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View Full Version : Area light explanation??

handron
10-10-2003, 10:33 AM
I was reading the manual about lighting to better understand it but got a little confused about area lighting. The picture in the manual shows a rectangular polygon for an area light. How do I create one of these. If I add an area light in my scene all I see is something that resembles the point light ( a small spikey thing). How do you attach the area light to a polygon or make a polygon from an area light? What am I missing?:confused:
bloontz
10-10-2003, 10:47 AM
Area lights are rectangular when added to a scene, make sure you added an area light. Maybe you need to zoom to see it?
Matt
10-10-2003, 11:00 AM
You need to change the light type to 'Area' . . .
Matt
10-10-2003, 11:02 AM
If you have done that and all you can see is this (below) as bloontz suggested you might need to zoom out to fit the whole area light in view.

Try changing the grid size by using the '[' (decrease grid) and ']' (increase grid) keys.
handron
10-10-2003, 03:02 PM
Matt, that's what I saw. I zoomed in as Bloontz suggested and I did see the rectanglur shape. I had to zoom in until the light dissappeared from the screen then backed off a little. After zooming in as much as I could I was then just barely able to make out the shape. Why is it so tiny? I adjusted the grid size so that the camera and a distant light were about the same size as my object. If I change the distant light to an area one I see the super-duper teeny-wheeny rectangle. Anyway to adjust it's size for better viewing or does it even make a difference?
bloontz
10-10-2003, 03:27 PM
You can scale area lights like regular objects. The size of the light will change the quality of illumination and shadows.
Matt
10-12-2003, 10:17 AM
changing the grid size doesn't affect the objects scale, it just allows you to move around scenes quicker!
colkai
10-14-2003, 06:17 AM
Well, in terms of Area lights, no it doesn't.
However, the 'apparent' size of other lights and the camera are affected by the grid size.
This can throw you if you expect it to affect the ACTUAL light effect.
Another thing to watch out for, if you scale an area light, then change it back to another type, it's size on screen is stuck.
I came across this only yesterday, rescale it back to 1,1,1 then change it if you want to alter the light type.