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19 changes: 16 additions & 3 deletions tutorials/3d/lights_and_shadows.rst
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -378,15 +378,28 @@ Area light

Sometimes, you want lighting to come from a large area instead of a single
point. Area lights are useful for simulating soft, diffuse lighting, such as
light coming from a window or a lit billboard. This type of light is expensive
to render in real-time, so it should be used sparingly, especially when shadows
are enabled.
light coming from a window or a lit billboard.

Godot provides the :ref:`class_AreaLight3D` node for this purpose, which emits
light from a rectangular area. The node only emits light and has no other visual
representation in the scene. The screenshots below use a :ref:`class_Sprite3D`
node as a child of the area light for visualization purposes.

.. warning::

This type of light is the most expensive to render in real-time. It should
be used sparingly, especially when shadows are enabled.
Consider using them only for cinematics or when targeting high-end devices.

In Forward+, as soon as one area light is visible in the view frustum, it
incurs an additional performance cost on **all** rendered objects in the
scene, even those that are not reached by an area light. This tradeoff
allows for a greater number of area lights to be rendered (clustered
lighting).

In Mobile and Compatibility, only objects that are reached by an area light
incur an additional performance cost.

Area lights can also cast shadows, with variable penumbra simulated using
:ref:`PCSS <doc_lights_and_shadows_pcss_recommendations>` by default. The size
of this penumbra can be controlled with the Light3D **Size** property. This
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