The present invention relates to a system, method, and apparatus that include a novel connection between a 3D raytracing application and an editing application to allow live editing of an image representing the lighting of a 3D model. Further embodiments include a novel pin control in the editing application that allows pin control of lighting of a specific portion of the lighting image and 3D model to adjust the intensity, color, and blur of the environment within a given region. The pins can also be used to copy regions of data from the lighting image to new locations. The pins can be placed either directly by clicking in the lighting image or by clicking on the 3D model in the raytracing application to indicate where the illumination should fall or reflect.