Scene group

Affect Alpha

Determines whether or not the highlight settings affect the alpha channel of the image when you render to a 32-bit file format.

Affect Z Buffer

Determines whether or not the highlight affects the Z-Buffer of the image. When this option is selected, the linear distance of the highlight is recorded, and can be used in special effects that make use of the Z-Buffer. For example, the Focus module that ships with Lens Effects blurs objects based on their Z-Buffer information. If you want to use Focus to blur a highlight, you must select this option. If you are not sure about whether or not to select this option, leave it disabled, because you probably don't need it.

Distance Fade group

Bright

Lets you fade the brightness of the highlight effect based on the distance away from the camera. This parameter can be animated.

Lock

Locks the Bright and Size spinner values together.

Size

Lets you fade the size of the highlight effect based on the distance from the camera. In most circumstances, you want the overall size of your highlights to diminish as they get farther from the camera. This option takes care of that for you. This parameter can be animated.

Effect group

Size

Lets you determine the overall size of the highlight effect, and is calculated in pixels. This parameter can be animated.

Points

Controls the number of points to be generated for a highlight effect. This parameter can be animated.

Color group

Gradient

Lets you create the highlight based on the settings in the Gradients panel.

Pixel

Lets you create the highlight color based on the pixel color of the highlighted object. This is the default method for Lens Effects Highlight and is exceptionally fast.

User

Lets you select a specific color for the highlights through the standard 3ds MaxColor Selector. The color swatch shows you the currently selected color.

Intensity

Lets you control the intensity or brightness of the highlights. Values range from 0 to 100. This spinner functions only when you are using either the Pixel or User color methods to control the brightness of the highlight effect. This parameter can be animated.