Adjust & Orbit Modes

The Adjust panel is your non-modal control center for precise light positioning. Unlike the Spotclick placement tools that require clicking in the viewport, Adjust gives you a set of sliders directly in the panel that move your light in real time. Toggle the Adjust button on any light to reveal the full set of tools — placement buttons, position presets, orbit sliders, and size controls. No modal operation, no viewport interaction needed — just drag the sliders and watch the light move. When you create a new light, the Adjust panel opens automatically.

Position Presets

At the top of the Adjust panel, eight position preset buttons let you jump the light to common angles with one click. The buttons are spatially ordered — BL (Back Left), L (Left), L45 (Left 45°), F (Front), R45 (Right 45°), R (Right), BR (Back Right), B (Back) — with Front in the center for natural orientation.

The active preset is highlighted blue. When you manually rotate the light with the Rotation slider and happen to land on a preset angle (within ±3°), the corresponding button automatically lights up. Presets preserve your current elevation and distance, so switching angles never disrupts the height or distance you have dialed in.

The Sliders

Adjust provides six sliders that control different aspects of your light's position and size. All orbit sliders show absolute real-world values so you always know exactly where the light is positioned:

Rotation shows degrees from Front and moves the light horizontally around its orbit center. 0° means the light is directly in front of the subject, +90° is to the right, -90° is to the left, and ±180° is behind. Think of it as walking around a table — the light stays at the same distance and height but changes its horizontal angle.

Height shows the elevation angle in degrees and moves the light vertically — up or down — while keeping it aimed at the orbit center. 0° is at eye level, +90° is directly above, and -90° is directly below. Combined with Rotation, these two sliders let you place the light at any point on an imaginary sphere around your subject.

Distance shows the real 3D distance in meters and moves the light closer to or further from the orbit center without changing the angle. Pull the light in for more intense, close-up illumination or push it out for a broader, softer effect.

Lift moves the light straight up or down in world space without changing its orbit angle. Unlike Height, which moves the light along the sphere, Lift shifts the entire orbit plane vertically.

Slide moves the light horizontally in world space, similar to the Slide placement tool. This shifts the light left or right without altering its height or aim angle.

Size controls the light's dimensions. An Octane toggle next to the slider switches between two modes. With Octane enabled, the slider controls Octane Size, which only affects shadow softness — the light's visual appearance in the render stays the same, but shadows become softer or sharper. With Octane disabled, the slider controls Physical Scale, which changes the actual size of the light object and affects both brightness and shadow characteristics.

Real-Time Visual Feedback

While Adjust is active, you get comprehensive visual feedback in the viewport. A thick green beam line traces the light's aim direction and shows the precise impact point on surfaces with a blue dot. When the  light misses all geometry, the beam turns orange to alert you immediately. An orange circle marks the orbit center — the point your light is rotating around. A dashed horizontal circle shows the orbit path at the  light's current height, and a vertical line connects the orbit center to the orbit plane when they are at different heights. A yellow tilt angle label next to the light displays the actual pitch in degrees — for example, "Tilt: -32.5°" tells you the light is tilted 32.5° downward. All of these update live as you drag the sliders.

Light names are displayed directly on the light beam for every light in the scene. Non-active lights also display their intensity value above the beam, giving you an instant overview of your entire lighting setup while you work on a specific light.

A solid yellow border around the viewport reminds you that a positioning tool is active, preventing you from accidentally working on other parts of your scene.

Three Orbit Modes

At the bottom of the Adjust panel, three tab buttons let you switch between orbit modes. These control what point the light orbits around and what it aims at. The tabs are always available — you do not need to activate anything beforehand. When you open Adjust, the addon automatically detects the object your light is pointing at via raycast and stores its pivot point for use in the pivot-based modes.

Surface

This is the default mode. The light orbits around the surface point where the beam hits geometry. Rotation, Height, and Distance move the light around that hit point, and the light always aims directly at it.  

This is the most intuitive mode — wherever your light is pointing, that is what it orbits around. A dedicated button lets you fire a fresh raycast from the light's current position to re-detect the surface target.

Orbit

The light orbits around the target object's pivot point instead of the surface hit, but it keeps aiming at its current target. This is useful when you want to reposition a light around an object without changing where it is pointing. Imagine circling around a character while keeping the light focused on their face — the orbit path follows the character's origin, but the aim stays locked on the original surface point.  

Pivot Point

The light orbits around the target object's pivot point and always aims directly at it. Every time you adjust Rotation, Height, or Distance, the light re-aims at the pivot. This mode provides the most predictable behavior — the light always looks at the center of your subject no matter where you move it. In this mode, an additional Aim Height slider appears directly below Slide. This slider offsets the aim target vertically from the pivot point. For example, if you are lighting a character and the pivot is at the feet, you can use Aim Height to shift the aim point up to the chest or head without moving the pivot itself. A blue vertical line with a small crosshair in the viewport visualizes the offset so you always know exactly where the light is aiming.

Switching Between Modes

You can switch modes at any time while Adjust is open. The addon automatically re-detects the pivot point when switching to a pivot-based mode if needed. If no object is found under the light's beam, a viewport warning appears. All orbit state — pivot point, aim target, orbit center, and aim height offset — is preserved when you close and reopen Adjust on the same light, so you can pick up exactly where you left off.  

Mirror Light

The Mirror button reflects a light to the opposite side of its target. It uses the auto-detected pivot point as the mirror axis, flipping the light's position while preserving its distance. After mirroring, the light automatically re-aims based on the active orbit mode — in Surface mode it raycasts to the new surface hit, in Orbit mode the stored aim target is mirrored as well, and in Pivot Point mode the light aims at the pivot plus any Aim Height offset. If Adjust sliders are active, the orbit state is correctly updated so the sliders continue to work seamlessly after the mirror.