Light tab

In this section, properties of studio lights are being defined. You can change the parameters of these lights, turn them on and off, change their color, direction and positioning in the studio. You cannot, however, add or clone new lights. For that reason, these buttons are dimmed. Picture below.

There are the following types of lights in the studio:

• Ambient – a type of light that fills an entire studio and illuminates all the objects evenly. Ambient light does not come from any particular direction and it falls on all the elements of 3D scene, helping you lighten or darken them.

You can only set the power of this light. If you enter a 0 value in the Power field, the light will be turned off. The maximum brightness Ambient light reaches at 2.00
To make it easier for the user to set the lights, when the Light tab is turned on, different types of lights will be represented by different objects that appear in the studio. This allows you to rotate and move these objects and thus control the direction of light and its location.
Ambient light is the only one that will not be represented by any object in studio because it fills the entire studio and you only set its strength.

Generally , only 3D Rotate Gizmo or 3D Move Gizmo is available for light objects. The 3D Scale Gizmo is off because it is not possible to increase or decrease a light object. However, you can adjust the color, intensity, or direction of light by using the appropriate light-type controls.
You can choose the following types of lights from the drop-down list: Directional, Point, Spot.

The Directional light has only a color and a direction parameter. This source emits a parallel light, which means it travels across a stage in the same direction. Sunlight is the best example of such light.
Directional type of light creates shadows for the indicated objects. When directional light is directed upwards, it does not create shadows. Imagine a situation in which a talent figure is illuminated from underneath the floor (light penetrating the floor). The talent object would then cast a shadow on a ceiling, which wouldn’t look naturally in the set design. It is possible to lighten up each direction of the studio with Directional light, but it simulates the real world’s sunlight type of light, so it casts shadows on the objects below. Because of the system performance, it is best to use only one Directional light. The rest should be of a different type.
Below we see the cone object representing the Directional light source editor in the studio. The base of the cone is the place where the light emits. Where we point the base of the cone in this direction will be the direction of light illumination.
Note that for this cone a 3D Rotate Gizmo appears immediately. Even if you have previously set the 3D Move Gizmo mode, after selecting Directional light from the drop-down list, the Gizmo will be changed to 3D Rotate. This is due to the properties of this light, as it has only a color and a direction, and does not have a specific position.
A cone representing this light in the studio is always suspended in the middle of a ‘ceiling’.
Directional light has always an object’s representation with coordinates x = 0m, y = 3m, z = 0m, i.e. usually at the center of the studio. This position has no effect on the light’s final effect, and is intended only to make it easier to be found in the studio for changing its direction with Rotate Gizmo. This means, if you have a different type of light, such as Point, placed anywhere in your studio, then after changing the type of light from Point (which has a position in the studio) to Directional, the position of this light object will remain unchanged only until you save the studio file to the editor. Afterwards, the object representing the Directional light will appear again in x = 0m, 3m y = z = 0m position in the studio.
With the 3D Rotate Gizmo we can easily set the direction of the light. Remember that our studio also produces light reflections from glossy materials: walls, ceilings, furniture, etc. Therefore, often light reflections can give us additional effects that must be checked by the user. Simply by editing the camera, you can check the random positions of the studio, light as the source (stream glow) does not unnatural reflect in the material .
Color of the light and its intensity can be set with a color wheel operating on RGB (Red, Green, Blue) system. Changing the dash marker’s position on the wheel allows you to set the color by changing the color tone parameter. If you hook the cursor on a small circle, you will be able to move it inside the square. Current color will be visible in the middle of the small circle. If you want to turn the light off completely, you need to move the circle to a black area inside the square.

You can set the color of the light more precisely by clicking on white arrows next to numerical values.
By changing the color of the light, you also change the color of the object representing light, in this case the cone.
Generally , the 3D Rotate Gizmo is used to set the direction of the light. However, you can precisely adjust the direction of the light with help of the values in X, Y and Z fields in the Direction section.

Light of the POINT type is a spherical kind of light, which illuminates all the objects around it in the studio. In contrast to the type light Direction, this type has attenuation value depending on the distance from the source. The objects are less illuminated the further away they are from the source of light. This light does not have a single specific direction, it shines in every direction. It doesn’t make shadows.
The light in the studio will be represented not by the cone but by the ball glowing in all directions.
This sphere (ball) has a specific position in the studio, so it will be important to position it with 3D Move Gizmo.
3D Rotate Gizmo you can also use, if you want to move the ball in some specific direction in the studio and the 3D Rotate Gizmo (arrows) axis are oriented in different directions. You can then rotate the object: the ball, to move the 3D Move Gizmo in the right direction and then move it with the 3D Move Gizmo.
Color of this light can be set in the same way as in the previous case, with the help of the color wheel. If you want to turn it off completely – choose black. The intensity, however, is controlled by the distance of the object Point light from the illuminated object.
Generally , the 3D Rotate Gizmo is used to set the direction of the light. However, you can precisely adjust the direction of the light with help of the values in X, Y and Z fields in the Direction section.

n the Attenuation section you can set the type of attenuation of this light:

• Constant – constant light attenuation coefficient,
• Linear – linear light attenuation coefficient,
• Quadratic – square light attenuation coefficient.

Maximum attenuation of light is reached when entering a value of 2.00 .
If you enter a value of 0 in all the fields, the light will travel in the studio without any attenuation, it will neither be diffused nor weakened with the distance from the source. This will, by removing attenuation, maximize the illumination of this light.
In order to test the performance of these coefficients, you have to make a number of attempts typing different Constant, Linear and Quadratic values, and checking what lighting effects you get in the studio.It is best to start testing at initial values of Constant = 1.0, Linear = 0.5, and Quadratic = 0. Let’s observe how the light affects objects in the studio. The further they are away from the light source, the more light dampening is visible.
Basically the three define an equation describing how the light appears at a distance. An attenuation factor is used for describing how a light’s intensity diminishes over distance.

Spot type of light – a spotlight type. Spot has parameters of color, position in the studio and light direction.
SPOT type of light creates objects’ shadows. The most common use of this light is to illuminate a talent form from above. However, you should remember not to set this light’s position and direction directly above the figure as the talent area is flat. Most often the light is placed a little ahead of the figure and in a proper direction towards the talent’s outline. Then you will get a shadow effect behind the inserted talent. This light should illuminate a group of objects located close to each other, e.g. a desk, a platform and a talent. This type of light should be treated as a single light source illuminating the most important part of the studio, where the main production thread is located.
Light emitted from a spotlight is made up of an inner circle (representing the light source without dampening and adjustable with the INNER value) and an outer circle (the intensity of which is getting increasingly dampened and being regulated with the OUTER value). The light intensity decreases moving from a bright center to a darker outer contour. The light’s color is set as before – with a color wheel. Choose black if you want to turn the light completely off.
Spot light is also represented by a cone object. The cone can be placed anywhere in the studio and pointed in any direction. Therefore, use the 3D Rotate Gizmo to set the direction of the Spot light and the 3D Move Gizmo to adjust its position in the studio.
In addition to setting the spotlight with the 3D Move Gizmo, you can make accurate and precise changes in the light’s position in the studio using the X, Y and Z fields’ values in the Position section. What’s more, you can introduce accurate and precise changes to the direction of light, previously set using the 3D Rotate Gizmo, with the X, Y and Z fields’ values in the Direction section.
In the Cone section, set Outer and Inner values. A value of 150 (expressed in degrees) is the maximum angle of this cone.

If you set the same values in Outer and Inner fields, you get a spotlight cone with circle of a very sharp boundaries. The further the Inner value is away from the Outer value, the fuzzier boundaries the spotlight will have.
Most often, in the studios’ projects you will find already pre-set different types of lights. But it may happen that in the studio’s project prepared in the Wizard, you will have to select and set your own lights as the Default lights have been be selected.