# Cameras, lighting and environment Prerequisites: a writable project with visible geometry. Stop Play while preparing the scene. ## Prepare the game camera 1. Position the editor view using the [viewport controls](https://rustic-game-engine.pages.dev/markdown/guides/editor/viewport.md). 2. In **Project → Scene → + Add**, choose **Camera**. New cameras use the editor-view placement. 3. Select the camera, choose **Align to editor view** if needed, then inspect its Transform. Game cameras look along local **+Z**. 4. In Camera, enable **Active**, set **Priority**, **Zoom**, projection and clipping planes. The highest active priority determines the game camera. 5. Save and press Play to inspect the runtime view. Expected result: Play uses the active scene camera rather than the authoring camera. Optical zoom above 1 magnifies; values below 1 zoom out. Use [the current-camera API](https://rustic-game-engine.pages.dev/markdown/api/camera.md) for scripted selection rather than assuming editor selection changes the runtime camera. ## Add a light 1. Choose **+ Add → Light**, then select it. 2. In Inspector's Light section, choose **Directional**, **Point** or **Spot**. 3. Set **Light color** and **Intensity**; adjust **Range** for point/spot lights and **Cone half-angle (degrees)** for spot lights. 4. Position/rotate the entity. Directional and spot lights shine along local **+Z**. Save and inspect Play. Expected result: geometry responds to the light configuration. Intensity 0 turns a light off. The current renderer supports up to 32 scene lights and does not implement shadow casting yet. ## Set sky and atmosphere 1. Expand **Scene sky & atmosphere** in Inspector and enable the scene environment. 2. For an image sky, first copy a 2:1 panorama into the project. Use **Choose image…** for HDR, PNG, JPEG or TGA; external files are rejected. 3. Adjust sky rotation/exposure, ambient color/intensity, sun color/intensity/direction and haze color/density/start. 4. Use **Clear image** for a solid sky or **Reset environment** to restore defaults, then save. Expected result: preview and Play use the scene environment. Environment sun settings and scene light entities are separate controls; a panorama does not imply full image-based lighting or a browser UI renderer. Related: [sky and atmosphere guides](https://rustic-game-engine.pages.dev/markdown/guides/scene-environment.md), [environment API](https://rustic-game-engine.pages.dev/markdown/api/environment.md), [cameras and lights reference](https://rustic-game-engine.pages.dev/markdown/guides/cameras-and-lights.md).