Trick: Changing Moho's Fixed 3D Light Direction! (+ Free Tool)
Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2026 12:49 am
Subject:
Hi everyone,
We all know one of the biggest frustrations with Moho's native 3D workspace: the light source is permanently locked to the bottom-right. If you want natural overhead daylight or rim lighting on a 3D prop, you are usually out of luck.
I was experimenting with this and figured out a geometric workaround. Since we cannot move the light source via the API, I tried doing the exact opposite. What if we perform a micro-orbit with the camera around the 3D object, while counter-rotating the object to keep its 2D silhouette exactly the same?
It actually works! It creates the illusion that the light source is moving around the 3D model.
Doing this math manually across a timeline is a nightmare, so I wrote a pipeline utility to automate it. It calculates the camera orbit, safely renders the shading in the background, and automatically imports it back into your timeline as a clean PNG sequence inside a Switch Layer.
I’ve decided to release this tool (Shadow Baker 3D) 100% for free for the community.
(
Note: Because it relies on a background Python render engine calling Moho.exe, it is Windows ONLY at the moment).
You can download it for free here:
https://2dpipelinetools.gumroad.com/l/shadowbaker3d
I hope this helps anyone trying to get better cel-shaded looks or customized lighting on their 3D props without leaving Moho. Let me know if you try it out!
Cheers,
Takuya
Hi everyone,
We all know one of the biggest frustrations with Moho's native 3D workspace: the light source is permanently locked to the bottom-right. If you want natural overhead daylight or rim lighting on a 3D prop, you are usually out of luck.
I was experimenting with this and figured out a geometric workaround. Since we cannot move the light source via the API, I tried doing the exact opposite. What if we perform a micro-orbit with the camera around the 3D object, while counter-rotating the object to keep its 2D silhouette exactly the same?
It actually works! It creates the illusion that the light source is moving around the 3D model.
Doing this math manually across a timeline is a nightmare, so I wrote a pipeline utility to automate it. It calculates the camera orbit, safely renders the shading in the background, and automatically imports it back into your timeline as a clean PNG sequence inside a Switch Layer.
I’ve decided to release this tool (Shadow Baker 3D) 100% for free for the community.
(
Note: Because it relies on a background Python render engine calling Moho.exe, it is Windows ONLY at the moment).You can download it for free here:
https://2dpipelinetools.gumroad.com/l/shadowbaker3d
I hope this helps anyone trying to get better cel-shaded looks or customized lighting on their 3D props without leaving Moho. Let me know if you try it out!
Cheers,
Takuya