photometric spotlights?

[sharktacos]

Vray defines photometric lights as either "IES lights or V-Ray lights for which the units parameter is different from Default". So since there is no Vray spotlight, I am assuming that the Maya spot is not photometric. So are there any plans to provide a Vray spotlight that can have photometric properties?

While we are at it, how about having the same type of photometric lights that Max has implemented in Maya for Vray? Since Max has photometric lights, Vray for Max could piggyback on that to some degree, but with Maya I'm thinking it would be good to go beyond the limitations of it's native spotlight and invent the VraySpotLight. Anything like that in the works?

[vlado]

We could do that, but I'm not sure if this will give anything more than a different interface to the already existing spot light in Maya.

Best regards,
Vlado

[sharktacos]

We could do that, but I'm not sure if this will give anything more than a different interface to the already existing spot light in Maya.

Best regards,
Vlado

Hmm, maybe I'm misunderstanding something... are you saying that the Maya spot light is already photometric?

[snivlem]

We could do that, but I'm not sure if this will give anything more than a different interface to the already existing spot light in Maya.

Best regards,
Vlado

Hi Vlado, if you were to do this, perhaps an "Add V-Ray attribute" to the spot light could be more manageable?

[vlado]

We can do that; other than the photometric power and temperature of the light - do you need anything else?

Best regards,
Vlado

[sharktacos]

I think that should do it, but perhaps folks with a bit more experience with photometric lights might want to weigh in too.

[filto]

I can't seem to get a smooth falloff for a maya spotlight when working linear. If I apply a 2.2 gamma to my renders the border between lit and unlit is always very sharp not matter how much I work with the penumbra, cone angle and dropoff. I ended up sticking a vraysphere in a tube to get decent result. Its a bit of a hassle plus very slow so a vraydirectional and spotlight would be very much appriciated

[vlado]

It's probably because of the default cutoff threshold; add the V-Ray light attributes to the spot light, and set the cutoff threshold to 0.0 - it might help.

Best regards,
Vlado

[filto]

Thanks vlado that helped! I still think you should make a vraylight that has direction cause Mayas spotlight with the drop off and Penumbra Angle isn't very intuitive to work with. I like the max implementation where you define a size of the hotspot and then an angle of the spread from that. And the directional light isn't the best either. Maybe i'm just to used to Max I don't know but in Maya I sure miss a vraylight where you kan define directional parameters. Maybe a tool in the IES-light where you can define your own angle of spread and dropoffcurve? That would be kinda neat.