Light Shaders

The Light shader properties are as follows:

• Ambient
• Environment
• Area
• Distant
• Eye
• Goniometric
• Point
• Projector
• Sky
• Spot
• Area goniometric
• Area sky
• Line goniometric

Ambient

Ambient light is an even light that lights all surfaces in the same manner. Ambient light does not have direction, and does not therefore cast shadows. Ambient light has the parameters listed below, whose values can be changed.

• Intensity - Can have values 0–1, for example 0.4.
• Color - Color of the light as an RGB value, for example 255,255,255

Environment

Environment light is used together with the environment image to create true-to-life lighting environments to the model. The most important shader properties are:

• Saturation - The saturation of the light provided by the environment image. At a value of 0, the saturation is the same as in the original image. Negative values up to -1 reduce saturation. At -1, the light color is purely in gray scale. The values from zero to one increase the saturation of the original environment image.
• Intensity - Individual to each hdr environment image. You can find the intensity through trial and error. Try values between 1 and 20 first. You can also try a value under 1.
• Nr of samples - The most essential parameter. The rendering precision of shadows can vary between 0 and 8,000. Values below 100 produce fast but rough and lined shadows. High values are better suited for the final rendering, but the render time may be long, depending on the hardware performance. The software supplier's recommendation for the preview precision is, approximately, 100, while 500-2,000 is recommended for the final render.
• Noise factor - Compensates the low precision of shadow calculation by adding noise to the image. Try values between 0.05 and 0.2. You can use low values when the Nr of samples is high.
• Shadow softness - Compensates the low precision of shadow calculation by softening the edges of the shadows. Try values between 1.5 and 10. You can use low values when the Nr of samples is high.
• Use upper hemisphere only - Determines if the light coming below the ground level is taken account of in rendering. The value can be TRUE or FALSE.

Distant

Distant light is a type of light that is used to define a distant light source, such as the sun. Its rays are parallel. Distant Lights can be defined to cast shadows or not. A model can have several distant lights at the same time. Distant light has the parameters listed below, whose values can be changed.

• Intensity - Can have values 0–1.
• Color - Color of the light as an RGB value, for example 255,255,255.
• Location - Location of the light (where from), for example 0,0,1.
• To - Lighting direction (where to), for example 0,0,0.
• Shadows - Shadows on/off, values TRUE/FALSE.
• Shadow resolution - Shadow resolution, values 0–2048.
• Shadow quality - shadow quality, values 0–9.
• Shadow softness - Shadow softness, values 0–5.5.
• Power - Initial power of the visible light, the values are given separately for the red, green and blue components.

Eye

Eyelight is a light that is aimed at the model from the viewing point, and thus has no defined position or direction. Eye Light does not cast shadows. Eyelight has the parameters listed below, whose values can be changed.

• Intensity - Can have values 0–1, for example 0.4.
• Color - Color of the light as an RGB value, for example 255,255,255

Point

Point light is a type of light that emits light spherically in every direction. The source of the light rays is a selected point and the rays are evenly spread. Point Lights can be defined to cast shadows or not. A model can have several point lights at the same time. Point light has the parameters listed below, whose values can be changed.

• Intensity - Can have values 0–1.
• Color - Color of the light as an RGB value, for example 255,255,255.
• Location - Location of the light (where from), for example 0,0,1.
• To - Lighting direction (where to), for example 0,0,0.
• Fall off - Attenuation of the light, values 0-1.
• Shadows - Shadows on/off, values TRUE/FALSE.
• Shadow resolution - Shadow resolution, values 0–2048.
• Shadow quality - shadow quality, values 0–9.
• Shadow softness - Shadow softness, values 0–5.5.
• Color temperature - Light color temperature. Can have values 0-1.
• Intensity units - Light-color temperature.
• Scattering - Scattering of the light on/off, values TRUE/FALSE.

Spot

Spotlight is a type of light where the rays are spread conically. Spot Lights can be defined to cast shadows or not. A model can have several spotlights at the same time. Spotlight has the parameters listed below, whose values can be changed.

• Intensity - Can have values 0–1.
• Color - Color of the light as an RGB value, for example 255,255,255.
• Location - Location of the light (where from), for example 0,0,1.
• To - Lighting direction (where to), for example 0,0,0.
• Fall off - Attenuation of the light, values 0-1.
• Cone angle in degrees.
• Half-light area in degrees.
• Beam distribution.
• Shadows - Shadows on/off, values TRUE/FALSE.
• Shadow resolution - Shadow resolution, values 0–2048.
• Shadow quality - shadow quality, values 0–9.
• Shadow softness - Shadow softness, values 0–5.5.
• Color temperature - Light color temperature. Can have values 0-1.
• Intensity units - Light-color temperature.
• Scattering - Scattering of the light on/off, values TRUE/FALSE.

Material Shader Properties
Background Shader Properties