# Environment & sky

Open the **Environment** panel on the right side of the Lite window. Under **Sky**, choose **Custom Sun** to adjust the sun angle, or **HDRI** to light the scene and set its background from a panoramic image. Lite uses **Custom Sun** by default.

| Sky type | Best for | Main controls |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Custom Sun | Daylight studies based on date, time, and location | Time, date, latitude/longitude, north, custom sun angle |
| HDRI | Lighting and background from a panoramic image | HDRI file, intensity, rotation, sunlight intensity, sun direction |

## Custom Sun {#geographic-sky-geo}

- Lite reads the time, date, latitude/longitude, and north direction from the modeling software for daylight studies. These settings are read-only in Lite. SketchUp reads from the Shadows panel and geo-location; Rhino reads from the current environment once Sync Environment is on; Revit does not provide this data, so set a custom sun angle in Lite.
- To adjust the lighting direction temporarily, set a custom sun altitude and azimuth in Lite; this does not write back to the modeling software's time and date.

![Custom Sun controls](/lite/Attachments/figma/environment-sun.png)

## HDRI {#hdri-sky}

In SketchUp, Rhino, or Revit, choose one of the five sky presets or upload a local HDRI file. Click a preset thumbnail to apply it, or hover to see its name. The first time you use a preset, wait for it to download, then check the background and light direction in the viewport. Both sources share the following controls:

- **Select & Add**: add a custom HDRI file in .hdr / .exr / .jpg format. After adding a file, use **Upload** to replace it.
- **Intensity**: adjusts the overall brightness of the HDRI.
- **Rotate**: rotates the HDRI to change the lighting direction and background angle.
- **Sunlight Intensity**: off by default; when the HDRI's own direct light is weak, or you only want the HDRI as a background, turn it on to add direct sunlight.
- **Sun Direction**: follows the brightest point of the HDRI by default; switch to a custom direction to set the altitude and azimuth yourself.
- **Sun Radius**: range 0–10, default 5; higher values give softer shadow edges, lower values sharper ones.
- **Sun Color Temperature**: range 1700–12000 K, default 6500 K; lower values are warmer, higher values cooler.
- To restore the default HDRI after adding a local file, hover over the current image and click **Delete**.

## Sync Environment

Use **Sync Environment** on the D5 toolbar in SketchUp or Rhino to control environment synchronization.

### SketchUp

- Off on first use. Turn it on to use SketchUp's current environment in place of Lite's temporary settings. Scenes already saved in the Scene List are unaffected.
- In SketchUp 2025 and later, the HDRI file, rotation, intensity, and sun position sync in both directions between Lite and SketchUp. In SketchUp 2024 and earlier, geographic sky settings sync only from SketchUp to Lite's **Custom Sun**.

### Rhino

- **Sync Environment** is on by default in Rhino. With it on, Rhino's current environment and Lite sync both ways; with it off, the two are independent and changes in Lite are saved only in Lite's own scene data.
- Turn off **Sync Environment** before switching scenes if you want to keep Rhino's current environment. Rhino has a single global environment. With Sync Environment on, switching scenes in Lite overwrites Rhino's current environment with that scene's environment settings (Custom Sun or HDRI); the environment and effect parameters of other scenes are still saved in the .3dm file and do not appear as separate entries in Rhino's environment list.
- Sync Environment and Live Sync are separate switches; Sync Environment can be used on its own with Live Sync off.

### Revit

- Sync Environment is not available; the environment is set independently in Lite.