Chapter 17 Lighting
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in effect, turns off sunlight. Increasing the property makes the sunlight brighter. The
maximum value for the property is determined by the capabilities of your computer.
The
Color
property can be used to control the color of the sun. In order to set the
sun color, photometric lighting must be off (LIGHTINGUNITS = 0). When photometric
lighting is on, the
Color
property is disabled and set to a preselected color based on the
geographic location, date, and time. When photometric lighting is off, sunlight is set to
white (true color 255, 255, 255) by default. To change the color, pick the drop-down list
and select a new color. If you pick the
Select Color…
entry, the
Select Color
dialog box is
displayed for selecting a color. Sunlight can be changed to any color, but be aware that
changing the color of the light may drastically alter the appearance of a scene. This is
especially true if materials are attached to objects in the drawing. The color of sunlight
is often set to a very light blue for an outdoor scene to help convey a bright blue sky.
The
Shadows
property determines whether the sun casts shadows. The property
can be set to on or off. Shadows are discussed in detail later in this chapter.
Sky Properties
The settings in the
Sky Properties
category control the sky. The sky is used in
conjunction with sunlight to generate more-realistic lighting in the scene. This cate-
gory is only displayed if photometric lighting is on. The
Status
property determines if
the sky effect is off, if just the sky background is displayed, or if both the background
and illumination are active. In order to set the sky status, the projection must be set
to perspective. The
Intensity Factor
property value is a multiplier for the illumination
provided by the sky. The
Haze
property controls how the sky illumination is diffused.
The value can range from 0.0000 to 15.0000. The preset sun color is affected by this
value.
Set the
brightness
Set the
color
Set the shadow
detail
Pick to open the
Adjust Sun &
Sky Background
dialog box
Figure 17-9.
The
Sun Properties
palette.