9

Spotlight Parameters 1339
Tip:
The hotspot and falloff borders are not
v isible in shaded viewports. Use controls in the
LightConegrouptoadjusthotspotandfalloff
in the viewport. Render the scene to see the full
effect of the light’s border.
Spotlight cone displayed in a viewport
To adjust the hotspot and falloff, do one of the
following:
• Use the Hotspot and Falloff spinners to increase
ordecreasethesizeofthehotspotandfalloff
regions. For spotlights, Hotspot and Falloff are
expressed in deg rees.
• Use manipulators to adjust hotspot and falloff
by dragging in a v iewport, as described in the
procedure that follows.
By default, falloff value is always constrained to
be at least two degrees or two units g reater than
thehotspotvalue.Thesizeofthisconstraintisa
preference that you can change in the Rendering
panel (page 3–826) of the Preferences dialog. The
falloff value can range from 0 to 10,000 units.
When the hotspot and fal loff va lues are close in
value, the light casts a hard-edged beam.
To use manip ulator s to control hotspot and fa llof f:
1.
Select the spotlight.
Tip: When you select multiple spotlights, all
their manipulators are accessible.
2. On the default main toolbar, click to
turn on Select And Manipulate.
Now when you move the mouse over the
hotspot or falloff circle, the circle turns red
to show you can adjust it by dragging. Also,
atooltipdisplaysthespotlightname,the
parameter, and its value.
3. Drag the hotspot or falloff circle to adjust the
value.
The hotspot and falloff constrain each other, as
their spinner controls do.
Spotlightmanipulatorsaredescribedattheend
of this topic.
To set the shape of the light beam:
1.
Choose either Recta ngle or Circle.
The shape of the light’s cone changes to reflect
the shape you chose.
2. If you chose Circle, you are done. If you chose
Rectangle, you can now adjust t he aspect ratio
(page 3–911) of the rectangular light in the
Aspect field.
To change a rectangular light’s aspect ratio:
1.
Choose Rectangle, as described above.
2. Change the Aspect value to the aspect ratio that
you want.
The Bitmap Fit button is another way to set t he
aspect ratio. It is mainly used with projections.