Compositing in 3D Space with Action > About Lights and Lighting Effects >

# 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.

## Light Profile Settings

Settings for controlling the light bevel curve are located in the Light Profile tab.

Light Bevel curve
  Adds a specific profile to the selected light. Use the options in the Edit Mode box to add, select, delete, or move keyframes on the bevel curve. The bevel curve behaves in much the same way as an animation curve in the Channel Editor. See Using the Light Bevel Curve.

Home button
  Resets the Bevel curve viewer to show the whole curve.

Undo button
  Undoes the last set of Bevel curve operations.

Reset button
  Resets the Bevel curve.