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                This class contains the "shape" information for spot lights.

This node is MP safe

Node nameParentsClassificationMFn typeCompatible function sets
spotLightnonExtendedLightShapeNodelightkSpotLightkBase
kNamedObject
kDependencyNode
kDagNode
kShape
kLight
kNonAmbientLight
kNonExtendedLight
kSpotLight

Related nodes

camera, light, dropoffLocator, ambientLight, nonAmbientLightShapeNode, nonExtendedLightShapeNode, areaLight, directionalLight, pointLight

Attributes (79)

The following quick index only shows top-level attributes (too many attributes to show them all): barnDoors, bottomBarnDoor, coneAngle, dropoff, endDistance1, endDistance2, endDistance3, farPointWorld (3), fogGeometry, fogIntensity, fogSpread, leftBarnDoor, lightGlow, mentalRayControls (45), objectType, penumbraAngle, pointWorld (3), psIllumSamples, rayDirection (3), rightBarnDoor, startDistance1, startDistance2, startDistance3, topBarnDoor, useDecayRegions

Long name (short name)TypeDefaultFlags
coneAngle (ca) angle (double)40.0degoutputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
The cone angle.
penumbraAngle (pa) angle (double)0.0degoutputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
The penumbra angle.
dropoff (dro) double0.0outputinputconnectablestorablekeyable
The dropoff.
barnDoors (bd) boolfalseoutputinputconnectablestorable
Are barndoors on?
leftBarnDoor (lbd) angle (double)20.0degoutputinputconnectablestorable
The left barn door angle.
rightBarnDoor (rbd) angle (double)20.0degoutputinputconnectablestorable
The right barn door angle.
topBarnDoor (tbd) angle (double)20.0degoutputinputconnectablestorable
The top barn door angle.
bottomBarnDoor (bbd) angle (double)20.0degoutputinputconnectablestorable
The bottom barn door angle.
useDecayRegions (udr) boolfalseoutputinputconnectablestorable
Are decayregions on?
startDistance1 (sd1) distance (float)1.0cmoutputinputconnectablestorable
The start distance of decay region 1.
endDistance1 (ed1) distance (float)2.0cmoutputinputconnectablestorable
The end distance of decay region 1.
startDistance2 (sd2) distance (float)3.0cmoutputinputconnectablestorable
The start distance of decay region 2.
endDistance2 (ed2) distance (float)6.0cmoutputinputconnectablestorable
The end distance of decay region 2.
startDistance3 (sd3) distance (float)8.0cmoutputinputconnectablestorable
The start distance of decay region 3.
endDistance3 (ed3) distance (float)10.0cmoutputinputconnectablestorable
The end distance of decay region 3.
fogSpread (fsp) float1.0outputinputconnectablestorable
The fog spread.
fogIntensity (fin) float1.0outputinputconnectablestorable
The fog intensity.
objectType (ot) charTrenderableObjectType::kSurfaceinputconnectablestorable
The type of object being lit (volume or surface).
pointWorld (pw) float31.0, 1.0, 1.0inputconnectablestorable
The start point of the interval produced by the viewing ray and the shadow map, in world space.
pointWorldX (tx) float0.0inputconnectablestorable
The x-component of the world position.
pointWorldY (ty) float0.0inputconnectablestorable
The y-component of the world position.
pointWorldZ (tz) float0.0inputconnectablestorable
The z-component of the world position.
farPointWorld (fw) float31.0, 1.0, 1.0inputconnectablestorable
The end point of the interval produced by the viewing ray and the shadow map, in world space.
farPointWorldX (fx) float0.0inputconnectablestorable
The x-component of the world far-position.
farPointWorldY (fy) float0.0inputconnectablestorable
The y-component of the world far-position.
farPointWorldZ (fz) float0.0inputconnectablestorable
The z-component of the world far-position.
rayDirection (rad) float3inputconnectable
The Ray direction.
rayDirectionX (rdx) float0.0inputconnectable
The x component of the direction.
rayDirectionY (rdy) float0.0inputconnectable
The y component of the direction.
rayDirectionZ (rdz) float0.0inputconnectable
The z component of the direction.
fogGeometry (fg) Messagen/aoutputinputconnectable
Connect this to the fog geometry.
lightGlow (lg) Messagen/aoutputinputconnectable
Connect this to the light glow.
psIllumSamples (pis) short1outputinputconnectablestorable
The number of particle illumination samples
mentalRayControls (mrc) compoundn/aoutputinputconnectablestorable
This is a root of following mental ray attributes.
miExportMrLight (milt) boolfalseoutputinputconnectablestorable
Controls usage of default mayabase light shader, which is used by default. If enabled, the mayabase light shader will not be applied at all but any connected custom mental ray node will.
miLightShader (mils) generic typed dataNULLoutputinputconnectablestorable
Port to connect custom mental ray node of type light shader.
miPhotonEmitter (mipe) generic typed dataNULLoutputinputconnectablestorable
Port to connect custom mental ray node of type photon emitter shader.
emitPhotons (phot) boolfalseoutputinputconnectablestorable
Enable photon emission for the light.
energy (eng) float3outputinputconnectablestorable
Determines photon energy for the light. energy is a product of Photon color and Photon intensity Photon Color is available in UI only, and is not a real attribute.
energyR (engr) float8000outputinputconnectablestorable
The red component of the photon energy
energyG (engg) float8000outputinputconnectablestorable
The green component of the photon energy
energyB (engb) float8000outputinputconnectablestorable
The blue component of the photon energy
photonIntensity (phi) float1outputinputconnectablestorable
Photon intensity factor for the photon energy color to determine photon energy for the light. Should be changed through the UI only.
exponent (exp) float2outputinputconnectablestorable
Photon energy falloff. Values other than 2 produce non-physically correct indirect illumination.
causticPhotons (cph) integer10000outputinputconnectablestorable
Caustic photons to emit (actually store) from the light.
globIllPhotons (gph) integer10000outputinputconnectablestorable
Global illumination photons to emit (actually store) from the light.
shadowMap (usm) boolfalseoutputinputconnectablestorable
Turn on mental ray shadowmap creation for the light.
smapResolution (smr) integer256outputinputconnectablestorable
Resolution (both width and height) of the shadowmap for mental ray.
smapSamples (smsa) short1outputinputconnectablestorable
Number of shadowmap samples to be taken if smapSoftness is greater zero. mental ray only.
smapSoftness (smso) float0outputinputconnectablestorable
The mental ray shadowmap softness for the light. If greater zero, oversampling will be used to produce blurry shadows.
smapBias (smb) float0outputinputconnectablestorable
Controls mental ray shadow map bias. It is a factor on the internal bias value. If smapBias is 0, the Woo algorithm (mid dist shadowmap) is enabled, and the bias is not used.
smapCamera (smc) Messagen/aoutputinputconnectablehidden
For internal use only.
smapFilename (smf) stringNULLoutputinputconnectablestorable
If not empty, enable shadowmap file creation with that name for mental ray.
smapLightName (smln) bool0outputinputconnectablestorable
Include the light name in the shadow map name.
smapSceneName (smsn) bool0outputinputconnectablestorable
Include the scene name in the shadow map name.
smapFrameExt (smfe) bool0outputinputconnectablestorable
Include the frame extention in the shadow map name.
smapDetail (smd) bool0outputinputconnectablestorable
Use mental ray detail shadow map for this light. shadowMap must be enabled. This algorithm is a combination of standard shadowmaps and ray traced shadows. Unlike standard shadowmaps, the detail shadowmap algorithm invokes shadow shaders at intersection points with shadow-casting geometry In general, detail shadowmaps need less resolution than standard shadowmaps, since they may take more samples per pixel. Still, detail shadowmaps tend to be more expensive to compute than standard shadowmaps because of the shadow shader calls. They may even be more expensive than raytraced shadows. However, their cost may be offset by repeated reuse over several frames. They may also be more efficient with time and memory resources than raytraced shadows for motion blurred shadows. The file format used to store detail shadowmaps is incompatible with the file format used to store regular shadowmaps. The entire file format is tile-based and only those tiles computed or used during a rendering will be stored in the file. New tiles may be dynamically added during rendering of new frames. Detail shadowmap files tend to be larger than regular shadowmap files since more information per pixel is stored.
smapDetailSamples (sds) short0outputinputconnectablestorable
Specify the number of samples per pixel taken when computing a mental ray detail shadowmap pixel. A value of n means that nxn samples are taken per pixel, each involving a shadow intersection including a shadow shader call at some varying subpixel coordinate inside the shadowmap pixel. If smapDetailSamples is set to 0, mental ray default value is used.
smapDetailAccuracy (sdac) float0outputinputconnectablestorable
This parameter determines how far two depth values of a sample have to be separated in order to be considered two distinct values. Selecting this value too small will result in larger memory and compute resource requirements for detail shadowmaps. Selecting it too large will lead to visible artifacts. mental ray tries to use a reasonable default value for the accuracy. If smapDetailAccuracy is set to 0, mental ray default value is used.
smapDetailAlpha (sdal) bool0outputinputconnectablestorable
If smapDetailAlpha is set, then only the intensity values of the color transmission coeffiencents are used.
areaLight (algt) boolfalseoutputinputconnectablestorable
Enable mental ray area light attributes for the light.
areaType (atyp) enum0 "Rectangle"outputinputconnectablestorable
Type to determine the shape of the area light.
areaNormal (ano) float3outputinputconnectablestorable
Normal vector to control direction of rectangle and disk area lights.
areaNormalX (anox) float0outputinputconnectablestorable
X component of areaNormal
areaNormalY (anoy) float2outputinputconnectablestorable
Y component of areaNormal
areaNormalZ (anoz) float0outputinputconnectablestorable
Z component of areaNormal
areaEdge (aed) float3outputinputconnectablestorable
Edge vector to control direction of rectangle and cylinder area lights.
areaEdgeX (aedx) float2outputinputconnectablestorable
X component of areaEdge
areaEdgeY (aedy) float0outputinputconnectablestorable
Y component of areaEdge
areaEdgeZ (aedz) float0outputinputconnectablestorable
Z component of areaEdge
areaRadius (arad) float2outputinputconnectablestorable
Radius to control size of disk, sphere, and cylinder area lights.
areaSampling (asa) short2outputinputconnectablestorable
Area light sample values for primary light sampling.
areaSamplingU (asau) short3outputinputconnectablestorable
U component of areaSampling
areaSamplingV (asav) short3outputinputconnectablestorable
V component of areaSampling
areaLowLevel (alev) short0outputinputconnectablestorable
Area light tracing level to switch to lower sampling.
areaLowSampling (alo) short2outputinputconnectablestorable
Area light sample values for lower light sampling.
areaLowSamplingU (alou) short2outputinputconnectablestorable
U component of areaLowSampling
areaLowSamplingV (alov) short2outputinputconnectablestorable
V component of areaLowSampling
areaVisible (avis) boolfalseoutputinputconnectablestorable
Control primary visibility of the area light shape.