Hi all, Well I finally realized that light falloff was the transition between light and dark on the outside of the light source (if that makes any sense). For some reason I was thinking it was how quickly the light faded from the source. Is there any way to adjust this (short of adjusting the power level)? I'm trying to spot something and I am trying to get the light to fall off somewhat abruptly, even though it is technically unrealistic... Thanks! -Brian

You're using the "falloff" dials in the volumetric atmosphere window?

Hi Mike, Oops, sorry, let me clarify. I was fiddling with the falloff for the actual light itself, in the editor window (upper right part of the screen). Where you can adjust the power, softness, etc. Anyhoo, I didn't want to change any settings globally, I just wanted to change a setting for one light... for example, normally a spot light, say at a given power of 50, would project light like so: Light source -> air -> object a -> object b -> "end" "End" meaning that the light, at a power of 50, has no lighting effect at that range, as the object is too far away. Kind of like a dim flashlite in a big room where you can't see the other side. Now, I was looking to do something like: Light source -> air -> object a -> "end" -> object b Meaning, the light source would fade out entirely before hitting object b. I know it's not "realistic" but sometimes that's what you need :) I know I could move the light closer, and then decrease the value, but was hoping there was a slider for the same effect :) -Brian

Brian, if you are using Vue 4, the Quadratic lights are suppose to reproduce accurate falloff from the actual source. Cheers

Yeah, I'd try the quadratic thingie first. I'll see if I can duplicate what it is you're trying for. Good question, really-- I've done alot of lighting experiments, but I haven't really tried this one yet, though I do know what you mean.

Here ya go. The lower one is a quadratic spotlight, and the upper is a regular one. They both have identical settings as far as spread, light color, etc., abd are the same distance from te camera, and are both in volumetric mode, in a volumetric atmosphere. The lower one's beam seems to continue on, casting a "shadow" into the beam of the upper... which would be a good topic for questioning all on it's own.... You ARE using Vue 4, right? I don't think this could be done in Vue 3 without some fancy, fuzzy, ambient, complex material mapped to a cone to simulate the light beam.

Thanks Mike ! I always wondered the difference between regular and quadratic (other than the mathematical one), but I never got a chance to try for myself.

Cool - thanks Mike! Some good examples and it helps make it a bit more obvious. I look forward to playing with it more. I'm finally finishing up my first Vue 4 scene... whew, can't wait to do the final save on it, so to speak, and be done with it :) -Brian

Just make sure you save often! Especially as your scene becomes more complex. When I start geting alot of stuff in a scene, I will save after every other change or so, overwriting the previous (though it doesn't hurt to have duplicates which can be deleted). Speaking of which, in case you don't already know, if you have it selected in File-Options, Vue will make a backup copy of every scene you save, but it gives it a file extension of ".bak". if a .vue scen will ever not open and you have a .bak file in the same directory with the same file name, rename it with a .vue extension, and then you can open it. Glad the spot example helped. :)

Thanks for the tips, Mike. Believe me I learned that lesson the hard way in Bryce (about using file names, etc., saving often...) I've lost a lot of work over the years. Vue so far has been great, at least with the latest patch. I'm only regularly getting one bug when selecting multiple layers while holding the CTLR button -- hopefully this will be worked out. I'm psyched that my file sizes are pretty small -- I'm using tons of grass, reeds, etc., it's nice to see the file sizes so small! -Brian

Yeah that Solid Growth stuff makes for some pretty small file sizes. The only time you'll get really large file sizes is when you start adding polygon meshes, Poser characters, etc., and if you have high resolution terrains in your scenes.

The scene I just finished up now is 33meg in size, at about 28 million polys. I'm impressed with the small file size. There's a couple medium-high res terrains, 1 imported DXF tree branch, another small DXF model, a poser model, more grass and reeds models than I can count. I actually have one bryce scene that's around 120 meg in size. That's a bear to load and save :) But for this scene, Vue seems to handle it pretty easily. -Brian

One thing I hate about Vue though is the way it can take a really small 200 KB .3DS mesh and turn it into a 4 MB .VOB model....

Just as often, I've watched it take a 500+kb model and cut the kb in half as VOB. It really depends on the particular model. And Brian...33 MB file with 28 million polys? Okay, you're officially crazy. ;)

"And Brian...33 MB file with 28 million polys? Okay, you're officially crazy. ;)" Heck, that's nothin'. I've had lots more than that. Just the Wreath in Window scene was over 80 megs...LOL. Laurie

Not to mention that 60-some meg gate you made! (which was very beautiful, by the way--- I stil can't comprehend how you zipped it so small!) I lost that too.. sniffle :( I had been working on a scene with it, which I went back to every now and then....

Just go on back to Big-i Mike...it's still there :). Everything's still there :). Laurie

In fact...if you've lost anything that's on my website and there is something that you had that you don't see there (had to delete some for space), just let me know what and I'll restore it to you. Laurie

Thanks Laurie! I've still not gotten around to re-joining several sites, because I've lost all my passwords too. Doh! But I guess I can just open a new account. :)

Keep passwords on paper...get them there as soon as possible, at the same time you're setting them, whenever possible. I keep a little notebook of weird number/letter combinations and what they're all for -- websites, webrings, program registrations...it's not organized at all. I just mark stuff in the next available space as needed, but boy, it has saved me a zillion times! (Keep Vue veggie numbers on paper, too!) ;)

Yeah, I do have all that stuff on papaer, but just idle scribblings, that now don't make any sense, lol! I printed out my Vue veggie serial numbers, and I have text files on CD's as well.. it's just a matter of finding all the stuff! My files and folders in my PC were all quite well organized if I do say so myself...my CD collection is another story-- a sad, tragic, messy storry.... :P