Page 610 - Kitab3DsMax

Part IV: Materials, Cameras, and Lighting Basics

2. Select the Create ➪ Lights ➪ Standard Lights ➪ Directional menu command, and add a Free Direct
light to the end of one of the laser guns in the Front viewport. Scale the light down until the cyl-
inder is the size of the desired laser beam and rotate it so it points away from the laser beam.
3. With the light selected, open the Modify panel. In the Atmospheres and Effects rollout, click the
Add button and double-click the Volume Light selection. Then select the Volume Light option in
the list, and click the Setup button to open the Environment dialog box. Change the Fog Color to
red and the Density value to 50 and make sure that the Use Attenuation Color is disabled.
4. With the direct lights added to the scene, the default lights are deactivated, so you need to add
some Omni lights above the spaceship to illuminate it. To do this, select the
Create ➪ Lights ➪ Standard Lights ➪ Omni menu command, and click above the spaceship in the
Front view three times to create three lights. Set the Multiplier on the first light to 1.0, and posi-
tion it directly above the spaceship. Set the other two lights to 0.5, and position them on either
side of the spaceship and lower than the first light.
Figure 20.17 shows the resulting laser beams shooting forth from the spaceship.

FIGURE 20.17
You can create laser beams using direct lights and the Volume Light effect.

Using projector maps and raytraced shadows
If a map is added to a light in the Parameters rollout, the light becomes a projector. Projector maps can be
simple images, animated images, or black-and-white masks to cast shadows. To load a projector map, select
a light and open the Modify panel. Under the Spotlight Parameters rollout, click the Projector Map button
and select the map to use from the Material/Map Browser.
Raytraced shadows take longer to render than the Shadow Maps or Area Shadows option, but the shadows
always have a hard edge and are an accurate representation of the object.

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