8

Skylight 1149
Top: Top view of an omni light
Bottom: Perspective view of the same light
An Omni light casts rays in all directions f rom a
single source. Omni lights are useful for adding
"fill l ighting" to your scene, or simulating point
source lights.
Omni lights can cast shadows and projections. A
single shadow-casting omni light is the equivalent
of six shadow-casting spotlights, pointing outward
from the center.
When you set a map projected by an Omni light
to be projected using the Spherical, Cylindrical,
or Shrink Wrap Environment coordinates, the
map is projec ted in the same way as it would be
mapped to the environment. When you use the
Screen Environment coordinates or Explicit Map
Channel Texture co ordinates, six copies of t he map
are projected radially.
Tip: Omni lights can generate up to six quadtrees
(page 3–1093)
, so they generate ray-traced
shadows more slowly than spotlights. Avoid using
ray-traced shadows w ith omni lights unless your
scene requires this.
See also
Lights (page 2–1126)
Name and Color Rollout (Lights) (page 2–1127)
General Lighting Parameters (page 2–1175)
Intensity/Color/Attenuation Parameters (page
2–1190)
Advanced Effects Rollout (page 2–1185)
Shadow Parameters (page 2–1181)
Procedure
To create an omni light:
1.
OntheCreatepanel,clickLights.
Standard is the default choice of light type.
2. In the Object Type rollout, click Omni.
3. Click the viewpor t location where you want
the light to be. If you drag the mouse, you
can move the light around before releasing the
mouse to fix its position.
The light is now part of the scene.
4. Set the creation parameters.
To adju s t t h e l i g ht’ s e f fec t , you c a n m ov e i t a s
you would any object.
Sk ylight
Create panel > Lig hts > Standard > Skylight button
Create menu > Lights > Sk ylight
The Skylight light models daylight. It is meant for
use w ith t he
Light Tracer (page 3–43) .Youcanset
the color of the sky or assign it a map. The sky is
modeled as a dome above the scene.