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Create panel > Lights
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Nighttime scene with artificial lighting
Lights are objects that simulate real lights such as household or office lamps, the light instruments used in stage and film work, and the sun itself. Different kinds of light objects cast light in different ways, emulating different kinds of real-world light sources.
When there are no lights in a scene, the scene is shaded or rendered with default lighting. You add lights to give the scene a more realistic appearance. Lighting enhances the clarity and three-dimensionality of a scene. In addition to general lighting effects, lights can be used to project images. (See the Advanced Effects rollout.)
Light objects replace the default lighting. As soon as you create a light, the default lighting is turned off. If you delete all the lights in the scene, default lighting is turned back on. The default lighting consists of two invisible lights: one is above and to the left of the scene, and the other is below and to the right.
Tip: One way to begin your work on lighting a scene is to convert the default lighting into light objects by using the command Add Default Lights To Scene.
Note: A scene's lighting is also affected by the Ambient Light setting in the Environment dialog.
3ds max provides three types of lights: standard, daylight, and photometric. All types are displayed in viewports as light objects. They share many of the same parameters, including shadow generators. The daylight sky lights share a different set of parameters.
Standard lights are computer-based objects that simulate lights such as household or office lamps, the light instruments used in stage and film work, and the sun itself. Different kinds of light objects cast light in different ways, simulating different kinds of light sources. Unlike Photometric lights, Standard lights do not have physically-based intensity values.
There are six types of standard light objects:
Most of the parameters for standard lights are common to all types. These are described in the following topics:
Name and Color Rollout (Lights)
Intensity/Color/Attenuation Parameters
Spotlights and Directional lights have rollouts specific to them:
For parameters specific to a particular kind of light, see that light's description.
Daylight lights are made of two components: sun and sky. The Daylight system uses these lights to simulate sunlight and .
These are the photometric daylight lights:
Note: The standard Skylight light is distinct from the photometric daylight lights. The Skylight light is for use with light tracing.
You can use the daylight lights manually, but to get the best results it’s best to use them in conjunction with the Daylight system. The Daylight system combines the two daylight components of sun and sky in a unified interface. It allows you to set date and time positions with the light type you want to use.
Photometric lights use photometric (light energy) values that enable you to more accurately define lights as they would be in the real world. You can set their distribution, intensity, color temperature, and other characteristics of real-world lights. You can also import specific photometric files available from lighting manufacturers to design lighting based on commercially available lights. You can render to visualize the results and refine your scene.
Note: You can combine Photometric lights with the radiosity solution to generate physically accurate renderings or perform lighting analysis.
There are six types of photometric lights:
Target Point Light (Photometric)
Target Linear Light (Photometric)
Target Area Light (Photometric)
Free Point Light (Photometric)
Free Linear Light (Photometric)
Point lights support three types of light distribution:
Isotropic Light Distribution (Photometric Lights)
Spotlight Distribution (Photometric Lights)
Web Distribution (Photometric Lights)
The remaining photometric lights support two types of light distribution:
Diffuse Distribution (Photometric Lights)
Web Distribution (Photometric Lights)
Most of the photometric light parameters are common to all six types of lights, and are described in the following topic:
Intensity/Color/Distribution Rollout
Photometric Linear and Area Lights have rollouts specific to them:
Linear Light Parameters Rollout
The remaining photometric light parameters are shared with standard lights, and are described in the following topics:
Name and Color Rollout (Lights)
Other photometric-specific topics include:
You can use the Place Highlight command to change a light's position. See the Procedures in Working with Lights.
A Light viewport can be a useful way to adjust lights other than omni lights.
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