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Target Spot

Create menu > Standard Lights > Target Spotlight

Create menu > Lights > Target Spotlight

Tab panels > Lights & Cameras tab > Target Spotlight


Left: Top view of a target spotlight

Right: Perspective view of the same light

A spotlight casts a focused beam of light like a flashlight, a follow spot in a theater, or a headlight. A target spotlight uses a target object to aim the camera.

Note: When you add a target spotlight, the software automatically assigns a Look At controller to it, with the the light's target object assigned as the Look At target. You can use the controller settings on the Motion panel to assign any other object in the scene as the Look At target.

See also

Lights

Name and Color Rollout (Lights)

General Lighting Parameters

Intensity/Color/Attenuation Parameters

Advanced Effects Rollout

Shadow Parameters

Optimizations Rollout

Spotlight Parameters

Procedures

To create a target spotlight:

  1. On the Create panel, click Lights.

  2. In the Object Type rollout, click Target Spot.

  3. Drag in a viewport. The initial point of the drag is the location of the spotlight, and the point where you release the mouse is the location of the target.

    The light is now part of the scene.

  4. Set the creation parameters.

To adjust a target spotlight:

  1. Select the light.

  2. Use Move on the main toolbar to adjust the light. As an alternative, right-click the light and choose Move.

    Because the spotlight is always aimed at its target, you can't rotate it about its local X or Y axis. However, you can select and move the target object as well as the light itself. When you move either the light or the target, the light's orientation changes so it always points at the target.

    Note: The target’s distance from the light does not affect the attenuation or brightness of the light.

To select the target:

The target, displayed as a small square, is often in the same area as objects that you want to illuminate. It can be difficult to select it by clicking.

  1. Select the spotlight itself.

  2. Right-click the light and choose Select Target from the upper-left (Tools 1) quadrant of the quad menu.

    Clicking the line that connects the light and its target selects both objects. However, region selection doesn't recognize the link line.

    Another way to adjust a spotlight is to use a Light viewport.

To change a viewport to a Light view:

  1. Right-click a viewport label.

    The viewport right-click menu is displayed.

  2. Choose Views.

    The name of each spotlight or directional light is displayed in the Views list.

  3. Choose the name of the light you want.

    The viewport now shows the light's point of view. You can use the Light viewport controls to adjust the light.

    The default keyboard shortcut for switching to a Light viewport is $.

Interface

When you rename a target spotlight, the target is automatically renamed to match. For example, renaming Light01 to Klieg causes Light01.Target to become Klieg.Target. The target's name must have the extension .Target. Renaming the target object does not rename the light object.


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