2009
Lights are objects that simulate real lights such as household or office lamps,
the light instruments used in stage and film work, and the sun itself. Different
kinds of light objects cast light in different ways, emulating different kinds of
real-world light sources.
When there are no lights in a scene, the scene is shaded or rendered with
default lighting. 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 be used to project images. (See
Advanced
Effects Rollout
on page 5108.)
Light objects replace the default lighting. As soon as you create a light, the
default lighting is turned off. If you delete all the lights in the scene, 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 scene is to convert the default
lighting into light objects by using the command
Add Default Lights To Scene on
page 170.
NOTE A scene's lighting is also affected by the Ambient Light setting on the
Environment And Effects dialog >
Environment panel on page 6689.
Types of Lights
3ds Max provides two types of lights: standard and photometric. All types are
displayed in viewports as light objects. They share many of the same
parameters, including shadow generators.
Standard Lights
Standard lights on page 5049 are computer-based objects that simulate lights
such as household or office lamps, the light instruments used in stage and
film work, and the sun itself. Different kinds of light objects cast light in
different ways, simulating different kinds of light sources. Unlike photometric
lights, Standard lights do not have physically-based intensity values.
Photometric Lights
Photometric lights on page 5005 use photometric on page 8088 (light energy)
values that enable you to more accurately define lights as they 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
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