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LeoMoon LightStudio

Important Notice

LeoMoon LightStudio (formerly known as Blender Light Studio) is 100% free and open-source. You can download and use it without any limitations.

Development Fund

If you think this plugin speeds up your workflow, consider funding the development of it by purchasing it. This will help to fix bugs, improve user interface and add new features.

Introduction

LeoMoon LightStudio is the easiest, fastest and most advanced lighting system for Blender 2.8x, 2.9x, 3.0, 3,1 and 3.2. LeoMoon LightStudio is packed with features and the new Light Node has so many options so you can customize each light exactly the way you want.

Features

  • Add/Remove lights around objects
  • Add multiple light profiles
  • Easily switch between light profiles with a single click
  • Each light has many options to customize
  • All options per light can be animated
  • Each light can have a different light texture
  • Fastest render update while lighting
  • 15 Realistic HDR light textures included
  • Easy 2D manipulation of lights in the LightStudio Control Panel which translates to positioning of that light in 3D space
  • Toggle a light by double clicking on it in the LightStudio Control Panel
  • Isolate a light by right clicking on it in the LightStudio Control Panel
  • Lights can be added to different renders layers
  • Import/Export light profiles

Background HDR vs Manual Lighting

Why not use the other background HDR light plugins? That's because template based light plugins are predictable and limited. For product renders, you want lots of options and control, NOT templates! However you can create your own light profiles in LeoMoon LightStudio and import/export light profiles in different projects.

Limitations

LeoMoon LightStudio uses mesh lights and currently, EEVEE does not support mesh lights in real-time. Rendering is only supported in Cycles.

LeoMoon LightStudio now supports EEVEE if "Basic light" is used.

Authors

  • Amin Babaeipanah
  • Marcin Zielinski

Changelog

  • 3.0.0 2026-05-02
    • Ported to Blender 5.1+ modern extension format
    • Added "Insert Key for Active Light" button under the Animation mode toggle that keys only LightStudio channels via the LightStudio Keying Set
    • Added equirectangular representation of lights in light panel as a preview
    • Added Control Panel customization options in add-on settings
    • Fixed Control Panel coordinates to match EXR export output
    • Fixed EXR export crash when viewport rendering is on
    • Fixed Reset Control Panel crash
    • Fixed help menu icons
  • 2.16.3 2026-03-26:
    • Added Blender 5.1 support
  • 2.16.2 2025-03-28:
    • Added grid lines to LightPanel canvas
  • 2.16.1 2025-03-19:
    • Added Blender 4.4 support
  • 2.16.0 2024-11-16:
    • Improved plugin UI
    • Added light visibility in camera toggle in the light list
    • Added light profile constraint to an object
  • 2.15.2 2024-10-07:
    • Added EEVEE (EEVEE Next) support for Blender 4.2.x
  • 2.15.1 2024-02-26:
    • Fixed all issues with Blender 4.x
    • Added backward compatibility for Blender 3.2 and later
  • 2.15.0 2023-12-20:
    • Added Blender 4 support
    • Added Ctrl+F hotkey to `point to add` a light
    • Made isolating light independent of visibility toggle
    • Added support for handle rotation
  • 2.14.0 2023-11-10:
    • Added macOS Metal support
  • 2.13.0 2023-03-09:
    • Added Cycles|EEVEE switch button
    • Added EXR exporting of lights to be used in other 3D programs
    • Added camera light visibility
    • Added saving the on/off state of each light
    • Fixed copied profile not being saved
  • 2.12.0 2022-11-22:
    • Fixed problem with light brush not sliding in Blender 3.3
    • Replaced deprecated bgl module with gpu shaders
    • Added ability to use Ctrl+D to duplicate a light
    • This version will only support Blender 3.2.2 or later
  • 2.11.1 2022-08-09:
    • Fixed LightStudio Control Panel resizing in Blender 3.2.2
  • 2.11.0 2022-03-21:
    • Added compatibility with Blender 3.1
    • Fixed issue with copying scene with LLS
  • 2.10.0 2021-12-28:
    • Added compatibility with Blender 3.0
    • Fixed error that happens when using Light Brush feature on instanced objects
    • When copying a profile in multimode, keep the same visibility value of source profile
    • When copying a light, deselect the source light and select the newly copied light in both single profile and multi profile
    • Added a button to select the handle of the profile
  • 2.9.1 2021-09-15:
    • Added Switch to Cycles button
    • Moved Profiles panel before Lights panel
    • Fixed Copy Light
    • Fixed Copy Profile
  • 2.9.0 2021-08-11:
    • Added Reset Control Panel button under Misc section
    • Added Multi Profile Mode
    • Bug fixes and improvements
  • 2.8.2 2021-07-17:
    • Fixes Basic light not working when switching modes
    • Minor visual changes
    • Minor bugfixes
  • 2.8.1 2021-07-14:
    • Minor bugfixes
  • 2.8.0 2021-07-13:
    • Fixed compatibility issue with Blender 2.93+
    • Changed the way animated lights are handled
  • 2.7.1 2020-11-27:
    • Fixed compatibility issue with Blender 2.82
  • 2.7.0 2020-11-10:
    • Added two types of lights:
      • Advanced: Supports HDR light textures and has many masking options
      • Basic: Blender's area light with limited options to support EEVEE
    • Many bugfixes and improvements
  • 2.6.2 2020-10-07:
    • Added custom hotkeys to addon preferences
    • Major improvements added to Light Brush with F hotkey (3D Edit)
    • Added G hotkey to move lights in the light panel and 3D view
    • R and S hotkeys can now rotate and scale lights in the 3D view also
    • Improved undo
  • 2.6.1 2020-08-21:
    • Added “Up” and “Down” buttons to sort lights in the light list
    • Added button to copy light in the light list
    • Send light to top in the LightPanel when selected in the light list
    • Lights in copied profiles do not have shared materials any more
    • Constrained clickable area of the control panel by 3D viewport properties area
  • 2.6.0 2020-07-31:
    • Replaced Add Light and Delete Light buttons with a light list
    • Lights can be renamed in the light list
    • Lights can be toggled in the light list
    • Lights can be isolated in the light list
    • Light selection is synchronized with the LightPanel
  • 2.5.2 2020-07-10:
    • Fixed light going outside of LightPanel
    • Added LighPanel resizing
    • Minor bugfixes
  • 2.5.1 2020-05-08:
    • Fixed Copy Profile function
    • Fixed Copy Profile to Scene function
    • Fixed LightStudio world node from being created again if it exists
    • Added Open Textures Folder button
  • 2.5.0 2020-03-23:
    • Fixed LightStudio error when opening Bledner 2.8x
    • Fixed LightStudio error when deleting studio
    • Fixed strange behavior when clicking LightStudio Control Panel multiple times
    • Fixed the ordering of LightStudio side panel
    • Improved the light node
    • Added all the light effect previews to the LightStudio Control Panel
    • Added LightStudio Keying Set to animate lights
    • Added Background Setup button to quickly setup the background optimized for lighting
    • Added missing/changed descriptions for a few buttons
    • Added a darker green border when lights are not selected
    • Moved rotate, move, and scale text from top to bottom where the info is usually displayed
    • Moved hotkeys help text to Hotkeys section in the side panel

Usage

Blender 5.1+ (extension format): Always install from the Releases page. Do not use the green "Code → Download ZIP" button. That downloads the source, not the installable extension.

Known Issues

  • In case of problems with left click selection, manipulators or overlapping selection please disable Override Selection checkbox under Misc. panel
  • Download leomoon-lightstudio-X.Y.Z_blender-A.B.C.zip from the Releases page.
  • In Blender, open Edit → Preferences → Get Extensions.
  • Click the ▼ dropdown arrow in the top-right corner of the panel (next to the Repositories selector) and choose Install from Disk....
  • Select the downloaded .zip. The extension is enabled automatically and appears under the Installed section.
  • Open the N panel to see the LightStudio tab.

    • Compatibility

    Tested with Blender 5.1.1

    Donors

    Benjamin Gratia Bitgem Pty Ltd (Polyfu) Chris Nicholls Chris Phyffer x2 Damir Simovski Dario Jaeger Jacinto Carbajosa Fermoso x2 John Podlesnik Krzysztof Czerwiński x6 Marc-André Gasser Matthew Moore MoonGorilla Karol Rządczyk Nathaniel Westveer Pan Jiaqing Paul Kotelevets Reinhard Kepplinger Roger Chamberlain Tiago Santos Victor Lin

    Development

    make venv     # create .venv with ruff + pytest
make check    # ruff lint + pytest
make build    # build dist/leomoon-lightstudio-_blender-.zip
make install  # build and install into the Blender user profile
make tag      # create an annotated git tag from the manifest version

    Override the Blender binary if it isn't on PATH:

    make build BLENDER=/path/to/blender
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