> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://2yeet.gitbook.io/anvilcsg/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://2yeet.gitbook.io/anvilcsg/surfaces-and-content/entities-lights-and-probes.md).

# Entities, lights, and probes

The Entity Browser places built-in authoring objects and project prefabs into the map scene. Open it from the left toolbar or press `Shift+E`.

## Built-in entities

The browser includes:

* Mannequin
* Point Light
* Spot Light
* Directional Light
* Area Light
* Reflection Probe
* Smart Light Probe Volume

The Mannequin is normalized to `1.8 m` and is placed with its feet at the placement point.

## User prefabs

Drag prefab assets from the Project window into the Entity Browser palette. Use search to filter the palette, or remove entries that are no longer needed. Removing a palette entry does not delete the prefab asset.

Placed prefabs preserve their prefab link. In Perspective, placement uses the brush surface under the pointer or the horizontal work plane. In an orthographic pane, placement uses that pane's grid plane. Click and drag before release to adjust the position.

Entity context menus provide the normal edit actions plus:

* Snap Origin To Grid
* Reset Local Position, Rotation, or Scale
* Select Asset
* Open Prefab
* Unpack Instance
* Add or remove Box and Mesh Colliders
* Add or remove project MonoBehaviours

Ordinary prefab entities remain normal objects in the authoring scene. They are not packed into AnvilBakedMap, so adding only a baked map asset to another scene does not recreate them.

## Lights

Create Point, Spot, Directional, and Area lights from the Entity Browser. New lights default to Baked, use soft shadows, and start with these common values:

* Intensity `2`, or `1` for Directional
* Range `8`
* Spot Angle `45 degrees`
* Directional rotation `50, -30`

Select a light to open **Light Settings** in the workspace. The panel includes:

* Name and Enabled
* Type
* Bake Mode
* Render Mode
* Color
* Intensity and Indirect Multiplier
* Range and Spot Angle
* Area Size
* Shadows and Shadow Strength
* Rotation

Source Light components participate in Build + Bake but remain authoring-scene objects. A scene containing only the baked map asset does not recreate those source lights.

## Reflection probes

New Reflection Probes default to:

* Baked mode
* Box Projection on
* Size `4 x 3 x 4`
* Resolution `128`
* Intensity `1`

The workspace settings include Name, Enabled, Mode, Box Projection, Intensity, Center, Size, Resolution, Near Clip, and Far Clip. Resolution ranges from 16 to 2048.

Unlike ordinary prefab entities and source lights, reflection probes are stored in the baked map and recreated by AnvilMapBuild. The stored data also includes clear flags, background color, culling mask, blend distance, importance, HDR, shadow distance, dynamic-object rendering, refresh mode, time slicing, and a packaged baked or custom probe texture.

## Smart light probe volumes

Smart Light Probe Volume has two placement modes:

* **Smart Interior**
* **Uniform Grid**

The settings panel includes Name, Size, Placement, Target Spacing or Grid Spacing, Cull Inside Geometry, Probe Count, and **Repopulate Probes Now**.

Defaults are an `8 x 4 x 8 m` volume, `2 m` spacing, Smart Interior placement, and geometry culling enabled. Spacing cannot be lower than `0.5 m`. One volume can contain up to 4096 probes.

### Smart Interior

Smart Interior searches for supported floors and stairs, checks lateral enclosure, and places samples at low and body height. It rejects samples inside solid geometry and adds sampling near baked lights.

During **Build + Bake**, Anvil can run an analysis pass to find useful light and dark transitions before the final bake.

### Uniform Grid

Uniform Grid fills the volume at the chosen Grid Spacing. Keep **Cull Inside Geometry** enabled to remove samples that fall inside solid map geometry.

Use **Repopulate Probes Now** after changing the volume, its spacing, or nearby level geometry.

Light-probe volumes and portable probe data are stored in the baked map and recreated by AnvilMapBuild. Portable probe composition from several generated maps uses Unity 6 public APIs. Older Unity versions can keep source LightProbeGroups, but do not provide the same composed portable-probe workflow.

## Workspace overlays

Open **Overlays > Lights and Probes** to control entity markers:

* **Off** hides markers and disables marker picking.
* **Minimal** shows icons and the selected volume.
* **Normal** shows ranges, cones, probe bounds, and extra detail.

Use Minimal when a dense probe layout makes the workspace difficult to read.