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Issue with Distant Light in 7.1

desperadodesperado Posts: 67
edited December 1969 in Bryce Discussion

Going throught the various tuts in various places has helped to understand alot about Bryce, certainly much more than if I would have by experimenting blindly. But I'm having trouble getting over a sticking point with the Distant Light. No matter where I position it in the scene, the light is always from the same direction, which casts the same shadow in the same place. So I went to the Bryce PDF manual for help. There was a reference to using the trackball to adjust the direction for the light source by selecting the "Direction Control" option. So I took the elevator down to the Light Lab and found the Direction Control option in the Parallel Light section. I also discovered that the trackball device does indeed control the direction for Distant Light, but only while in the Light Lab. Even though I click the the check mark to accept the settings, nothing has been applied to my scene. When I go back downstairs to the LL I fnd that the settings weren't applied there as well. I searched and searched for a different Direction Control for the Distant Light but could not find one. And that is where things stand now; am I overlooking a flippy triangle somewhere? :O(

Comments

  • Dave SavageDave Savage Posts: 2,433
    edited December 1969

    I'll try and help if I can.

    Firstly presuming you have actually placed the distant light in your scene and you're not just using the sun (which is basically a distant light).
    Make sure you've turned the Sun off (in the sky lab there is a little button in the right hand panel).

    Next make sure you have no light leaking from anywhere else in your scene. To do this select the distant light and in its floating sub menu, select the A button and then choose to 'Make Invisible'. Then try a test render of your scene to see if it's completely black.

    If it is solid black (or near as dammit), cancel the test render and switch the distant light back to visible.
    Now the shadows should fall in the correct place in relation to where the light is and the objects in your scene are and if you move the light, the shadows will move too.

    Hope this helps. I have to go out now but will check back when I get home later.

  • HoroHoro Posts: 10,644
    edited May 2013

    There seem to be some oddities here. Perhaps Rashad has better insight. The distant light comes in as radial and moving the roller ball also moves the light and with it the shadows. So far so good. If spot is selected, this will not be taken. If you go back into the LL, there is still radial. If you select spot again, you'll see that edge softness is negative. This can never be set to negative, so this is a bug. If set to zero or higher, the spot selection stays and also here moving the roller ball moves the light and the shadows.

    Once set to spot, it gets tricky to get back to radial. I haven't found a reliable way but it seems that playing with sky interaction and entering some values for azimuth and altitude makes the button work again and radial can again be selected.

    Post edited by Horo on
  • Rashad CarterRashad Carter Posts: 1,803
    edited December 1969

    The problem is due to a bug with animation. All you need to do is go to the bottom right of the screen and turn off Auto-Key. Then the Distant Light will accept settings changes as it should. This bug vexed me for a long time, I think it was Dan Whiteside that helped come up with the solution inadvertently.

    Make sure Auto-Key is not checked. Best of luck.

    AutoKey_3.jpg
    512 x 372 - 151K
  • HoroHoro Posts: 10,644
    edited December 1969

    @Rashad - thanks for dropping in here. You've mentioned that a long time ago if my memory serves me right, though I forgot. However, the Spot/Radial switching issue is not resolved. I deliberately set auto keyframe on (default off for me) and I see no difference. Sometimes turning shadows off/on helps, sometimes moving the preview around. There is definitely something fishy.

  • Rashad CarterRashad Carter Posts: 1,803
    edited December 1969

    Ah, yes, Horo, I understand the issue now. Looks as if the .mov file that operates the Light Lab gets corrupted. The same type of thing happens with the quality slider once you get past 1000, but in the case of the slider breaks completely and only keyboard entries can be accepted.

  • desperadodesperado Posts: 67
    edited December 1969

    @Rashad - Con Muchos thankos. This worked like a charm. The trackball now controls the light direction, as it should. :O)

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