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Light Include/Exclude Tool 1283
•Moveanomni light (page 2–1295) when it’s
a "practical" light within a scene (a light that
appears in the scene itself). Combine the light
w ith a self-illuminating geometric object. If you
wanttomoveatargettypeoflight,selectboth
the light and its target to animate them together.
•Useaf ree spotlight (page 2–1290) when a
spotlight is to move within the scene. Free
spotlights are especially intended to be
animated a long a path, using a Path constraint
(page 2–398).Unliketargetspotlights,free
spotlights can b ank as they travel. Use target
spotlights (page 2–1289) when the light position
is fixed.
• If you do need to move a target spotlight, link
both the light and its target to a dummy object
(page 2–16), then assign the path constraint to
the dummy object.
•UseaLookAt Constraint (page 2–406) to have a
spotlight track a moving object.
If the spotlight is a target spotlight, its previous
target is ignor ed.
Ifthespotlightisafreespotlight,iteffectively
becomes a target spotlight, with the lo oked-at
object the target.
•Changetheparametersofadaylight system
(page 1–418) or sunlight system to simulate
different times of day or year.
Animating Light Creation Parameters
Thefollowingtechniquescanbeusedtoanimate
Modif y panel parameters for lig hts.
• To dim or brighten a light over time, animate its
Multiplier parameter.
• Tochangethecolorofalightovertime,animate
its color parameters. Use a smooth tangent
(page 2–305) for color change keys unless you
want the color to change abruptly.
• To make a st andard light flash on and off,
set its Multiplier to 0 in repeated keyframes,
and assign a step tangent (page 2–305) to this
parameter.
Light Include/E xclude Tool
By default, th e Li ght Includ e/Exclude tool is unavailable
in the 3ds Max user interface. You can add it as a cu stom
keyboard shortcut, quad or menu item, or toolbar button
by us ing the Customize User Interface dialog (page 3–792).
The Light Include/Exclude tool is a modeless
dialog that lets you include or exclude objects on a
light-by-light basis. When excluded, an object is
not illuminated by the selected light and receives
no shadows.
This dialog requires at least one light object in
your scene. For a selected light, this dialog is a
shortcut to the same functionality available on the
Exclude/Include dialog (page 2–1335) .
Although light exclusion does not occur in nature,
this feature is useful when you need exact control
over the li g hting in your scene. Sometimes, for
example, you’ll want to add lights specifically to
illuminate a single object but not its surroundings,
or you’l l want a light to cast shadows from one
object but not from another.
Note: By default, no objects are excluded for a new
light. It’s necessary only to include objects that
have previously been excluded.
See also
Lights (page 2–1272)
Light Lister (page 2–1285)
Procedure
To ex clude a n obj ect f r om r eceivi ng l ight:
1.
In the scene, select the object or objects to
exclude.
2. Open the Light Incl/Exl dialog.