In this tutorial, I will show you how to use light linking and shadow linking in Blender for your project.

What it is

Light Linking and Shadow Linking are new lighting options for Blender 4.0

Light Linking allows you to set lights to affect only specific objects within a scene

Shadow Linking gives you control over which objects will act as shadow blockers for a particular light

Light Linking

I have a very simple scene set up with an Area Light and I’m using Cycles – this option is not available in Eevee

If I want to affect which object the Area Light will affect, I can use Light Linking

I select the Area Light and under the Object Data Properties tab, I open the Shading panel

I click on “New” under the Light Linking panel and rename the Collection

To select the particular object I want affected by this Area Light, I make sure the Area Light is selected and then drag the object from the Scene Collection into this new Light Linking Collection

Deselecting the checkmark with an associated object will exclude that object from the Light Linking

In addition to single objects, I can also drag in a Collection from the Outliner

I can select my UV Sphere with an Emissive material and add Light Linking

I can now move the objects into a new collection

I can move the collection of objects into the Light Linking panel

Shadow Linking

If I want to affect which object the Area Light will affect regarding shadows, I can use Shadow Linking

I select the Area Light and under the Object Data Properties tab, I open the Shading panel

I click on “New” under the Shadow Linking panel and rename the Collection

To select the particular object I do not want to cast shadows, I make sure the Area Light is selected and then drag the object from the Scene Collection into this new Shadow Linking Collection

Deselecting the checkmark with an associated object will exclude that object from the Shadow Linking

In addition to single objects, I can also drag in a Collection from the Outliner

I can select my UV Sphere with an Emissive material and add Shadow Linking

I can move the collection of objects into the Shadow Linking panel