ArcGIS Scene Environment

Use this skill for configuring SceneView environment: lighting, weather, shadows, atmosphere, backgrounds, underground navigation, and elevation settings.

Import Patterns

ESM (npm)

import Environment from "@arcgis/core/views/3d/environment/Environment.js";
import SunLighting from "@arcgis/core/views/3d/environment/SunLighting.js";
import VirtualLighting from "@arcgis/core/views/3d/environment/VirtualLighting.js";
import SunnyWeather from "@arcgis/core/views/3d/environment/SunnyWeather.js";
import CloudyWeather from "@arcgis/core/views/3d/environment/CloudyWeather.js";
import RainyWeather from "@arcgis/core/views/3d/environment/RainyWeather.js";
import FoggyWeather from "@arcgis/core/views/3d/environment/FoggyWeather.js";
import SnowyWeather from "@arcgis/core/views/3d/environment/SnowyWeather.js";
import ShadowCastAnalysis from "@arcgis/core/analysis/ShadowCastAnalysis.js";

CDN (dynamic import)

const SunLighting = await $arcgis.import(
  "@arcgis/core/views/3d/environment/SunLighting.js",
);
const RainyWeather = await $arcgis.import(
  "@arcgis/core/views/3d/environment/RainyWeather.js",
);
const ShadowCastAnalysis = await $arcgis.import(
  "@arcgis/core/analysis/ShadowCastAnalysis.js",
);

Environment Settings

Basic Environment Configuration

const view = new SceneView({
  container: "viewDiv",
  map: scene,
  environment: {
    lighting: {
      date: new Date("Sun Mar 15 2019 16:00:00 GMT+0100"),
    },
    atmosphereEnabled: true,
    starsEnabled: true,
  },
});

Map Component Environment

<arcgis-scene item-id="YOUR_WEBSCENE_ID">
  <arcgis-zoom slot="top-left"></arcgis-zoom>
</arcgis-scene>

<script type="module">
  const viewElement = document.querySelector("arcgis-scene");
  await viewElement.viewOnReady();

  viewElement.environment = {
    lighting: {
      date: new Date(),
    },
    atmosphereEnabled: true,
    starsEnabled: true,
  };
</script>

Environment Properties

Property	Type	Description
lighting	SunLighting | VirtualLighting	Lighting configuration
weather	SunnyWeather | CloudyWeather | RainyWeather | FoggyWeather | SnowyWeather	Weather effects
weatherAvailable	boolean (readonly)	Whether weather effects are supported
atmosphereEnabled	boolean	Show atmospheric haze
starsEnabled	boolean	Show stars at night
background	ColorBackground | null	Scene background color/transparency

Lighting

Sun Lighting

Realistic lighting based on sun position calculated from date, time, and geographic location.

view.environment = {
  lighting: {
    date: new Date("2024-06-21T14:00:00"),
    directShadowsEnabled: true,
  },
};

// Update sun position dynamically
view.environment.lighting.date = new Date("2024-06-21T18:00:00");

Virtual Lighting

Consistent directional lighting without sun position calculations.

view.environment = {
  lighting: {
    type: "virtual",
  },
};

Shadows

Enable Direct Shadows

view.environment = {
  lighting: {
    directShadowsEnabled: true,
    date: new Date("Sun Mar 15 2019 16:00:00 GMT+0100"),
  },
};

Toggle Shadows on Symbols

const clone = layer.renderer.clone();
clone.symbol.symbolLayers.getItemAt(0).castShadows = true;
layer.renderer = clone;

Shadow Cast Analysis

const shadowAnalysis = new ShadowCastAnalysis({
  startTime: new Date("2024-03-21T09:00:00"),
  endTime: new Date("2024-03-21T17:00:00"),
});

view.analyses.add(shadowAnalysis);

Weather

Weather Types

// Sunny
view.environment.weather = {
  type: "sunny",
  cloudCover: 0.2,
};

// Cloudy
view.environment.weather = {
  type: "cloudy",
  cloudCover: 0.8,
};

// Rainy
view.environment.weather = {
  type: "rainy",
  cloudCover: 0.8,
  precipitation: 0.3,
};

// Foggy
view.environment.weather = {
  type: "foggy",
  visibility: 1000,
};

// Snowy
view.environment.weather = {
  type: "snowy",
  cloudCover: 0.9,
};

Weather Properties

Weather Type	Key Properties
sunny	cloudCover (0–1), visibility (meters)
cloudy	cloudCover (0–1)
rainy	cloudCover (0–1), precipitation (0–1)
foggy	visibility (meters)
snowy	cloudCover (0–1)

Weather and Daylight Components

Daylight Component

<arcgis-scene item-id="YOUR_WEBSCENE_ID">
  <arcgis-daylight slot="top-right"></arcgis-daylight>
</arcgis-scene>

Attribute	Type	Description
date-or-season	"date" | "season"	Calendar or season selector
play-speed-multiplier	number	Animation speed multiplier
hide-timezone	boolean	Hide timezone display

Events:

• arcgis-daylight-change — Date/time changed
• arcgis-season-change — Season changed

Weather Component

<arcgis-scene item-id="YOUR_WEBSCENE_ID">
  <arcgis-weather slot="top-right"></arcgis-weather>
</arcgis-scene>

Shadow Cast Component

<arcgis-scene item-id="YOUR_WEBSCENE_ID">
  <arcgis-shadow-cast slot="top-right"></arcgis-shadow-cast>
</arcgis-scene>

Transparent Background

Configure Transparent Background

const view = new SceneView({
  container: "viewDiv",
  map: scene,
  alphaCompositingEnabled: true,
  environment: {
    background: {
      type: "color",
      color: [255, 252, 244, 0],
    },
    starsEnabled: false,
    atmosphereEnabled: false,
  },
});

Toggle Background Transparency

const backgroundColor = view.environment.background.color.clone();
backgroundColor.a = 0;
view.environment.background.color = backgroundColor;

Underground Navigation

Enable Underground Navigation (Map Component)

<arcgis-scene item-id="YOUR_WEBSCENE_ID">
  <arcgis-zoom slot="top-left"></arcgis-zoom>
</arcgis-scene>

<script type="module">
  const viewElement = document.querySelector("arcgis-scene");
  await viewElement.viewOnReady();

  viewElement.map.ground.navigationConstraint = { type: "none" };
  viewElement.map.ground.opacity = 0.4;
  viewElement.map.ground.surfaceColor = "#fff";
</script>

Underground Navigation (Core API)

const view = new SceneView({
  container: "viewDiv",
  map: scene,
});

view.when(() => {
  view.map.ground.navigationConstraint = { type: "none" };
  view.map.ground.opacity = 0.4;
});

// Navigate underground
view.goTo({
  position: {
    x: -122.4,
    y: 37.8,
    z: -500,
    spatialReference: { wkid: 4326 },
  },
  tilt: 80,
});

Ground Configuration

// World elevation
map.ground = "world-elevation";

// Custom elevation layer
import ElevationLayer from "@arcgis/core/layers/ElevationLayer.js";

map.ground = {
  layers: [
    new ElevationLayer({
      url: "https://elevation.arcgis.com/arcgis/rest/services/WorldElevation3D/Terrain3D/ImageServer",
    }),
  ],
};

// Underground navigation + semi-transparent ground
map.ground.navigationConstraint = { type: "none" };
map.ground.opacity = 0.5;

Local Scene Mode

Create Local Scene

<arcgis-scene basemap="topo-vector" viewing-mode="local">
  <arcgis-zoom slot="top-left"></arcgis-zoom>
</arcgis-scene>

Local Scene with Clipping Area

const viewElement = document.querySelector("arcgis-scene");
await viewElement.viewOnReady();

const clippingExtent = {
  xmax: -10834217,
  xmin: -10932882,
  ymax: 4493918,
  ymin: 4432667,
  spatialReference: { wkid: 3857 },
};

viewElement.clippingArea = clippingExtent;
viewElement.extent = clippingExtent;

viewElement.environment = {
  atmosphereEnabled: false,
  starsEnabled: false,
};

Elevation Modes

layer.elevationInfo = {
  mode: "on-the-ground", // Draped on ground
  // mode: "relative-to-ground"  // Offset from ground
  // mode: "relative-to-scene"   // Offset from scene
  // mode: "absolute-height"     // Absolute Z values
};

// With offset
layer.elevationInfo = {
  mode: "relative-to-ground",
  offset: 100,
  unit: "meters",
};

// With Arcade expression
layer.elevationInfo = {
  mode: "relative-to-ground",
  featureExpressionInfo: {
    expression: "Geometry($feature).z * 10",
  },
  unit: "meters",
};

Scene Quality

view.qualityProfile = "high"; // "low", "medium", "high"

Screenshot Capture

// Full view screenshot
const screenshot = await view.takeScreenshot({ format: "png" });

const img = document.createElement("img");
img.src = screenshot.dataUrl;
document.body.appendChild(img);

// Specific area
const screenshot = await view.takeScreenshot({
  area: { x: 100, y: 100, width: 500, height: 400 },
  format: "png",
});

// Download
function downloadImage(filename, dataUrl) {
  const element = document.createElement("a");
  element.href = dataUrl;
  element.download = filename;
  element.click();
}

downloadImage("scene-screenshot.png", screenshot.dataUrl);

View Constraints

const view = new SceneView({
  container: "viewDiv",
  map: scene,
  constraints: {
    altitude: {
      min: 20000000,
      max: 25000000,
    },
  },
});

Common Pitfalls

1. Alpha compositing: Must set alphaCompositingEnabled: true on SceneView for transparent backgrounds.

2. Local scenes: Require clipping area and typically disable atmosphere/stars.

3. Underground navigation: Must set ground.navigationConstraint.type = "none".

4. Shadow performance: directShadowsEnabled can impact rendering performance significantly.

5. Elevation modes: "on-the-ground" ignores offset and featureExpressionInfo.

6. Weather only in SceneView: Weather effects do not work in MapView.

7. Screenshot CORS: External layers may block screenshot capture due to CORS.

Reference Samples

• daylight — Daylight widget for sun position
• weather — Weather effects in SceneView
• scene-shadow — Shadow casting in 3D
• analysis-shadow-cast — Shadow cast analysis
• scene-underground — Underground navigation
• scene-environment — Environment settings

Related Skills

• arcgis-3d-layers — SceneLayer, PointCloudLayer, VoxelLayer
• arcgis-custom-rendering — RenderNode for custom 3D effects
• arcgis-core-maps — SceneView setup and initialization