spot lights defaults

[fooprobe]

it would be great if spot light defaults (when you make a new spot light) were the same as point lights. especially setting decay to inverse square (and penumbra falloff to smooth cubic)

speaking of which, why is "linear" decay called that? "no decay" - such as used on rectangular lights - is much easier to understand. "inverse" decay is linear, after all.

just my 2 cents =)

[tashko.zashev]

Hi,

Setting the Spot light to "inverse square" requires huge intensity values to be used.
Could you provide more details about this request. Is there any specific reason to change this?

[fooprobe]

I want the lights to have natural decay, just like point lights. I always set them this way. Am I the only one? Does everyone else use linear? It feels too harsh. I don't recall the values getting so high but ill double check. But it's just a number, why should it matter?

[fooprobe]

yes, you're right of course, the intensity is much more, i forgot. but other than being a bigger number, i experience no downside, same render time, and the light looks much more natural.

so here is a spotlight, linear decay, intensity = 1.0:



and here's the same spotlight, inverse square decay, intensity = 10,000.0:



so am i doing this wrong? is this not preferred? is there a hidden downside? it looks much better to me. i guess you can add to my wish having a smaller multiplier.

i know that IES lights will help with the illumination on the wall. but notice the spot on the floor is also much better, and you can't control the size of the cone with an IES without picking a different file. if you want to fine tune it, you can't.

thanks

[tashko.zashev]

Thank you for your details and examples.
We will consider this with our 3D team and let you know the decision.

[fooprobe]

Thank you very much!