This enables you to more subtly lighten or darken areas with a spot light. A softer edge on a spot light's beam will make the light's individual location less obvious and will avoid creating a harsh "circle" of projected light, as shown if the leftmost image here:Ī spot light cone's softness can be adjusted with the dropoff. The amount of Dropoff of the cone allows the intensity of the light to diminish more gradually as it approaches the edge of the beam. Other common spot light parameters enable you to control the width of the cone (usually specified in degrees) to vary between a narrow beam and a broad one. Options such as projecting an image map from a light, or making a beam of light visible as if shining through fog, are often best controlled with the beam of a spot light. A spot light has extra controls and options not found on other types of lights. Spot lights are staples of visual effects in your renderings. You can also group a spot light with a 3D object, such as a model flashlight or car headlight assembly, so that the beam of light will be aimed as if the light were radiating from the object. You can also link a "target" to the light so that the light is always oriented toward the position of the target. The rotation of a spot light can determine where the beam is aimed. A spot light, however, limits the illumination to light within a specified cone or beam of light only. Spot lights are a popular choice of many artists because they can be controlled conveniently to aim light at a specific target, as shown in the following figure:Ī spot light can aim light at a specific target.Ī spot light simulates light radiating from a point, much like a point light. Spot lights are a basic staple of most lighting designs in computer graphics. You can do this by applying a texture map to the light, or by grouping the light with 3D objects that will cast shadows. If you are adding point lights to your scene to simulate real light bulbs, for example, remember that most real light bulbs have an opaque metal socket that blocks light from one end, and many are mounted in some kind of fixture or shade that limits their directionality.Įven though point lights start out as omnidirectional, you can give them a throw-pattern that is uneven, like a real light bulb, to aim more light in some directions than in other directions. Most sources emit more light in some directions than others. In real life, you aren't likely to find any light that is uniformly omnidirectional. The illumination and shadows aim out away from the light in all directions, as shown in the following figure:Ī point source emits light evenly in all directions. Point lights emit light uniformly in all directions, like a bare light bulb or glowing star in space. A point light simulates rays shining out from one infinitely small point in space.
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