Setting zone-specific ambient lighting

Zones are mainly used to determine which objects in a level should render and which shouldn't, based on the current camera position and rotation. In addition, Zone objects may also control the ambient lighting (the lighting that appears to come from all directions) for the region within the Zone. A good example of this is a cave system where the sun should not reach all the way in. In this recipe, we will look at how to set up custom ambient lighting for a Zone object that is different from the rest of the level.

Getting ready

Start up Torque 3D and launch a level of your game, then press F11 to open the World Editor. As we want to manipulate the scene objects, the Object Editor should be selected (F1 or by using the Editors menu). Make sure there is at least one Zone object already in the level.

How to do it...

In the following steps we will modify ambient lighting properties of a Zone object:

1. Select the Zone object that will have the custom ambient lighting...