Point Light
The Point Light () has a position and emits the light equally in all directions; it is like a light bulb. To add a Point Light node:
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In the Model Builder under Definitions click View. In the View toolbar click Point Light, or
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Right-click the View node and select Point Light.
Point lights therefore have no direction. The position of the light, the light and specular intensity levels, and the color can be adjusted as needed. Figure 6-24 is an example of two Point Light nodes added to the View and all other nodes disabled.
Figure 6-24: An example of two Point Light nodes added to a View. All other light nodes are disabled to show only the Point Light effects to the geometry. Point Light 5 is selected in the Model Builder as indicated by the wireframe around the light marker.
Position
Enter x, y, and z coordinates for the point light’s position.
Settings
Adjust some of the settings such as the intensity and color of the point light.
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Enter a Light Intensity or use the slider to select values. Watch the changes in the Graphics window at the same time to help choose a level. When adjusting the light intensity, the light marker changes in length as the corresponding intensity is changed on the object.
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Enter a Specular intensity (the intensity of the light that reflects off the surface of the geometry and used to define spheres and curves). This setting is turned on and off on the View page (the default is on), and the levels are adjusted for each Specular intensity using the field or the slider to select values between 0 and 1 (default value: 1). Watch the changes in the Graphics window at the same time to help choose a level. See Figure 6-21 for an example of specular light.
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Select a Color: White (default), Custom, Black, Blue, Cyan, Green, Magenta, Red, or Yellow. If you select Custom, click the Color button to choose a color from the Custom color palette.
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By default, the Lock to camera coordinate system check box is selected to make the light rotate together with the camera. Click to clear as needed; the light then follows the geometry.
To lock the camera settings, see Camera.
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By default, the Show light marker is selected. The light marker is associated to the type of light applied to the object. See Figure 6-22 for examples. Click to clear the check box as needed and remove the marker from the Graphics window.
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By default, the Cast light and Cast shadows check boxes are selected. The point light will then cast shadows when the direct shadows are active (requires the OpenGL renderer, optimized for quality). Clear the Cast shadows check box if you do not want the light to cast shadows.
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The Cast shadows of floor check box is cleared by default. Select it to get the shadows from this light source to show up on the floor.
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Enter a positive value in the Distance attenuation scale field (default: 0.01) to control the weakening of the light intensity farther away from the point light. The distance attenuation decreases when the scale factor is lower. A scale factor above 1 has an effect, but the difference can be subtle.