How to Use Lights In Adobe After Effects

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Lights in Adobe After Effects work very similarly to lights in real life. You can change their intensity by making them either brighter or darker. You can open and close their cone angle to make them shine a small spotlight or a wide flood light. 

Start by creating a new Composition. Navigate to the top menu bar and click Composition -- New Composition or press Command+N on your keyboard. This will reveal the Composition Settings dialog box. Choose your settings and click OK.

Navigate back to the top menu bar and click Layer -- New -- Solid. Choose your Solid Settings in the dialog box that shows and click OK. This will create a two-dimensional colored solid in your Composition window.

Click the 3D Layer icon in the bottom panel to the left of the Timeline. This will allow you to push the solid back in three-dimensional space so you can shine light from the foreground on to the solid behind it.

Select the Type Tool and create some text in the middle of your Composition window. Click the 3D Layer icon associated with this text path to make it three-dimensional as well.

Now you're ready to create a Light. Navigate to the top menu bar and click Layer -- New -- Light. This will reveal the Light Settings dialog box, in which you can choose a Light Type, Intensity, Cone Angle, Cone Feather, Color, amount of Shadow Darkness and amount of Shadow Diffusion. Adjust your light's settings and make sure the Casts Shadows box is checked before clicking OK.

Right away you'll be able to see a difference in your Composition window. Next, reveal the Material Options for the Text parameters in the bottom panel. Switch Casts Shadows to turn On. You'll notice that a shadow now appears in the background of your Composition window.

Feel free to experiment with the placement of your keyframes on your Timeline to create movement with your light.

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