Customize the list of light attributes in the Light Editor

You can customize the list of attributes displayed for each light in the Light Editor by modifying the corresponding LE*Template.xml file for each light (for example, LEareaLightTemplate.xml).

Template files can be found in the ../scripts/AETemplates folder of your installation directory and are prefixed with LE.

Alternatively, you can also set the MAYA_CUSTOM_TEMPLATE_PATH environment variable, similar to how you would customize the display of attributes in the Attribute Editor. See Attribute Editor templates.

To add a light attribute to the Light Editor

1. Declare the light attribute(s) in the first section of the template .xml file as follows:

   <!-- 
   Declaration of the attributes that should be visible for this light type in the Light Editor.
   -->
   ...
   ...
   <attribute name='shadowColor' type='maya.float3'>
       <label>Shadow Color</label>;
   </attribute>
   <attribute name='coneAngle' type='maya.float'>
       <label>Cone Angle</label>;
   </attribute>

   Note: You can find light attribute names by referring to the Nodes documentation in the Technical Documentation section of the Maya Help.
2. Add the light attribute(s) to the template view section (last section) of the template .xml file as follows:

   <description>View used by Light Editor</description>
   ...
   ...
   <property name='shadowColor'/>
   <property name='coneAngle'/>

The Light Editor displays columns for all attributes listed in the various templates. However, the attribute can only be modified for a light if that attribute exists for the specific light type.

In this example, a Shadow Color column is created in the Light Editor, and can be modified for all lights in the Light Editor. On the other hand, while a Cone Angle column is also created, it can only be modified for spot lights, as it is not applicable to the other lights such as an area light.