CompuServe Messages

Chris: The problem is that the light in LightWave, and any other 3D program is "virtual light". Even if you point a spotlight directly at the camera, you cannot "see" this light. Anyway, Lens Flare should do the trick here. I'd use three point source lights, parented and positioned just in front of the light fixture. One light color red, one yellow, and one green. It's also a good idea to rename each of these lights something like signalYellow, etc. to keep track. Once they're positioned, go back to the lights menu and set all the intensity values to 0%. Next, you want to get an idea of how much light each lamp will throw onto the fixture itself. Remember, here you're just simulating the amount of light the lamp will throw when "turned on". Try some different intensity values for each light. Once you're happy, set the intensity falloff (5 or 10% should do). Doing this will prevent the point source light from falling onto any other objects in the scene. You mentioned the yellow light, so select that light and click on "Lens Flare" and then Flare Options. Turn off all of the options except for "Central Glow". Since your light color is yellow, the flare will have a yellow tinge, too. The default flare intensity is 50%, which is likely way too high, so ease it off a bit, and try some test renders until you're happy with the effect. Now, to complete the illusion of a working traffic signal, you need to add envelopes to the light and flare intensity settings turn turn the lights on and off.. After setting up an envelope for the light intensity, you can save it, go to the flare options and load the same envelope for the flare intensity (a little time-saver). Just use the intensity figures you came up with for the maximums. Of course, if this is just a still you're doing, you don't have to use any envelopes, nor the extra two lights, but you may want to save the pieces for use in an animation later. The 3D lighting in LW is pretty good, but sometimes, a little extra work is needed. Also, it's quite common for two or more 3D lights being used to emulate a real light fixture. Hope this helps, and that you'll upload a JPEG of your work, eh? Cheers! Trent/ReAnimators