First Light Kit | User Guide
Aim At Surface
Use for
- Adjusting the position of highlights on a surface (polygons).
- Adjusting the distance of lights to a surface.
Overview
This tool provides a fast way to manipulate lights in your scene by allowing you to interactively set a light’s facing and position by clicking on- or click-dragging across- a polygon surface. It also provides a visual indication of where each light is pointed upon activation and enables fast in-view switching between lights (max. 50).
Workflow Quickstart
Step by Step
To activate this tool,
- Select one or more mesh items.
- (Optional) Select one or more lights; Max. 50.
- Left-click in the 3d viewport.
To use this tool,
- To select a light, left-click on its associated square handle.
- To move a light, left-click on a surface(polygon) or click-and-drag over a surface.
- To alter the distance of the light from the surface, left-click on the blue arrow handle or right-click and haul the mouse forwards/backwards.
Important Workflow Tip
After moving every 1-to-3 lights, shift-left-click in an empty area of the 3d view to apply the transforms. This will restore/improve interactive performance.
Please also note,
- Initial handle placement is determined by hit testing against all geometry in the scene.
- Handle movement is constrained to surfaces of active mesh item layers.
- Handle movement will stop at the borders of geometry.
User Interface
Lock Pos
When checked, the position of the selected light will be locked. This setting is global and persists when switching between lights.
Right-click hauling is not disabled when Lock Pos is active.
Updates
Version 1.1
- Improved: Workplane alignment is now ignored (taken into account) during surface tracking.
Limitations
Does not support items with (non-identity) scale transforms applied due to a bug in the modo sdk; Translation and rotation transforms are supported.