areaLight

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

This node is MP safe

Related nodes

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

Attributes (60)

The following quick index only shows top-level attributes (too many attributes to show them all): lightGlow, mentalRayControls (49), normalCamera (3), objectType, pointWorld (3)

Long name (short name)	Type	Default	Flags
lightGlow (lg)	Message	n/a
Connect this to the light glow.
pointWorld (pw)	float3	1.0, 1.0, 1.0
The point to light in world space (for shadow maps).
pointWorldX (tx) float 0.0 The x-component of the world position.
pointWorldY (ty) float 0.0 The y-component of the world position.
pointWorldZ (tz) float 0.0 The z-component of the world position.
normalCamera (n)	float3
Normal Camera represents the surface normals in the camera's space. These are used to calculate lighting.
normalCameraX (nx) float 1.0 normal camera x value
normalCameraY (ny) float 1.0 normal camera Y value
normalCameraZ (nz) float 1.0 normal camera Z value
objectType (ot)	char	TrenderableObjectType::kSurface
The type of object being lit (volume or surface).
mentalRayControls (mrc)	compound	n/a
This is a root of following mental ray attributes.
miExportMrLight (milt) bool false 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 data NULL Port to connect custom mental ray node of type light shader.
miPhotonEmitter (mipe) generic typed data NULL Port to connect custom mental ray node of type photon emitter shader.
emitPhotons (phot) bool false Enable photon emission for the light.
energy (eng) float3 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) float 8000 The red component of the photon energy energyG (engg) float 8000 The green component of the photon energy energyB (engb) float 8000 The blue component of the photon energy
photonIntensity (phi) float 1 Photon intensity factor for the photon energy color to determine photon energy for the light. Should be changed through the UI only.
exponent (exp) float 2 Photon energy falloff. Values other than 2 produce non-physically correct indirect illumination.
causticPhotons (cph) integer 10000 Caustic photons to emit (actually store) from the light.
causticPhotonsEmit (cphe) integer 0 Caustic photon emission
globIllPhotons (gph) integer 10000 Global illumination photons to emit (actually store) from the light.
globIllPhotonsEmit (gphe) integer 0 Global illumination photon emission
shadowMap (usm) bool false Turn on mental ray shadowmap creation for the light.
smapResolution (smr) integer 256 Resolution (both width and height) of the shadowmap for mental ray.
smapSamples (smsa) short 1 Number of shadowmap samples to be taken if smapSoftness is greater zero. mental ray only.
smapSoftness (smso) float 0 The mental ray shadowmap softness for the light. If greater zero, oversampling will be used to produce blurry shadows.
smapBias (smb) float 0 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) Message n/a For internal use only.
smapFilename (smf) string NULL If not empty, enable shadowmap file creation with that name for mental ray.
smapLightName (smln) bool 0 Include the light name in the shadow map name.
smapSceneName (smsn) bool 0 Include the scene name in the shadow map name.
smapFrameExt (smfe) bool 0 Include the frame extention in the shadow map name.
smapDetail (smd) bool 0 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) short 0 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) float 0 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) bool 0 If smapDetailAlpha is set, then only the intensity values of the color transmission coeffiencents are used.
smapWindow (smw) compound n/a This is a root of following mental ray attributes. smapWindowXMin (smxl) short 0 Min x-value of the window smapWindowYMin (smyl) short 0 Min y-value of the window smapWindowXMax (smxh) short 0 Max x-value of the window smapWindowYMax (smyh) short 0 Max y-value of the window
smapMerge (smm) bool 0 Shadow map merge
smapTrace (smt) bool 0 Shadow map trace
useShadowMapCamera (usmc) bool 0 Mimic non depth map auto focus in mental ray with shadow map camera
smapCameraAperture (smca) float 1 The shadow map camera aperture
smapCameraResolution (smcr) float 1 The shadow map camera resolution
smapCameraAspect (smcs) float 1 The shadow map camera aspect
smapCameraName (smcn) string NULL The shadow map camera name
smapCameraFocal (smcf) string NULL The shadow map camera focal length in inch
areaLight (algt) bool false Enable mental ray area light attributes for the light.
areaType (atyp) enum 0 "Rectangle" Type to determine the shape of the area light.
areaShapeIntensity (alsi) float 1.0 Area light shape intensity
areaHiSamples (ahs) short 8 Area light high samples
areaHiSampleLimit (alev) short 1 Area light high sample limit
areaLoSamples (als) short 1 Area light low samples
areaVisible (avis) bool 0 Area light low sample limit
areaObject (aobj) Message n/a Area light object