Vray Plane Lights

[mattclayton]

How do people feel about scaling VRay plane lights?? For example if you have a whole section of varying length lights round the edge of a ceiling say, and it would be so much easier if i could keep them instances and just scale them along their length (and therefore not having to individually adjust the power every time i tweak them).

Has anyone had any adverse affects from this? Is there any lighting calculation issues from a technical point of view?

(Not a ground breaking question i know but thought i'd ask while i'm here! )

Cheers

[AlexP]

I thought they ignored the scaling in my tests some time ago? Was a few versions back, but never tested again since.

Often have the same problem..

[NicoC]

Hello,

Even if it's not the most practical, you can use parameters wiring for this just wire power parameter, set it to be wired in both ways, and you're done ... this way, you won't have to bother with scaling !

[mattclayton]

Ahh, should have mentioned I'm currently running max 2014. It looks like that's a 2015 addition? Looks good though! Think we're moving over to 15 or 16 soon actually, just leaving it till all the bug fixes are sorted out

[NicoC]

Ahh, should have mentioned I'm currently running max 2014. It looks like that's a 2015 addition? Looks good though! Think we're moving over to 15 or 16 soon actually, just leaving it till all the bug fixes are sorted out

Are you talking about parameterrs wiring ? if so, it's not something new at all.

[mattclayton]

I thought they ignored the scaling in my tests some time ago? Was a few versions back, but never tested again since...

It does extend where the light is emitted from but whether it also then scales/warps the calculations as well i don't know...or if this is even a problem. If it works (calculates) on the same basis as increasing the length then great but if it's messing with the calc then i'd rather do them individually...or knock up a quick script to do it for me i should say!

[mattclayton]

Are you talking about parameterrs wiring ? if so, it's not something new at all.

Yes parameter wiring, thought i'd just read it was only relevant to 2015. Ignore me then, i'd not come across it before is all. I'll look into it a bit more then. Cheers

[NicoC]

It's something very handy you'll see ! and it can be applied in so many different ways in 3dsmax - I bet you'll love wire parameters. On a side note, you can combine parameters wiring with custom attributes: for example, you can add controls to a dummy, that will play the role of a global control for your lights intensities or whatever

Regards.

[mattclayton]

Easier solution... create all your lights (as unique), select them all, go to the listener and type $.multiplier = ## and hit enter...done! (## represents whatever value you want to change the multiplier to ie 10 or 20...works the same with luminance values etc as well.)

[NicoC]

Easier solution... create all your lights (as unique), select them all, go to the listener and type $.multiplier = ## and hit enter...done! (## represents whatever value you want to change the multiplier to ie 10 or 20...works the same with luminance values etc as well.)

nice one indeed - would deserve a small UI

[joconnell]

If you're happy enough to work in a different type of units, "radiant power W" will emit the same amount of light regardless of whether you change the size or not - from the chaos docs:

"Radiant power (W) - total emitted visible light power measured in watts. When using this setting, the intensity of the light does not depend on its size. Keep in mind that this is not the same as the electric power consumed by a light bulb for example. A typical 100W light bulb only emits between 2 and 3 watts as visible light."

[peterguthrie]

what John said.

I almost always use radiant power nowadays

[joconnell]

Handy for vfx too since it breaks the relationship between the intensity of the output but leaves you free to change the size to change the harshness of your shadows.

[joconnell]

I was also going to comment on Peter Guthrie's radiant power.

[mattclayton]

If you're happy enough to work in a different type of units, "radiant power W" will emit the same amount of light regardless of whether you change the size or not...

Interesting, i'll run a few tests see how i get on. The main issue i had was more to do with being able to increasing how much light was emitted across the board on numerous unique lights around a channel, rather than them all being of consistent output regardless of their size, if that makes sense? I assume increasing the radiant power on one light wouldn't automatically update all the others?

Ideally we'd know what type of lighting system they were installing so we could set the correct values however this was more of an after thought from the client so it's a little more arbitrary at the moment :S

Anyway, i'll have a play with radiant settings as well, see what i get! Cheers John (and Pete)