Better Lighting for Blender

Current Version: 1.4
Author: KerkLord
Blender Compatibility: 3.3.0+

Overview

BetterLighting is a Blender addon that lets you quickly add, customize, and manage professional lighting setups with just a few clicks. It comes with pre-configured lighting presets, exposure-based energy adjustments, and the ability to save your own custom presets to a JSON file. The addon also supports custom scaling, parent-to-object functionality, and an easy undo system to remove the last added lighting setup.

Key Features

🔹 Quick Lighting Presets

• Choose from multiple built-in lighting setups, including:
  • 3-Point Setup
  • Warm Cinematic
  • Overhead Key Light
  • Moody Rim Light
  • Neon Tri-Color
• Add your own custom lighting presets and save them in a JSON file for future use.

🔹 Fully Customizable Lights

• Modify light type, color, energy, location, and rotation before adding.
• Adjust Scale: Automatically resizes lighting setups to fit different scenes.
• Add a Backdrop: Optionally include a plane backdrop to improve lighting control.
• Parent Lights to Active Object: Keep lights locked to a specific object for easy animation or positioning.

🔹 Exposure-Based Light Energy Adjustments

• Exposure Compensation (in Stops): Adjust all lights in your scene by exposure stops, using:
  • -1 Stop, -0.5 Stop, +0.5 Stop, +1 Stop quick buttons.
• Automatically updates light energy levels using a 2^stops calculation, preserving realism.

🔹 One-Click Management

• Apply Scale: Quickly scale lighting setups after placement.
• Undo Last Added Lights: Instantly remove the last added lighting setup.
• Live Update: Change values and see immediate results without reloading Blender.

How It Works

1. Select a Lighting Preset – Choose from built-in presets or load your own.
2. Customize – Adjust scale, exposure, color, and parenting options.
3. Add Lighting – Instantly apply the setup to your scene.
4. Fine-Tune – Modify individual lights, adjust exposure stops, or reposition as needed.
5. Save Custom Presets – Capture your favorite setups for easy reuse.

Installation

1. Download the .py file from Gumroad.
2. Open Blender and go to Edit → Preferences → Add-ons.
3. Click Install, then select the downloaded .py file.
4. Enable the addon by checking the box next to BetterLighting.
5. The BetterLighting panel will appear under 3D Viewport → Sidebar → Better Blender.

Usage Tips

• For Consistent Lighting: Use Apply Scale to ensure lights remain proportional to your scene.
• For Realistic Brightness Adjustments: The Exposure Compensation slider fine-tunes light intensity in realistic increments.
• For Efficiency: Undo Last Add quickly removes unwanted lights without manually selecting them.

Support

If you have any questions, need help, or want to suggest features, feel free to reach out via Gumroad or Blender community forums.

🔥 Instantly improve your Blender lighting workflow with BetterLighting! 🔥