I'm having a devil of a time - and wasting a lot of time - trying to position lights with the Poser 8 Light Controls. One thing that would help is if I could determine, when moving the lights, which direction is x, y and z when I try to rotate them. Can anyone give me tips you use to position lights to get them where you want them?

And why can't you move the light closer and are only able to rotate them?

Which type of lights?

with my setup and default camera locations  x is left/right, z is forward/back and y is up/down   The infinite lights cant be moved , just rotated around the 0,0,0 position. 

Spotlights and point lights can be placed anywhere.

Quote -  

And why can't you move the light closer and are only able to rotate them?

Has to be talking about infinite lights. Spot and point you can move all over the place.

Attached Link: Poser's Lights Tutorial

Here's a tut for ya that might help.

It's an oldie but a goodie and may help explain how Poser's Lights work.

cheers,
dr geep
;=]

Attached Link: Poser's Spotlights Tutorial

Attached Link: Poser's Lighting Basics Tutorial

Attached Link: Fine Tuning Poser's Spotlights Tutorial

Enjoy !!! :biggrin:

cheers,
dr geep
;=]

Thanks big G I'll get educated!

I find the way Poser adds lights with a random colour and off center is annoying. I zerowed the the translations, and rotations of a spotlight, and set its colour to white. I then used Ctrl+C to Copy the data, and Pasted it (Ctrl+V) into a text file.

I can copy the text and paste it into a light to give me a zeroed white light. The same file should work on any type of light.

Quote - I find the way Poser adds lights with a random colour and off center is annoying. I zerowed the the translations, and rotations of a spotlight, and set its colour to white. I then used Ctrl+C to Copy the data, and Pasted it (Ctrl+V) into a text file.

I can copy the text and paste it into a light to give me a zeroed white light. The same file should work on any type of light.

That's one way, but not as convenient as how I do it.

I make a light configured how I want. I save it to the library. Later, I load as many of these as I want using the "Add preset to current scene" button. This leaves the existing lights and adds what I want. I never use Poser's "Add a light".

I have saved all my favorite individual lights, such as my favorite sun, as well as multi-spot setups, several rims for add-ons, etc.

"Add preset to current scene" button.

P6 (grumble, grumble), must update (grumble grumble).

@Geep - Great tutorials.

@Michaelab - You may also want to consider purchasing Semidieu's Advance Lights & Camera Guides (at RuntimeDNA). They're a great visual aid to setting up lights and camerals. Maybe able to grab them at the next special sales (I did).

Thanks LB.

Geep, you're a hero. Thank you!

Quote - "Add preset to current scene" button.

 

P6 (grumble, grumble), must update (grumble grumble).

Same here, Les.  :(

Quote - "Add preset to current scene" button.

 P6 (grumble, grumble), must update (grumble grumble).

Get someone to write you a python script for "Add Light to Scene"? Or isn't there already one that does that called Light Panel?

Here are the default Point and Spot lights I made for myself. They will load with Inverse Square attenuation into the middle of the scene at about head-height. They're intended for P8 / PP2010. I've changed the way they preview so they're easier to see and find.

Save the file above to your PC and change the .txt extension to .zip. Then extract to where you want (into a Lights folder).

Load these default lights by selecting them in the library and clicking on the Double Tick: any other method will cause all other lights in the scene to be deleted.

Thanks for all the help guys and gals. I'll check into them all.