8

Assemble 105
Assemblies are considered whole objects in the
Light Exclude/Include dialog, so you can exclude
(or include) all objects in an assembly by select ing
the assembly in the list. If an assembly is nested
w ithin another assembly, only t he "outer" assembly
is available in the list. To exclude only certain
objects in a n assembly, open the assembly before
displaying the Exclude/Include dialog.
See also
Using Assemblies (page 1–97)
Pr ocedur es
To define an assembly:
1.
Select two or more objects.
2. Choose Group menu > Assembly > Assemble.
The
Create Assembly dialog (page 1–106)
appears requesting a name for the assembly and
that you specify a
head object (page 1–108) .
The default head object ty pe is
Luminaire (page
1–108)
.
3. Enteranamefortheassembly,choose
Luminaire (page 1–108) from the list, and click
OK.
The selected objects are assembled. The
assembly head object position and or ientation
is determined as follows:
• If there are multiple immediate children
of the assembly head (for example, you’re
assembling several non-hierarchical
objects), the head object is aligned with
center of bottom face of the assembly
bounding box.
• If there ’s only one immediate child of the
assembly head, the assembly head pivot
point is aligned with that object’s pivot
point. For example, if you’re assembling a
single hierarchy, the topmost object in the
hierarchy would be the single immediate
child of the assembly head.
To define a nested assembly:
1.
Select two or more assemblies or any
combination of assemblies and objects.
2. Choose Group menu > Assembly > Assemble.
The
Create Assembly dialog (page 1–106)
appears requesting a name for the assembly
and a head object.
3. Enteranameforthenewassemblyobjectand
click OK.
To wire a head object to a light source:
1.
Create a hierarchy of lights and geometrical
objects that models a lighting fixture. Sets up all
the necessary IK chains and other constraints
that make the model behave properly w hen the
user interacts with it (orients, positions, aims,
etc.).
Impor tant: For any photometric lights that
you want to control with the head object, be
sure to turn on the Multiplier c heck box on the
Intensity/Color/Distr ibution rollout.
2.
Select al l objects in the fixt u re and define them
as an assembly.
When t he assembly is selected, the luminaire
parameters Dimmer and Filter Color appear in
the Modify panel.
3. From the Animation menu, choose W ire
Parameters > Parameter Wire Dialog.
4. The Parameter Wiring dialog (page 2–395)
appears.
5. On one side of the dialog, find the assembly
and expand t he branch titled Object
(LuminaireHelper). Click the Dimmer item to
highlight it.
6. On the other side, find the assembly and
expand its h ierarchy branch (click the + symbol
in the square box). Find and expand the branch
for the light source, and then expand its Object
branch. Click the Multiplier item to highlight it.