# ambient An object that manages the material’s response to ambient lighting. ``` var ambient: SCNMaterialProperty { get } ``` ## Discussion Ambient shading describes the amount and color of ambient light reflected by the material. Ambient shading is uniform in all directions at all points on a surface. If a scene does not contain lights whose type is [`ambient`](/documentation/SceneKit/SCNLight/LightType/ambient), this property has no effect on a material’s appearance. By default, the ambient property’s [`contents`](/documentation/SceneKit/SCNMaterialProperty/contents) object is a dark gray color. Changing the ambient property’s contents lets you specify a different color or texture for the areas of a surface not directly illuminated by lights in a scene. To make the material respond identically to both ambient and diffuse light, set its [`locksAmbientWithDiffuse`](/documentation/SceneKit/SCNMaterial/locksAmbientWithDiffuse) property to . The figure below shows a material (with a texture for its [`diffuse`](/documentation/SceneKit/SCNMaterial/diffuse) property) before and after setting the ambient property’s contents to a solid color.  The material’s [`lightingModel`](/documentation/SceneKit/SCNMaterial/lightingModel-swift.property) property determines the formula SceneKit uses to combine its ambient color and other visual properties with lights and other contents in a scene to produce the final color for each rendered pixel in the rendered scene. For details, see `Lighting Models`. This material property does not apply to physically-based materials (see [`physicallyBased`](/documentation/SceneKit/SCNMaterial/LightingModel-swift.struct/physicallyBased)). ## See Also [`normal`](/documentation/SceneKit/SCNMaterial/normal) An object that defines the nominal orientation of the surface at each point for use in lighting. [`emission`](/documentation/SceneKit/SCNMaterial/emission) An object that defines the color emitted by each point on a surface. --- Copyright © 2026 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. | [Terms of Use](https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/terms/site.html) | [Privacy Policy](https://www.apple.com/privacy/privacy-policy)