Light Objects are considered environmental objects, but they also illuminate the Composer work space for viewing. Most of their properties can be seen in real time, but a few need to be rendered to see.

There are three types of Light Objects available, each have their own unique properties and effects. What sort of lighting effect your after will determine which type light or combination of lights to use.

The three types of light are Parallel, Radial and Spot Light. To create a light make the desired light type the current light tool, then click in the work space where the light needs to be positioned. For the Parallel and Spot Lights you can click, hold and drag to set the Center of Interest ( the direction the light is casting ).

The Object XForm tools can be used to manipulate lights and their parts, with the exception of the Drop to Floor tool

The Parallel Light is defined as: A directional light who's rays are cast the same distance apart at every point or equally.
They are natural light, like that produced by the sun or moon. In the Scene window a Parallel Light appears as a yellow diamond shape, it has a yellow line with an arrow at the end. The diamond shape is the Light Body, the arrow head is the Point of Interest, the line is a Connector between them.

The Body sets the XYZ coordinates of the light. The Arrow sets the Center of Interest, or the direction and what the light is shining at. The Connecting line link the to together and is used for selecting and manipulating the whole light. By clicking on the body, just the body can be manipulated. By clicking on the end or the arrow just the Center of Interest can be manipulated. By clicking on the Connecting Line the whole light can be manipulated. ( If the light is selected from the Project List the whole light will be selected )

Because a Parallel Light ray's are cast equally the light can be places in front of, next to or behind objects, yet still cast light in the direction the Center of Interest is located

Where if the Center of Interest is left at it's location and just the Body moved, then the light will be casted from a different direction.

Likewise the Center of Interest location can be changed leaving the Body at it's location and the light will be cast from a different direction.

The Light's Properties Menu Can be brought up by either right clicking on the Light Object in the workspace window or the name on the Project List, then selecting properties from the pop up menu. Or by clicking on the Light Object Icon on the Project List.
There are three tabs for the Parallel Light. The Position & COI tab is where the Body & Center of Interest attributes can be set numerically. The Position Options will set the XYZ location of the Body, and the Center of Interest Options will set the XYZ location of the Center of Interest.

The Color tab is where the color and intensity of the light is set.

The color can be set by clicking on one of the color swatches ( Numeric, System or Program ). The intensity ( brightness ) of the light is set using the Intensity slider. The default is 100.000 which is basically natural sunlight. Increasing the intensity may give an unnatural look when rendered.

A good rule when using multiple Parallel Lights is to not have the total sum of all the light combined not to add up to more then 100.000, to keep the scene more natural looking. Using different colors with multiple lights give some nice effects to.

The Shadows tab lets you enable or disable whether a Parallel light cast shadows. This option is useful when using multiple lights. You also have to enable shadows in on the Radiocity Render tab for shadows to be rendered in the scene.

Because Parallel lights represent sunlight there is no soft shadow option, a work around this for Parallel Lights is to duplicate the light many times, and off setting the Center of Interest by 1 degree from the previous light. Then set the intensity of each light by dividing the number of lights by 100.

Radial Lights are defined as: A light that cast light rays equally in all directions.
Radial Lights produce light like a normal light bulb, casting light in all directions, since they are not directional they have no Center of Interest options. They are represented in the work space by a yellow diamond, which is considered the light Body.

The placement of the light will determine what side of the objects will be illuminated by the light.

Although the intensity of the light will remain the same, the distance the light is from the object will determine how much light is cast on the object.

The Radial Light's properties menu Position tab only has options to set the light's body XYZ location.

The Color tab has the same options as all the lights, a color palette and an Intensity Slider.

The intensity on radial lights can be set a little higher or lower then the default 100.000, and still appear realistic since it is a unnatural light.

The Shadow tab has the Light Cast Shadows option and a Light Radius slider. The Light Radius slider sets the hard or softness of the shadow produced by the light. Lower values mean harder or crisp edge shadows. Higher values mean softer or smoother edge shadows.

Spot Lights are defined as: A light that cast rays in a cone shaped spread.
Spot lights can be used to represent directional lights such as stage lights, head lights, flash lights to name a few.
They have the same parts as the Parallel Light, a Body, Connecting line and Arrow Head. And are manipulated the same as Parallel Lights, by selecting the Body to position it, or the Arrow Head to position the Center of Interest. Or the Connecting Line to manipulate the whole light.

Their light rays are directional and spread out in a cone shaped, so were the Parallel Light will shine light evenly in the direction it's facing, a spot light will only cast light with-in the limits of it's cone. So objects not in the radius of the cone will not receive the light.

The Center of Interest will also greatly decide what direction the light will be cast.

The Properties Menu has the Position option for the Body of the Spot Light, and the Center of Interest option to position the Center of Interest numerically.

Like the other lights the Color tab is for setting light color and intensity

The Shadows tab works the same for the Spot Light as it does on the Radial Light, enabling or disabling shadows, and a slider to set their hardness or softness

There is also a Cone tab, this is used to set the outside and inside cone angle. This is the angle at which the light is projected from the source to infinity. Smaller values tighten or condense the cone radius and larger values spread out the cone radius.

The more distance away the Spot Light is, will give more room for the cone radius to grow.

A volume light effect can be created using smoke objects with the Spot Light,>