3ds Max 2012 Bible - Kelly L. Murdock [252]
5. Now create three more headlights. To do this, select both the first spotlight object and its target, and create a cloned copy by holding down the Shift key while moving it toward the right headlight. Position the other spotlights so that they shine outward from the other headlights.
Figure 20.16 shows the resulting car with its headlights illuminated.
FIGURE 20.16
The car now has headlights, thanks to spotlights and the Volume Light effect.
Tutorial: Creating laser beams
Laser beams are extremely useful lights. From your CD-ROM drive to your laser printer, lasers are found throughout a modern-day office. They also are great to use in fantasy and science fiction images. You can easily create laser beams using direct lights and the Volume Light effect. In this tutorial, you'll add some lasers to the spaceship model created by Viewpoint Datalabs.
To add some laser beams to a scene, follow these steps:
1. Open the Spaceship laser.max file from the Chap 20 directory on the CD.
This file includes a spaceship model.
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 cylinder 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 position 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.
Note
You can create shadows for wireframe objects with transparency only by using raytraced shadows. •
In the Shadow Parameters rollout, you can select whether shadows are computed using shadow maps or raytraced shadows. Using the latter selection lets you project a transparent object's color onto the shadow.
Tutorial: Projecting a trumpet image on a scene
As an example of a projector light, you create a musical scene with several musical notes and project the image of a trumpet on them.
To project an image onto a rendered scene, follow these steps:
1. Open the Trumpet mask.max file from the Chap 20 directory on the CD.
This file includes a trumpet model shown in the maximized Left viewport. This file is used to generate a project map.
2. Choose Rendering⇒Render (or press the F10 key) to