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1272 Chapter 15: Lights and Cameras
Lights
Create panel > Lights
Create menu > Lights
Nighttime scene w ith artificial lighting
Lights are objects that simulate real lights such as
household or office lamps, the light instr uments
used in stage and film work, and the sun itself.
Differentkindsoflightobjectscastlightindifferent
ways, emulating different kinds of real-world light
sources.
When there are no lights in a scene, the scene
is shaded or rendered w ith default lig hting.
You add lights to give the scene a more realistic
appearance. Lighting enhances the clarity and
three-dimensionality of a scene. In addition to
general lighting effects, lights can b e used to
project images. (See Advanced Effects Rollout (page
2–1341).)
Light objects replace the default lighting. As soon
as you c reate a lig ht, the default lighting is turned
off.Ifyoudeleteallthelightsinthescene,default
lighting is turned back on. The default lighting
consists of two invisible lights: one is above and
to the left of the scene, and the other is below and
to the right.
Tip: One way to begin your work on lighting a
sceneistoconvertthedefaultlightingintolight
objects by using the command Add Default Lights
To Scene (page 1–49) .
Note: A scene’s lighting is also affected by the
Ambient Light setting on the Environment A nd
Effects dialog > Environment panel (page 3–272).
Typ e s of Lig h ts
3ds Max provides two typ es of lig hts: standard and
photometric. Al l types are displayed in viewports
as light objects. They share many of the same
parameters, including shadow generators.
Standard Lights
Standard lights (page 2–1288) are computer-based
objects that simulate lights such as household
or office lamps, the light instruments used in
stage and fi lm work, and the sun itself. Different
kinds of light objects cast light in different ways,
simulatingdifferentkindsoflightsources.Unlike
photometric lights, Standard lights do not have
physically-based intensity values.
Photometric Lights
Photometric light s (page 2–1301) use photometric
(page 3–993) (light energy) values that enable
youtomoreaccuratelydefinelightsasthey
would be in the real world. You can set their
distribution, intensity, color temperature, and
other characteristics of real-world lights. You can
also import specific photometric files available
from lighting manufacturers to design lig hting
based on commercially available lights.
Tip: Combine Photometric lights with the radiosity
solution (page 3–51) to generate physically accurate
renderings or perform lighting analysis.
Tips
• You can animate not only the location of a light,
but also its color, intensity and some other