Light Menu Settings

The Light menu settings are described as follows.

Light Type box

Select the type of light to apply to the scene.

Light Type:	Description:	Example:
Point / Spot	A point light radiates light uniformly in all directions. A spotlight radiates a cone of light centred along the spotlight direction. Use the Spread field to change the spread angle. A spread of 90 or less creates a spotlight.
Directional	A directional light shines evenly in one direction only. The light icon in the scene displays an arrow showing the direction of the light. Use a directional light to simulate a very distant point light source (for example, the sun as viewed from the surface of the Earth).
Ambient	An ambient light shines in two ways—some of the light shines evenly in all directions from the location of the light (similar to a point light), and some of the light shines evenly in all directions from all directions (as if emitted from the inner surface of an infinitely large sphere). Use the Shade field to set the percentage on ambient light applied.
Rectangle Area	A rectangle area light is similar to a point or spot light light except that it produces a hotspot based on the shape of the rectangle. Use the area size fields to set the size of the rectangle.
Ellipse Area	An ellipse area light is similar to a point or spot light light except that it produces a hotspot based on the shape of the ellipse. Use the area size fields to set the size of the ellipse

Active button

Enable to turn the selected light source on.

Shading button

Enable to light up the scene using added light sources. When Shading is disabled, no lighting effects appear in the scene; surfaces and 3D models appear flat.

Enable Shading for:

• Light sources
• Ambient or diffuse lighting for surfaces
• Specular highlights for surfaces and 3D models

This same button appears in the Rendering section of the Action Setup menu.

Motion Blur button

Enable to use a motion blur effect for the selected light (can only be used if the global Motion Blur is enabled in the Setup menu).

Red Light field

Displays the red value of the selected light. Editable.

Green Light field

Displays the green value of the selected light. Editable.

Blue Light field

Displays the blue value of the selected light. Editable.

Light colour pot

Displays the colour of the light source. Editable.

X Position field

Displays the position of the selected light along the X axis. Editable.

Y Position field

Displays the position of the selected light along the Y axis. Editable.

Z Position field

Displays the position of the selected light along the Z axis. Editable.

Path button

Enable to animate the position of the light using a spline drawn in the scene. Disable to animate the position of a light using explicit animation.

X Rotation field

Displays the rotation of the selected light along the X axis. Editable.

Y Rotation field

Displays the rotation the selected light along the Y axis. Editable.

Z Rotation field

Displays the rotation the selected light along the Z axis. Editable.

Width field

Displays the width of an area or directional light. Editable.

Height field

Displays the height of an area or directional light. Editable.

Light Intensity field

Displays the intensity of the selected light. Editable.

Light Spread field

Displays the spread angle. A value of 90 or less creates a spotlight. Editable

Light Falloff field

Displays the amount of falloff around the edge of the light source (also changes the size of the specular highlight). Editable.

Decay Type box

Select the type of decay to apply to the light source.

Decay field

Displays the rate at which light decreases for the chosen decay type. Editable.

Shade field

Displays the percentage of ambient light applied. Editable.

Topics in this section

• Using the Light Bevel Curve