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  • Volume spotlight solution?

    Hey everyone. Been a bit since I stuck my head in here.

    I was trying to do the old Volumetric spotlight trick.

    I.E.

    1. Make a cone'ish shaped cylinder geometry,
    2. Apply Vray material with 100 opacity in mat slot,
    3. Fill it with VrayEnv fog in the volume slot,
    4. Make a cylinder geometry with the top off to guide the light forward from the back of the spot light setup...
    5. And finally use an area light using the direction attribute to send light forward into the volume cylinder.

    So this makes a great volume spot light. Lets call batman now. But... The problem is that it casts a shadow instead of allowing the light to truly light things up.

    In a physically based world this is actually what happens. Dust disperses the light. In the 3d world with the old scanline tricks the old spotlight draw volume checkboxes in most apps allowed us to make a spotlight without the fake fog part casting a shadow.

    I was wondering if there is a combo in Maya that allows for the volums fog to be light up as usual but not actually shadow the light. I thought "uncheck cast shadows" checkbox on the volume geometry, but the EnvFog still will cast a shadow due to the tracing nature of it.

    I suppose making a whole other separate light that is light linked to not hit the volume fog while the volume fog light only lights the volume may be the best method?
    Attached Files
    ------
    KC

  • #2
    The darker falloff along the way of the fog-element is not exactly a shadow - it is Emission Color.
    VrayEnvironmentFog consists two colors => Color parameter is rendered in the illuminated areas , with the attenuation of the light more and more of the Emission Color is blended with the Color parameter and at some point this ratio is 100% for the Emission and 0% for the Color-parameter.
    By default Emission color is set to pure-black but you can change it to a color similar to to the one used in Color-parameter, a little bit darker perhaps and the end result won't contain any darkening.
    Click image for larger version

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    Last edited by svetlozar.draganov; 03-09-2013, 07:20 AM.
    Svetlozar Draganov | Senior Manager 3D Support | contact us
    Chaos & Enscape & Cylindo are now one!

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    • #3
      Originally posted by Intuition View Post
      The problem is that it casts a shadow instead of allowing the light to truly light things up.
      There is an option for the fog to not affect shadow rays.

      Best regards,
      Vlado
      I only act like I know everything, Rogers.

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      • #4
        Yeah, the don't affect shadow rays did it. Thanks.
        ------
        KC

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