DriveWorks Pro 22

Directional Light

Directional Light

The Directional Light entity lights an entire 3D scene evenly from one direction. This entity adds a Directional Light to the node it is applied to.

A directional light can be thought of as a distant light source which lights the entire scene. It behaves in many ways like the sun.

A directional light does not have any identifiable source position and so the node can be placed anywhere in the scene. All objects in the scene are illuminated as if the light is always from the same direction. The distance of the light from the target object is not defined and so the light does not diminish.

Directional Lights should be used as an imaginary out of scene light source. For lights within a scene, that have been modelled, Spot Lights and Point Lights should be used.

When added to a node, the nodes position in 3D space does not affect how the light is emitted. Only the direction of the light, color and intensity matter for this entity.

With the node selected, the directional light points in the direction of the blue arrow (forward direction) on the node. The direction of the light source is controlled by changing the direction of the blue arrow.

Information Panel

With the model node selected and the Directional Light entity added to the node, the following will be displayed in the Information Panel:

Color

The color will change based on the values of the properties below. The Color field will display the color of the light being created when the parameters below change.

• Red Intensity

  Red Intensity controls how much red will be in the light source. Enter a number from 0 to 1

• Green Intensity

  Green Intensity controls how much green will be in the light source. Enter a number from 0 to 1

• Blue Intensity

  Blue Intensity controls how much blue will be in the light source. Enter a number from 0 to 1

• Intensity

  Intensity (brightness) controls how bright the light will be. The higher the number, the brighter the light source. Enter any number in this property to change the intensity.

Shadow Casting

Directional Lighting allows shadowing to be applied to the scene.

• Shadows Enabled
• Shadow Type

  Select the type of shadow from:

  • Variance Mapped (More performant, less quality)

    The following settings can be applied for this shadow type:

    • Shadow Resolution
      • High - will render at a resolution of 2048.
      • Medium - will render at a resolution of 1024.
      • Low - will render at a resolution of 512.
    • Scaling Method

      Select the scaling method from:

      • Automatic
      • Manual
        • Scale - sets the scale of the projected shadow.
  • PCF (Balanced between performance and quality)

    The following settings can be applied for this shadow type:

    • Shadow Resolution
      • High - will render at a resolution of 2048.
      • Medium - will render at a resolution of 1024.
      • Low - will render at a resolution of 512.
    • Sample Count (PCF Sample Count)

      Enter a value between 8 and 32 (default 16)

    • Penumbra Size (PCF Penumbra Size)

      The penumbra is the outer region of a shadow which is partially occluded, displaying a gradient between fully dark and fully light.

      Enter a value between 0 and 50 (default 7)

    • Scaling Method

      Select the scaling method from:

      • Automatic
      • Manual
        • Scale - sets the scale of the projected shadow.
  • Contact Hardened (Less performant, higher quality)

    This Shadow Type has a penumbra size based on the distance from the occluder.

    The following settings can be applied for this shadow type:

    • Sample Count (Backprojected Sample Count)

      Enter a value between 8 and 32 (default 24)

    • Penumbra Size (Backprojected Penumbra Size)

      The penumbra is the outer region of a shadow which is partially occluded, displaying a gradient between fully dark and fully light.

      Enter a value between 0 and 1 (default 0.2)

    • Penumbra Distance (Backprojected Penumbra Distance)

      Enter a value between 1 and 20 (default 5)

Parameter Panel

With the model node selected and the Directional Light entity added to the node, the following will be displayed in the Parameter Panel:

• Intensity

  Intensity (brightness) controls how bright the light will be. The higher the number, the brighter the light source. Enter any number in this property to change the intensity.

• Red Intensity

  Red Intensity controls how much red will be in the light source. Enter a number from 0 to 1

• Green Intensity

  Green Intensity controls how much green will be in the light source. Enter a number from 0 to 1

• Blue Intensity

  Blue Intensity controls how much blue will be in the light source. Enter a number from 0 to 1

Shadows

The following parameters will be displayed for controlling shadows:

• Shadows Enabled

  Any rule applied should result in one of the following:

  • True
  • False
• Shadow Type

  Any rule applied should result in one of the following:

  • VarianceMapped
  • PCF
  • ContactHardened
• Shadow Resolution Quality

  Any rule applied should result in one of the following:

  See Shadow Casting above for the resolution that will be applied for the Shadow Type in use.

  • High
  • Medium
  • Low
• Scaling Method

  Any rule applied should result in one of the following:

  • Automatic
  • Manual
• Scale

  Applies when the Scaling Method results in Manual.

  Enter a value to use for the Scale of the shadow.

• PCF Penumbra Size

  Applies when the Shadow Type results in PCF.

  Any rule applied should result in a value between 0 and 50 (default 7)

• PCF Sample Count

  Applies when the Shadow Type results in PCF.

  Any rule applied should result in a value between 8 and 32 (default 16)

• Backprojected Sample Count

  Applies when the Shadow Type results in ContactHardened.

  Any rule applied should result in a value between 8 and 32 (default 24)

• Backprojected Penumbra Size

  Applies when the Shadow Type results in ContactHardened.

  Any rule applied should result in a value between 0 and 1 (default 0.2)

• Backprojected Penumbra Distance

  Applies when the Shadow Type results in ContactHardened.

  Any rule applied should result in a value between 1 and 20 (default 5)