General Parameters Rollout (Standard Lights)

This General Parameters rollout is displayed for standard lights. These controls turn a light on and off, and exclude or include objects in the scene.

On the Modify panel, the General Parameters rollout also lets you control the light’s target object and change the light from one type to another.

The General Parameters rollout also lets you turn shadow-casting on or off for the light, and choose which type of shadow the light uses. See Shadow Types and Shadow Controls and Shadow Parameters.

Procedures

To turn a light on and off:

To have a light cast shadows:

The light will now cast shadows when you render the scene.

Left: A spotlight's projection cone truncates shadows.

Right: An omni light casts complete shadows.

Note: With Overshoot turned on, standard spotlights cast light in all directions but cast shadows only within the falloff cone; standard directional lights cast light throughout the scene, but cast shadows only within the falloff area.

To have a light use the global settings for shadows:

To set a light's shadow parameters individually:

Note: When you render a scene, you can turn rendering of shadows on or off.

To cast area shadows:

To cast advanced ray-traced shadows:

To cast shadow-mapped shadows:

  1. On the General Parameters rollout, choose Shadow Maps from the drop-down list.
  2. Go to the Shadow Map Parameters rollout.
    • Use the Size spinner to set the size of the shadow map.
    • Use the Bias spinner to adjust the shadow offset, if necessary.
    • Use the Sample Range spinner to create a soft-edged shadow.

To cast ray-traced shadows:

    Ray-traced shadows are generated by tracing the path of rays sampled from a light source. Ray-traced shadows are more accurate than shadow-mapped shadows.

  1. On the General Parameters rollout, choose Ray-Traced Shadows from the drop-down list.
  2. Use controls on the Ray-Traced Shadow Parameters rollout to adjust the shadow offset, if necessary.

To keep an object from casting shadows:

  1. Select the object.
  2. Right-click the object to display the quad menu, then from the Transform (lower-right) quadrant, choose Properties.

    3ds Max opens the Object Properties dialog.

  3. Turn off Cast Shadows, and then click OK.

    Now when you render the scene, the object casts no shadows.

To make an object not receive shadows:

  1. Select the object.
  2. Right-click the object to display the quad menu, then from the Transform (lower-right) quadrant, choose Properties.

    3ds Max opens the Object Properties dialog.

  3. Turn off Receive Shadows, and then click OK.

    Now when you render the scene, the object receives no shadows.

    Note: You can also prevent objects from casting shadows by excluding them from a light.

Interface

Light Type group (Modify panel)

On
(Both Create panel and Modify panel) Turns the light on and off. When On is on, shading and rendering use the light to illuminate the scene. When On is off, the light is not used in shading or rendering. Default=on.

In viewports, the interactive renderer shows the effect of turning lights on or off.

[light type drop-down list]
Changes the type of the light. If you have selected a standard light type, the light can be changed to an omni, spot, or directional light. If you have selected a photometric light type, you can change the light to a point, linear, or area light.

This parameter is available only on the Modify panel.

Targeted
When on, the light is targeted. The distance between the light and its target is displayed to the right of the checkbox. For a free light, you can set this value. For target lights, you can change it by turning off the checkbox, or by moving the light or the light's target object.

Shadows group

On
Determines whether the current light casts shadows or not. Default=on.
Use Global Settings
Turn on to use global settings for shadows cast by this light. Turn off to enable individual control of the shadows. If you choose not to use the global settings, you must choose which method the renderer will use to generate shadows for this particular light.

When Use Global Settings is on, the shadow parameters switch over to show you what the global settings are. This data is shared by every other light of this class. When Use Global Settings is off, the shadow parameters are specific to that particular light.

[shadow method drop-down list]
Determines whether the renderer uses shadow maps, ray-traced shadows, advanced ray-traced shadows, or area shadows, to generate shadows for this light.

The “mental ray Shadow Map” type is provided for use with the mental ray renderer. When you choose this shadow type and enable shadow maps (on the Shadows & Displacement rollout of the Render Setup dialog), shadows use the mental ray shadow-map algorithm. If this type is chosen but you render with the default scanline renderer, no shadows appear in the rendering.

Note: When shadow maps are enabled and the shadow map type is Shadow Map, the mental ray renderer attempts to translate the shadow map settings into comparable settings for mental ray shadow maps. (The results might not be what you expected.) In all other cases, the mental ray renderer generates ray-traced shadows.

Each shadow type has its particular controls:

Tip: Use ray-traced or advanced ray-traced shadows when you want shadows cast by opacity-mapped objects. Shadow-mapped shadows don't recognize the transparent portions of the mapping, and as a result they don't look convincing.
Exclude button
Excludes selected objects from the effects of the light. Click this button to display the Exclude/Include dialog.

Excluded objects still appear lit in shaded viewports. Exclusion takes effect only when you render the scene.

Roll Angle Manipulator

To change the roll angle of a target light, you can use a manipulator. This can be useful if the light does not cast a round beam, or if it is a projector light (see Advanced Effects Rollout). To display the manipulator, select the light, right-click it, and then click Roll Angle Manipulator Toggle on the Tools 2 (lower left) quadrant of the quad menu.

Roll angle manipulator on a target light

Drag the circular portion of the manipulator to rotate the light by an arbitrary number of degrees. Click one of the red or green “clock hands” of the manipulator to rotate the light in 90-degree increments.

Note: You can also access the roll angle manipulator by selecting the light object and then turning on Select And Manipulate on the main toolbar.
Parent topic: Rollouts for Standard Lights