You can configure viewports to display the view from any light, with the exception of an Omni light. To do so, right-click the viewport title and then select Views and the light name at the top of the pop-up menu.
Note | The keyboard shortcut for making the active viewport a Light view is the $ (the dollar sign that appears above the 4) key. If more than one light exists, then the Select Light dialog box appears and lets you select which light to use. This can be used only on spot and direct lights. |
When a viewport is changed to show a light view, the Viewport Navigation buttons in the lower-right corner of the screen change into Light Navigation controls. Table 27.1 describes these controls.
Toolbar Button | Name | Description |
---|---|---|
| Dolly, Target, Both | Moves the light, its target, or both the light and its target closer to or farther away from the scene in the direction it is pointing. |
| Light Hotspot | Adjusts the angle of the light's hotspot, which is displayed as a blue cone. |
| Roll Light | Spins the light about its local Z-axis. |
| Zoom Extents All, Zoom Extents All Selected | Zooms in on all objects or the selected objects until they fill the viewport. |
| Light Fall off | Changes the angle of the light's fall off cone. |
| Truck Light | Moves the light perpendicular to the line of sight. |
| Orbit, Pan Light | The Orbit button rotates the light around the target, whereas the Pan Light button rotates the target around the light. |
| Min/Max Toggle | Makes the current viewport fill the screen. Clicking this button a second time returns the display to several viewports. |
Note | Many of these controls are identical for viewports displaying lights or cameras. |
If you hold down the Ctrl key while using the Light Hotspot or Falloff buttons, Max maintains the distance between the hotspot and falloff cones. Holding down the Alt key causes the size to change at a much slower rate. The Hotspot cone cannot grow any larger than the Falloff cone, but if you hold down the Shift key, then trying to make the size of the hotspot larger than the falloff causes both to increase, and vice-versa.
You can constrain any light movements to a single axis by holding down the Shift key. The Ctrl key causes the movements to increase rapidly.
For Free lights, an invisible target is determined by the distance computed from the other light properties. You can use the Shift key to constrain rotations to be vertical or horizontal.
Note | You can undo changes in the normal viewports using the Views Undo command, but you undo light viewport changes with the regular Edit Undo command. |
To practice using lights, let's try to get a lamp model to work as it should.
To add a light to a lamp model, follow these steps:
Open the Lamp.max file from the Chap 27 directory on the DVD.
This file includes a lamp mesh surrounded by some plane objects used to create the walls and floor. The lamp model was created by Zygote Media. It looks like a standard living room lamp that you could buy in any department store.
Select the Create Lights Standard Lights Omni menu command, and click in any viewport.
Use the Select and Move transform button (W) to position the light object inside the lamp's lightbulb.
The resulting image is shown in Figure 27.7. Notice that the light intensity is greater at places closer to the light.
Figure 27.7: The rendered lighted-lamp image