CompuServe Thread

Omni lights & shadows ?

3 messages in this thread
#83548From: Paul MastersFeb 13, 1994 7:28 PM
While working with the tutorials I tried something that worked, some what. I put an omni light in an object (a glass and a box). The results were what I expected. The 'inside' of the glass and/or box had the color assigned to the light. However, some of the shadows 'outside' of the object also had the color. This I did not expect. Is this a problem or do I not understand how omni lights work. (I used a spot light with an ajusted target in the glass to get the same effect with out the shadow being colored.)) Also, another question. How can a light be 'seen'? I tried pointing the camera directly at a light but I did not see it even though the results of the light were visable. (I don't mean to see the lights 'rays'. I understand that that is a different effect.) Thanks for any answer.
#83675From: John TissavaryFeb 14, 1994 12:41 PM
Haven't played with omni's inside objects, but for "visible light" there are a few tricks you'll want to check out: 1) Use an object with opacity mapping, self illumination, and transparency to simulate "shafts" or "beams" of light. 2) Smoke IPAS will show light. I don't have this, but I've seen nice effects with it, like CHAPEL.JPG on the WCT CD-ROM 3) For other lighting effects the YOST IPAS collection #1 has lens flare, highlight, and glow. These are pretty self explanatory. The above mentioned IPAS' are all R2, with R3 updates to be released sometime this spring.
#83702From: John WilsonFeb 14, 1994 2:22 PM
You can simulate a light source by creating a sphere at the source of the light, assigning a self illuminated material the same color as your light, and modify/object/attributes to turn off the "casts shadows" button (otherwise the sphere will block the light). This would look (similar) to a light bulb when viewed by the camera.