9

1348 Chapter 15: Lights and Cameras
Tip:
Because decay continues to calculate dimmer
anddimmervaluesasthedistanceofthelight
throw increases, it’s a good idea to set at least the
Far End of attenuation to eliminate unnecessary
calculations.
Near Attenuation g roup
Start—Sets the distance at w hich the light begins
to fade in.
End—Sets the dist a nce at w hich the lig ht reaches
its full value.
Use—Enables near attenuation for the light.
Show—Displays the near attenuation range settings
in v iewports. For spotlights, attenuation ranges
appear as lens-shaped sections of the cone. For
directional lights, the ranges appear as circular
sections of the cone. For omni lights and spot or
directional lights with Overshoot turned on, the
ranges appear as spheres. By default, Near Start is
dark blue and Near End is light blue.
Far Attenuation group
Start—Sets the distance at w hich the light begins
to fade out.
End—Sets the distance at which the light has faded
to zero.
Use—Enables far attenuation for the light.
Show—Displays the far atte nuation range settings
in v iewports. For spotlights, attenuation ranges
appear as lens-shaped sections of the cone. For
directional lights, the ranges appear as circular
sections of the cone. For omni lights and spot or
directional lights with Overshoot turned on, the
ranges appear as spheres. By default, Far Star t is
light brow n and Far End is dark brown.
Directional Parameters
CreateastandardTargetDirectorFreeDirectlight.>
Directional Parameters rollout
The Directional Parameters rollout appears when
you create or select a target direct (page 2–1292) or
free direct (page 2–1293) light. These parameters
control hotspots (page 3–954) and falloff (page
3–954).
Procedures
Toseethedirectionalconeinviewports:
Theconeisalwaysvisiblewhilethelightisselected.
This setting keeps the cone visible when the light
is unselected.
1. Select the spotlight.
2. In the Directional Parameters rollout > Light
Cone group, turn on Show Cone.
3. Select another object, deselecting the light.
A wireframe outline of the light’s cone appears.
The hotspot region is outlined in light blue, and
the falloff region is outlined in dark gr ay.
Theconeisalwaysvisiblewhilethelightis
selected.
Tip: The hotspot and falloff borders are not
visible in shaded viewports. Use the cone values
to adjust hotspot and falloff in the viewport.
Render the scene to see the full effect of the
light’s b order.
To adjust the hotspot and falloff:
• Use t he Hotspot and Falloff spinners to increase
or decrease the size of the hotspot and falloff
regions. For directional lights, Hotspot and
Falloff are expressed in units.
By default, the falloff value is a lways constrained
to b e at least two degrees or two units greater
thanthehotspotvalue. Thesizeofthis
constraint is a preference tha t you can change