RockPlot3D | View | Lighting
Use this menu option to adjust the lighting angle and intensity for the 3D scene.
Menu Options
Step-by-Step Summary
- Ambient Lighting: Insert a check here if you want to provide general illumination of the display objects, with no point source of light and little if any shading. If you prefer to apply shading to your view, leave this box un-checked, and establish those settings below.
- Lights: If Ambient Lighting is off, you can use these options to define the illumination of the view.
- Light Above Only: Click in this radio button if you wish to illuminate the objects from above only.
- Then, use the left mouse button to click in the Orientation Circle to specify the location of the light source, which is represented by a yellow circle. The quadrants of the Orientation Circle represent the compass directions, so that if the yellow circle is in the upper-right quadrant, the light will come from the northeast. The concentric circles represent the light angle. The closer to the outer circle, the lower to the horizon the light source. The closer to the center circle, the more overhead the light source.
- Light Below Only: Click in this radio button if you wish to illuminate the objects only from below.
- Then, use the right mouse button to click in the Orientation Circle to specify the location of the light source, which is represented by a green circle. As for above-lighting, the quadrants of the Orientation Circle represent the compass directions, and the concentric circles represent angle.
- Both Lights: Click in this radio button if you want both light sources, and follow the directions for each as listed above.
- Intensity:
- Ambient: Use this slider bar to adjust the overall Ambient lighting. The greater the ambient lighting, the fewer shadows you'll see. This is typically left fairly low.
- Diffuse: Use this slider bar to adjust the Diffuse lighting. Typically this is left fairly high.
- Click on the Lighting button
in the toolbar, or choose View | Lighting (or type Ctrl+L).
- Establish the lighting settings, as described above.
! The lighting changes are processed in "real-time" so that you can make changes to the lighting style, direction, and angle, and see the changes in the display. You may want to move the Lighting window to the right so that the current scene is visible in the background.
- When the lighting is displayed to your satisfaction, click the Close button.
! Lighting changes are not stored in the Rw3D file.
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