Shade 10 The Distant Light Window
From ShadeCamp
The Distant Light window allows you to specify the number, color, intensity and other attributes of the distant lights in the scene.
To open the Distant Light window click the sun icon in the Aggregate palette or choose View > Distant Light.
Preview Window
The direction, intensity, color, and ambient light settings can be seen in the preview, which displays a sphere as if it were located at the global coordinate origin. The preview shows the image as seen from in front of the origin of the selected view plane.
Side, Top, Front, Pers Radio Buttons
These radio buttons enable you to choose a view plane which will act as the basis of the direction and preview of the distant light.
Info Pull-down Menu
When plug-ins with custom distant light attributes are installed, those custom attributes are listed in the Info pull-down menu.
Load Button
This button enables you to load distant light settings from a distant light file.
Save Button
The current distant light settings are saved as a distant light file.
Highlight Checkbox
Switching on this checkbox will change the preview to show a highlight on a black sphere. This enables more accurate visualization of the direction of the distant light.
Show All Checkbox
You can preview all distant lights at the same time with this checkbox turned on. Only the selected distant light is previewed when this checkbox is off.
Distant Light Number Pull-down Menu
This pull-down menu enables you to choose a distant light to modify.
A new distant light can be created by selecting …. Distant lights with intensity and/or glare settings will be marked with a check mark next to the number.
Light Color Box
The color of the selected distant light is set here.
Intensity Slider and Text Box
The intensity of the selected distant light is set here. Drag the slider or enter an appropriate value in the text box to change the intensity. When the color of the distant light is white (1, 1, 1), the color of the object’s surface perpendicular to the distant light is equivalent to the object’s base color.
Lux Checkbox (lx)
Turning this checkbox on will calculate the intensity of the distant light in terms of Lux. The range of the intensity slider is 0 to 1 when this checkbox is off, but the range changes to 0k to 100k with the checkbox turned on.
Ambient Slider and Text Box
The amount of ambient light from the selected distant light is set here. Drag the slider or enter an appropriate value in the text box to change the amount of ambient light.
The Direction Hemispheres
You set the selected distant light position using coordinates. The two hemispheres represent the front and back of an imaginary sphere that encloses all the objects.
The Left Hemisphere
The left hemisphere shows the view from in front of the origin of the selected view plane. For instance, if the Front view is selected, clicking on the center of the left hemisphere will cause the distant light to be set in the positive direction of the Z-axis.
The Right Hemisphere
The right hemisphere shows the view from the back of the origin of the selected view plane. For instance, if the Front view is selected, clicking on the center of the right hemisphere will cause the distant light to be set in the negative direction of the Z-axis.
Shadow Slider and Text Box
The darkness of the shadow when rendering with Ray Tracing is set here, with respect to the selected distant light. Drag the slider or enter an appropriate value in the text box to change the darkness of the shadow. A value of 0 will shorten the time required for calculation, for it does not calculate any shadow. A value of 1, on the other hand, will reflect the color of the ambient light to the color of the object.
Softness Slider and Text Box
The contour and amount of softness of the shadow when rendering with Path Tracing are set here, with respect to the selected distant light. Drag the slider or enter an appropriate value in the text box to change the amount of blur.
Specular Slider and Text Box
The intensity of the selected distant light to be reflected by highlights on the object is set here. Drag the slider or enter an appropriate value in the text box to change the intensity of the reflected highlights. No light will be reflected by the highlights of the object for a value of 0; only the diffuse color will be reflected.
Diffuse Slider and Text Box
The intensity of the selected distant light to be reflected by the diffuse color of the object is set here. Drag the slider or enter an appropriate value in the text box to change the intensity. For a value of 0, no light will be reflected by the diffuse color of the object, and only the highlights will reflect the selected distant light.
Glare Slider and Text Box
You can display glare from a distant light. The intensity of the glare can be set with the slider or its text box. Drag the slider or enter an appropriate value in the text box to change the intensity of the glare. When the value is 0, or when the Render Background checkbox in the Basics tab of the Rendering Settings is off, no glare will be displayed.
Size Slider and Text Box
The size of the glare from the selected distant light is displayed and entered here. Drag the slider or enter an appropriate value in the text box to change the size of the glare. The size of the glare is affected by the focal length setting in the Camera window - the shorter the focal length, the smaller the size.
Skylight Slider and Text Box
The amount of skylight used for radiosity is adjusted here. Drag the slider or enter an appropriate value in the text box to change the amount of skylight.
Skylight Color Box
The color of the skylight is set here.
Fog Slider and Text Box
The amount of fog is set here. Drag the slider or enter an appropriate value in the text box to change the amount of fog.
Fog Color Box
This color box sets the color of the fog.
Shadow Type Pull-down Menu
This pop-up is only available in Shade professional. You can choose how to calculate and display shadows when rendering with the Ray Tracing and Path Tracing methods. When displaying shadows with the Scan Line method, shadow map is always used instead of the Shadow type pull-down menu setting. When Inherited is chosen, shadows are calculated and displayed with the setting in the Render shadows pull-down menu in the Rendering Settings dialog.
When Ray Tracing is chosen, the Ray Tracing method is always used to calculate and display shadows. When Shadow map is chosen, shadow map is always used to display shadows.
Shadow Map Size Checkbox and Text Box
Turning this checkbox on will activate the text box, and the shadow map size can be entered. The largerthe value, the clearer the outline will be, but more memory will be consumed. Small shadow map values will result in the edges of the shadows appearing jagged. When the checkbox is off, the value set in the Rendering Settings dialog is inherited. Entering zero will prohibit shadow map creation.
Shadow Map Bias Checkbox and Text Box
Turn on the checkbox and enter an appropriate value for the shadow map bias.
If an object to which shadow map is applied is not flat, then some part of the shadow may not be displayed; this can be solved by using shadow map bias, with which shadows are displayed for objects which are not flat.
The value set in the Rendering Settings dialog will be inherited when this text box is switched off.
Shadow Map Blur Checkbox and Text Box
Turn on the checkbox and enter an appropriate value for the shadow map blur.
This is where you can set how much the outline of the shadow of the shadow map is blurred.
The value set in the Rendering Settings dialog will be inherited when this text box is switched off. |
