I am using Teyon's Sandrunner and Master Ki in a cave constructed from exported Bryce terrains. I am looking for a way to parent lights to torches to put on the walls. I am using Poser 4 Pro Pack. Can some kind soul give me the quick and easy answer I am looking for?

I don't know if it can be done in Poser 4 (I think so), but this is what worked for me in Poser 5: create a spotlight, set the light color to reddish (firelight), set the Angle Start to about 60 and the Angle End to about 120, Distance Start to 0.1 and Distance End to about 15. Parent the light to the torch prop - spot lights can be parented. Set xTran, yTran, zTran to zero, set xRot, yRot and zRot to zero too. Use yTran to have the light point straight at the torch flame. Use zTran to move the spot just a little bit back - the equivalent of about 1 foot is fine (0.15-0.20 Poser units). Then use Copy to copy the light, angle and position settings to the clipboard. Create a second spotlight and parent it to the torch prop too. Now PASTE the settings: the second spotlight occupies the same place as the first. Change yRot to 90, zTran to 0, and xTran to 0.15-0.20 (the same value you used for the zTran in the first spot). Create a third spotlight, same procedure, only change yRot to -90 and xTran to -0.15 Create a fourth spotlight, same procedure, only change yRot to 180, and zTran to -0.15 A fifth spot, same procedure, only chane xRot to -90 (light points down) and increase yTran by 0.15 A sixth spot, same procedure, only change xRot to 90 and decrease yTran by 0.15 Disable shadows for the flame (maybe you'll have to disable shadows for the entire torch prop). Now you can move the torch to wherever you want it, the lights will move with it. This should do it. In Poser 5 there are additional tricks like using an ambient map and volumetric lighting, something that Poser 4 can't do. The flame light must come from the spots. And in Poser 6 I'd simply use a parented point light. You might have to tweak some values to get the best looking render, and yes, you'll probably end up with quite a bit of spotlights. Cool cave by the way. Good luck, Steven.

That was concise,timely, and thoroughly informative. I will try your method and see if I can get it to work in Pro Pack.

Still working on it.

In other thread (can't remember which one), I saw an easier way, using ony 2 spot lights (per torch). The trick was that you must change light default settings, so angle end could been set to 180 instead of 160 (default max value) You just have to place lightspots opposite, and you got an omni light. A bit tricky, but works fine. Search in the forums for 'omni lights' or something like that. Good Luck Bye.

Thank you zarquen, I will do that.

The effect is better visible when you lower the main light strenght. The distance end parameter might also be too low (or to high, giving an evenly distributed light). If you use the 180 degrees angle end, be sure to set the angle start very high too, 160 or thereabouts.

Thanks svdl I appreciate all your help here.

This is what I usually do. I don't bother too much about trying to throw light on the flame prop as long as some light is falling on it, I set its Ambient Color to white, its Hightlight Color to black, and its Object colour to what ever seems to work best with the lighting. The flame prop should have 'Casts Shadow' turned off. For the light thrown out by the torch I use one of my 'P5-Omni-12' lights (available in the Free Stuff). The 'Dist End' dial is offten a key factor in making torch light look real.

Your torch looks pretty nice.