustments with L-Click, Enter, or by releasing the mouse (if hold-drag triggered). Cancel and revert all changes with R-Click or Esc.

Smart Context Detection

The rotation operator dynamically evaluates the active scene setup:

Nishita Sky Active Rotates the native Sun Angle coordinate.
Custom HDRI mapping Drives rotation of Z-axis inputs in the Mapping Node.
Material Preview Mode Drives native viewport studio HDRI rotation values.

2. Viewport Gizmo Buttons

Selecting any light source in the scene reveals a row of floating, transparent viewport button overlays next to the object pivot.

Viewport Gizmo Buttons
Interactive floating viewport gizmos for quick type, shape, and size adjustments
Type Selector (Lightbulb) Cycles the light source type (Area, Point, Spot, Sun).
Shape Cycles (Square/Circle) Toggles Area light geometries (Square, Disk, Rectangle, Ellipse).
Size Controller (Arrows) Click and drag to scale physical dimensions or radius.
Beam/Spread (Concentric Circles) Click and drag to scale Area spread angles or Spot blending limits.

[NOTE] Customizing Gizmos: You can toggle individual button visibility, change sizes, spaces, offsets, and transparency settings under the Addon Preferences.

Gizmo Drag Modifiers & Sensitivity

Clicking and dragging on the Size, Intensity (Power), or Beam/Spread buttons activates a relative drag adjuster. Use these keys to alter sensitivity and targets during drag actions:

Normal Drag Default sensitivity
Shift + Drag Precision adjustments (Extra smooth)
Ctrl + Drag Large adjustments (Fast speed)
Alt + Drag Adjusts property for all selected lights simultaneously
Confirm Action Release mouse button, click LMB, or press Enter
Cancel & Revert Press Escape (Esc) or RMB to restore original settings

3. Quick Popup Menu

Y Alt + Y

Pressing the hotkey in the 3D viewport spawns a complete parameters editor card directly at your mouse coordinates:

Y Menu - Settings Tab
Settings Tab
Y Menu - Nodes Tab
Nodes Tab
Y Menu - World Tab
World Tab
  • SETTINGS Tab Offers quick adjustments for color temperatures, exposures, intensities, rig controls, constraints, and visibility toggles. You can also assign the active light to an existing Light Set or use the New Set from Selected option to instantly group all currently selected viewport objects into a newly created tracking collection.
  • NODES Tab Enables nodes, binds Gobo structures, loads projection maps, and displays shader preview rendering thumbnails.
  • WORLD Tab Swaps background HDRI maps, manages Nishita Sky presets, and drives Z-rotations.
STUDIO PRESETS MENU (Alt + Y)

Pressing Alt + Y in the 3D viewport instantly spawns the Studio Lights presets selection menu directly at your cursor:

Studio Lights Menu dropdown

This floating dropdown enables rapid loading of preset light configurations (such as the 3-Point Light Rig, Studio Duo, Warm-Cool Split, etc.) without having to cycle tabs or navigate sidebar panels.

4. Smart Light Isolation (Solo Mode)

Mutes all other lights in the scene instantly to isolate and tweak the active light source's shadows and color bounces.

  • Activation: Click the Star/Solo button on the sidebar list or click the Star icon in the Viewport Gizmo.
  • State Preservation: All original visibility statuses are cached. Toggling solo mode off returns the scene to its exact prior visibility layout.
  • Mute HDRI: Configurable preference to automatically black out world backgrounds while soloing lights to analyze light leaks.

5. Interactive Light Placement (Pointer)

Shift + Y

Project lights precisely onto your geometry. Selecting a light and activating pointer placement snaps and aligns the light source along the normals of surfaces under your cursor, pointing directly at the target highlight area. Useful for creating cinematic hair highlights, precise rim accents, and character eye specular spots.

Interactive Light Placement Pointer Overlay
Viewport overlay during pointer placement and light targeting mode
Interactive Light Placement Modal Sub-controls Context: Active during k_tools.light_at_point modal loop
TAB Cycles targeting modes: Reflective, Orbiting focus, or Direct Normal alignment.
REFLECT ORBIT DIRECT
Mouse Scroll Combinations
Adjust Power / Energy Scroll Wheel
Adjust Emitter Size Shift + Scroll
Adjust Distance (scales energy if Smart Calculations is enabled) Alt + Scroll
Adjust Spread / Blend Ctrl + Scroll
Switch Light Type
Point 1
Sun 2
Spot 3
Area 4
Switch Area Shape
Square S
Rectangle R
Disk D
Ellipse E
Auxiliary Actions
Toggle Emitter Visibility H
Toggle Solo / Isolate Mode Shift + H
Link Receiver under cursor (Light Linking) L
Link Blocker under cursor (Shadow Linking) Shift + L
Pause Projection (lock position to adjust parameters) P
Confirming & Exiting
Confirm & Save LMB / Enter / Space
Cancel & Revert RMB / Esc

6. Quick Light & Collection Navigation (Next / Prev)

To streamline your viewport workflow, SLM includes dedicated navigation controls that let you sequentially cycle active selection states without clicking on individual list rows or outliner folders.

Viewport UI Buttons

Located at the top header of the Light Manager list panel, you'll find navigation chevrons (◀ and ▶). Clicking these allows you to instantly step through active emitters sequentially with standard mouse clicks.

Context: Selection cycles through the active list hierarchy.

Keyboard Hotkeys

For speed-focused viewport workflow, use the native key bindings. You can cycle active selection states without looking away from your render:

Next Light .
Previous Light ,
Next Collection folder Shift + .
Previous Collection folder Shift + ,