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3 Drag in a viewport. The initial point of the drag is the location of the
light, and the point where you release the mouse is the location of the
target.
The mental ray renderer will ignore the spotlight cone, but the location
of the spotlight target determines the orientation of the plane of the area
light, and the direction in which it’s projected.
4 Set the shape and size of the area light in the Area Light Parameters
rollout.
While you use the spinners to adjust the size of the area light, a gizmo
(yellow by default) appears in viewports to show the adjusted size. This
gizmo disappears once you finish adjusting the value.
To convert a standard 3ds Max light to an area light:
1 Select one or more lights.
2 Go to the Utilities panel.
3 On the Utilities rollout, click MAXScript.
The MAXScript rollout is displayed.
4 On the MAXScript rollout, choose Convert To Area Lights from the
Utilities drop-down list.
The Convert To Area Lights rollout is displayed.
5 On the Convert To Area Lights rollout, click Convert Selected Lights. A
MAXScript alert is displayed, that says "Delete Converted Lights?" Click
Yes to delete the original light and replace it with the area light. Click
No to leave the original light in place. If you click No there are now two
lights in the scene: the original light, and the area light based on it.
6 Click Close to dismiss the Convert To Area Lights and MAXScript rollouts.
5074 | Chapter 18 Lights and Cameras