Add accent lights >

About the Accent Light Properties window

To open the Accent Light Properties window:

Press the L key (or select Appearance > Accent Lights) to open the Accent Lights interface.
In the Accent Lights interface, right-click an accent light icon and select Properties.

The following accent light properties can be modified in the properties window.

Color: The color of the light cast on objects. Click the sample square to set the color. The slider sets the value of the color (from dark to light), which also scales the overall intensity.

Intensity: The brightness of the light. Can be positive (casts light) or negative (removes light). A value of zero produces no light.

Note
In ray tracing mode, negative intensity accent lights may cast unusual or inverted shadows.

Light contribution: The intensity of the light with respect to the environment. If you select Environment-dependent, the light increases in brighter environments and decreases in darker environments, so it always has an effect. If you select Constant, the light is more noticeable in the dark, less (or not at all) noticeable in sunlight.

Drop-off distance: The total distance (in meters) that the light will travel from the source. Objects that are further than this distance from the accent light will not be illuminated.

Drop-off rate: Controls the drop-off of intensity (or the “decay”) from the position of the source to the limit of the drop-off distance. As the rate increases, objects further from the accent light will receive more of the total intensity of illumination.

Cast Shadows in Ray Tracing: Activate shadows for this accent light when in Ray Tracing mode.

Ray Tracing shadow and highlight softness: Sets the softness of shadow edges and highlights created by this accent light by specifying a source size. A larger size will cast softer shadows and highlights based on the distance from the source to the object.

Selective spot lights have additional properties:

Cone angle: The angle (in degrees) from edge to edge of the spot light beam.

Penumbra angle: The angle (in degrees) from edge to edge of the start of the penumbra (or edge drop-off). This value cannot be larger than the cone angle. A value equal to the cone angle produces a hard edged cone of light, while a value of zero starts the penumbra from the center of the cone.

Radial drop-off: The rate at which the overall intensity drops off from the center to the edge of the light cone. Can be set to any positive number. A value of zero produces even illumination across the cone angle.