Adding light
Default lighting is automatically added to a drawing for basic visibility of rendered objects. The default lighting is fixed to the “camera” so that it always lights an object appropriately. However, rendering a complex scene usually requires the addition of light sources; the addition of a visible light automatically hides the default lighting scheme, so that the scene is not overly bright.
Light added to a Vectorworks drawing can be ambient or diffused. Ambient light affects all surfaces equally. Diffused lighting affects surfaces differently depending on the angle of the light source and position of the surfaces. Once one or more light sources have been added to the drawing, it can be rendered to mimic the effect of light on the drawing surfaces.
The brightness and color of objects in shadow are affected by the layer’s ambient light setting.
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Light type |
Description |
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Default |
Default ambient lighting is present in every drawing for the basic visibility of rendered objects; the Set Lighting Options command determines the brightness and default color of ambient lighting on the current layer. Spotlight users can globally control the default settings for ambient lighting from the Set Spotlight Rendering Options command. |
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Sunlight |
The Set Sun Position command, or in the Vectorworks Design Suite products, the Heliodon tool, creates a special directional light to emulate sunlight. The Physical Sky type Renderworks background can be used with a heliodon, so that the sky in a rendering's background accurately depicts the sky at the designated time and location. |
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Environment |
Panoramic image Renderworks backgrounds (including physical sky backgrounds and the HDRI backgrounds in the Vectorworks Libraries, which are types of panoramic backgrounds) can provide environment lighting for renderings |
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Light tool |
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Directional |
Projects light with parallel rays |
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Point |
Radiates light in all directions |
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Spot |
Projects light in a specific direction |
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Custom |
Emits light based on a defined complex spatial distribution |
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Line |
Emits light from a line (not visible with the Redshift by Maxon render type) |
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Area |
Emits light from the surface of an object (not visible with the Redshift by Maxon render type) |
