When a part is drawn in shaded mode (with or without hidden-line overlay) the surface is displayed with light source shading enabled. EnSight uses two pre-defined light sources: one at the look-from point (the camera) and one on the opposite side of the model (for back-lighting). The location of one of the light sources can be changed, see Set Light Sources.

In computer graphics, the appearance of a shaded surface is governed by a lighting model controlled by various parameters. In EnSight, these parameters are part of the part's and can be changed on a per-part basis. See Set Attributes for more information.