Unreal Engine’s light gizmos can clutter your viewport, making it harder to focus on your scene. This guide walks you through the simple steps to disable them, helping you streamline your workflow. Whether you’re optimizing performance or just prefer a cleaner view, these instructions apply across all UE versions.
If you’ve ever worked in Unreal Engine’s viewport, you’ve probably noticed small colored arrows or spheres floating around your lights. These are called light gizmos—visual indicators that help you understand how lights behave in your scene. While useful for learning or fine-tuning lighting, they can quickly become visual noise, especially when working with complex scenes or trying to focus on geometry.
In this comprehensive guide, we’ll walk you through exactly how to turn off light gizmos in Unreal Engine. Whether you’re using UE4 or UE5, the process is straightforward, but there are multiple ways to do it depending on whether you want a temporary fix or a permanent change. We’ll also cover common pitfalls, how to restore gizmos if needed, and why you might even want them back later.
By the end of this article, you’ll have full control over your viewport display—making your workflow smoother, faster, and visually less cluttered.
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What Are Light Gizmos?
Before diving into the “how,” let’s clarify what light gizmos actually are. In Unreal Engine, every light actor (like Point Lights, Spot Lights, or Directional Lights) displays a 3D icon in the viewport that represents its type and orientation. For example:
– A white sphere indicates a Point Light.
– An orange cone shows a Spot Light.
– A yellow arrow points in the direction of a Directional Light.
These icons are technically called gizmos. They serve as real-time feedback so developers can see where shadows fall or how illumination spreads. However, during tasks like blocking out levels, texturing, or camera placement, these icons can interfere with visibility—especially when many lights are present.
Turning off light gizmos doesn’t affect gameplay or final renders at all. Your lights will work exactly the same way; you’re simply hiding their on-screen representations.
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Why Turn Off Light Gizmos?
There are several practical reasons to disable light gizmos:
1. Cleaner Viewport Experience
When building large environments or working with hundreds of lights, those little icons can pile up fast. Removing them gives you a distraction-free space to focus on geometry, materials, or composition.
2. Better Performance
While minimal, rendering gizmos does add some GPU overhead. On lower-end machines or mobile projects, disabling them can marginally improve frame rates during editing.
3. Easier Camera Navigation
Gizmos can block sightlines or obscure important objects. Hiding them makes it easier to move the camera around without accidental collisions or visual obstructions.
4. Professional Presentation
During previews, reviews, or client presentations, showing only essential elements helps communicate ideas more clearly—without unnecessary UI clutter.
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How to Turn Off Light Gizmos: Step-by-Step Guide
Now let’s get into the actual steps. There are three main methods to disable light gizmos—choose the one that fits your workflow best.
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Method 1: Disable via Editor Preferences (Permanent Solution)
This method changes a global setting, so light gizmos won’t appear in any viewport unless you re-enable them.
Step 1: Open Editor Preferences
In the top-left corner of Unreal Engine, click the Edit menu. From the dropdown, select Editor Preferences.
Step 2: Navigate to Display Settings
In the left sidebar of the preferences window, expand the Level Editor section, then click Viewport.
Step 3: Uncheck Light Show Flags
Look for the subsection labeled Show Flag. Under that, find the checkbox next to Lighting. Uncheck it.
💡 Tip: Some older versions label this as Show Lighting or Display Lighting. If you don’t see “Lighting” here, look for similar terms.
Step 4: Apply Changes
Click OK or Apply to save your settings. The change takes effect immediately across all open viewports.
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Method 2: Use Viewport Shortcut (Temporary Toggle)
Want to hide gizmos just for now? This keyboard shortcut lets you toggle them on and off instantly.
Step 1: Activate Viewport Menu
While focused in any viewport (Perspective, Orthographic, etc.), press Shift + F1. This opens a context-sensitive menu.
Step 2: Find Lighting Options
Scroll down until you see a submenu called Lighting or Show Lighting.
Step 3: Toggle the Setting
Click to uncheck the option. The gizmos should disappear right away.
Alternative Shortcut:
You can also press Alt + L to toggle light gizmos globally. This works in most recent UE versions.
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Method 3: Per-Actor Visibility (Selective Hiding)
Sometimes you only want to hide gizmos for certain lights—not all of them.
Step 1: Select One or More Lights
In the viewport, hold Ctrl (or Cmd on Mac) and click individual lights, or drag a selection box around multiple ones.
Step 2: Open Details Panel
With lights selected, go to the bottom-right panel and click Details (or press F4).
Step 3: Disable Individual Gizmos
Under the Rendering category, uncheck bHidden if it’s checked—but wait! That hides the light entirely. Instead, look for a custom property like bShowLightRadius or bUseEditorVisualization. Unfortunately, Unreal Engine doesn’t expose per-light gizmo toggles directly.
⚠️ Note: True per-light gizmo control isn’t natively supported. For selective hiding, use Method 1 or 2.
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Troubleshooting Common Issues
Even with clear instructions, things don’t always go smoothly. Here’s how to handle typical problems.
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Problem: Gizmos Still Visible After Disabling
If turning off lighting in preferences didn’t work, check these possibilities:
- Multiple Editors Open: You might have two Unreal sessions running. Close all instances and restart.
- Cached Viewport State: Sometimes the viewport holds onto old settings. Try restarting the editor completely.
- Plugin Interference: Certain third-party plugins modify viewport behavior. Disable recently added plugins temporarily.
- Version Differences: In very old UE4 builds (pre-4.25), the menu path was different. Search for “Show Lighting” instead of “Lighting” under Viewport flags.
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Problem: Accidentally Hidden All Lights
If you meant to hide gizmos but accidentally hid your actual lights:
Go to Window > Developer Tools > Output Log and search for “Visibility” errors. Then reset visibility by:
- Pressing Ctrl + Shift + H to show hidden actors.
- Or manually checking each light’s bHidden flag in the Details panel.
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Problem: Gizmos Return After Restart
This usually means the preference wasn’t saved correctly. Double-check:
- That you clicked Apply or OK after changing settings.
- That no configuration files were corrupted. Try resetting editor defaults via File > Reset to Defaults (use cautiously—this resets many settings).
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Advanced Tips for Power Users
Once you’ve mastered basic gizmo control, consider these pro-level optimizations.
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Customize Other Gizmo Types
Light gizmos aren’t the only visual aids. You can also hide:
- Physics Gizmos: Toggle via Shift + F2 > Physics.
- Navigation Mesh: Found under Shift + F3 > Navigation.
- Collision Volumes: Accessed through Shift + F4.
Consolidating these toggles creates a truly streamlined workspace.
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Create a Custom Layout Preset
Save your preferred viewport setup:
- Arrange windows exactly how you like them.
- Go to Window > Layouts > Save Current Layout As…
- Name it something like “No Gizmos Mode” and assign a hotkey.
Now you can switch between clean and detailed views instantly.
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Scripting Control (For Advanced Users)
Using Python or Blueprint scripting, you can automate gizmo visibility. Example Python snippet:
“`python
import unreal
editor_preferences = unreal.EditorPreferences()
editor_preferences.set_editor_setting(“Viewport”, “ShowLighting”, False)
“`
This is useful for team pipelines or automated testing environments.
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When Should You Keep Gizmos On?
Despite their potential to clutter, gizmos have valid uses:
- Learning New Projects: Helps beginners understand light behavior.
- Debugging Shadow Artifacts: Seeing light direction aids in fixing harsh shadows or gaps.
- Collaborative Reviews: Makes it easier for others to interpret your lighting choices.
- Real-Time Adjustments: When tweaking intensity or angle mid-session, visual feedback speeds up iteration.
So don’t disable them forever—just toggle them based on task needs.
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Conclusion
Turning off light gizmos in Unreal Engine is a simple yet powerful way to declutter your viewport and boost productivity. Whether you use the global Editor Preferences, quick keyboard shortcuts, or selective methods, you now have full control over how your scene appears during development.
Remember: disabling gizmos doesn’t break your lights. They’ll still cast shadows and illuminate surfaces exactly as designed. You’re merely choosing whether to see their visual representation while working.
Experiment with different approaches to find what fits your workflow best. And don’t hesitate to re-enable gizmos whenever you need that extra layer of visual clarity.
With this knowledge, your Unreal Engine experience will be cleaner, faster, and more enjoyable—whether you’re building a AAA title or experimenting with indie concepts.
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