SpotLight

SpotLight differs from both PointLight and DirectionalLight. Unlike the 360-degree PointLight it has a meaningful direction, and unlike DirectionalLight it has a real position and source-to-surface distance. Translation and Rotation therefore both matter to the lighting result.

The node has one optional orange SceneInput for classic Fusion scene3d data. When a scene is connected, SpotLight's Transform applies to the entire incoming scene. SceneInput is neither a MediaIn/RGBA input nor a special socket for the object that should be illuminated.

For a normal lighting rig, geometry and SpotLight are usually easier to manage as separate Merge3D branches. That keeps light Translation/Rotation independent from upstream geometry. Inline SceneInput is appropriate only when parent-transform behavior for the complete incoming scene is intentional.

Enabled controls whether the light contributes, Color/RGB define its tint, and Intensity sets its strength. A neutral white Color with moderate Intensity is the best diagnostic baseline because it keeps topology, aim, cone shaping, and decay separate from artistic tint.

Decay Type controls distance attenuation. No Decay keeps light strength independent of source distance, while Linear and Quadratic introduce falloff. This is separate from cone shaping: Decay is distance-based, whereas Cone Angle, Penumbra Angle, and Dropoff are angular controls.

Cone Angle defines the inner region where SpotLight emits full intensity. The Resolve 21 reference documents a range up to 90 degrees. Increasing Cone Angle widens the fully lit region; it does not blur the shadow map.

Penumbra Angle adds a zone outside the full-intensity cone where light falls toward zero. A value of zero produces a hard light boundary. Penumbra is not Shadow Softness and does not filter shadow edges.

Dropoff controls how quickly intensity falls through the penumbra region. Cone Angle defines the full-intensity geometry, Penumbra Angle defines the width of the transition, and Dropoff shapes the response inside that transition. Change them one at a time when diagnosing a beam.

SpotLight shadows are an important exception among the classic light nodes in Resolve 21: they can be viewed with either Hardware Renderer or Software Renderer. Renderer3D still needs Shadows enabled for output, and geometry/material caster-receiver conditions remain separate requirements.

Shadow Color and Density control the color and opacity of the shadow contribution. Density 1.0 corresponds to a fully opaque shadow and lower values make it more transparent. Neither parameter controls softness or map resolution.

Shadow Map Size defines the spatial resolution of the shadow map, while Shadow Map Proxy scales that map in Proxy/Auto Proxy workflows. Wider cones and larger penumbra regions spread useful map coverage over more space, so insufficient resolution becomes visible sooner.

Multiplicative Bias and Additive Bias address shadow-map self-shadowing/Z-fighting. Blackmagic recommends tuning Multiplicative Bias first and using Additive Bias for fine adjustment. Too little bias leaves acne; too much creates a detached or peter-panning shadow.

Force All Materials Non-Transmissive switches the shadow map from RGBAZ to Z-only, reducing resource use but removing transmissive or stained-glass-like colored shadow information. It is a performance/behavior switch, not a universal quality improvement.

Shadow Map Sampling controls sampling quality while Softness controls edge filtering. None keeps hard edges, Constant uses a fixed filter width, and Variable grows the filter with caster-receiver distance and reveals Softness Falloff, Min Softness, and Max Softness.

Constant Softness is relevant only in Constant mode, while Softness Falloff/Min/Max belong to Variable mode. Stabilize Shadow Map Size and Bias before adding softness, otherwise filtering can merely hide a map problem instead of fixing it.

SpotLight Transform uses Translation for source position and Rotation for source direction. This is the key difference from PointLight, where Rotation has no lighting meaning, and from DirectionalLight, where standalone Translation does not define a real source position.

Pivot belongs to the common 3D transform layer. It changes the point around which rotation is evaluated but is not a target or a light receiver. For a simple lighting rig, keep Pivot neutral unless a specific rigging requirement calls for an offset pivot.

Use Target can orient SpotLight toward an XYZ target instead of relying only on Euler Rotation. For a moving subject, animating a target is often easier and more stable than manually chasing the object with three rotation channels.

Import Transform imports transformation data from a supported 3D scene file; it does not import geometry or a complete light asset. Geometry, cameras, and lights as objects belong to separate 3D import workflows.

SpotLight remains scene3d until Renderer3D. Its Scene output belongs in Merge3D or another compatible 3D tool, not a normal 2D Merge or MediaOut. The clean boundary is light/geometry/camera → Merge3D → Renderer3D → image/RGBA.