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Adding effective lighting to your
scene can drastically change the mood of your piece. Adding lights is very easy,
but getting them just right can take a lot of time. The lights are located in
the Create Panel under the Lights
button: 
There are 5 different types of light:
| Omni |
Radiates light in all directions. Good for general purpose
lighting and fill lights. |
| Target Spot |
Shines a cone shaped beam of light like a spot-light in a
theatre. It's direction can be controlled with a target object. |
| Free Spot |
Like the Target Spot but without the Target. |
| Target Direct |
Shines a cylindrical beam of light, with all the rays
running parallel. Direction can be controlled with a target object |
| Free Direct |
Like the Target Direct but without the Target. |
Until you add a light to the scene, Max uses default lighting. As soon as you
add a light, the default lighting switches off. If you delete all your lights,
the default lighting activates.
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Open your Vase project we
created in the previous lecture. (if you don't have it, just create a Sphere
in the centre of one of the viewports).
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Open the Lights Menu
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Click Omni
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Zoom out slightly in all the
views except Perspective
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Click in one of the views to
create an Omni Light:
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Using the Select and Move tool, move the light around in
different views to see how it affects the vase.
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With the Light selected, click the Modify Tab.
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There are a LOT of parameters that can be adjusted for
lights, but I'll just try and give you the basics, or we'll never start
animating!
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General Parameters:
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Using the Type drop-down, you can switch between types of
light. This isn't really very practical if you start with an Omni, as you
haven't specified a direction.
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The On Checkbox toggles the light on and off.
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If you click the Colour Swatch, you can change the colour of
the light.
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Exclude allows you to exclude certain objects in the scene
from being affected by your light.
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Cast Shadows, when checked, causes objects to cast shadows
onto other objects. Cast shadows is off by default.
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The R,G,B and H,S,V fields allow you to enter colour values
manually.
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The Multiplier is used to set the brightness of your light.
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Don't worry about Affect Surfaces
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