Print at Dec 15, 2025, 7:39:09 PM

Posted by db4tech at Sep 6, 2010, 11:34:32 PM
smile   Easy 3D light bulb positioning
Hi All,

Some of my original goals while working on 'full user lamp control'.
  • Make it easier for users to position their lamps in the 3D view.
  • Since a lamps intensity can now be changed, simplify the light bulb list by only having one colour of each, plus maybe add 1 or 2 more colours.
The alterations seem to be working without problems, but to get this to work I changed one line of code in the rendering plugin, so I need Emmanuel to approve the change (to make sure I haven't broken anything) before I can release the new AdvancedRenderingLights-1.6.sh3f and updated AdvancedRenderingMini-1.6.1.sh3p

As an extra:
I've also further tweaked the caustics "Compute glass transparency" which should help lights placed slightly further away to still travel through thick glass objects, this is only a slight improvement!

The cross-hair idea (which can be improved) is just a simple workaround for now, to help users position their lights in 3D until we have a more permanent solution.


Here are a couple of screen captures:
Firstly the interface showing the cross-hairs in the 3D view.



Next a render of the scene, to show that the cross-hairs don't render.




Keen eyed users, will probably also noticed the simplified light bulb list, plus one extra addition. smile
I've tried to also do all the new light bulb translations, there are a couple I couldn't manage.

For users not wanting to use 'User lamp control' ("Use angle as power knob") the BasicLights.sh3f or BasicPlusExtraLights.sh3f will still be available!


Do hope this will be helpful for users!

db4tech