2009

Interface
On Turns the area light on and off. When On is on, the mental ray renderer
uses the light to illuminate the scene. When On is off, the mental ray renderer
doesn’t use the light. Default=on.
Show Icon in Renderer When on, the mental ray renderer renders a dark
shape where the area light is. When off, the area light is invisible. Default=off.
Type Changes the shape of the area light. Can be either Rectangle, for a
rectangular area, or Disc, for a circular area. Default=Rectangle.
Radius Available only when Disc is the active type of area light. Sets the radius
of the circular light area, in 3ds Max units. Default=20.0.
Height and Width Available only when Rectangle is the active type of area
light. Set the height and width of the rectangular light area, in 3ds Max units.
Default=20.0 for both Height and Width.
While you use these 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.
Samples group
U and V Adjust the quality of shadows cast by the area light. These values
specify how many samples to take within the light’s area. Higher values can
improve rendering quality at a cost of rendering time. For a rectangular light,
U specifies the number of sampled subdivisions in one local dimension, and
V the number of subdivisions in the other local dimension. For a circular (disc)
Standard Lights | 5075