Creating New Lights
All scene lights are displayed within the Light Controls. New lights can be created by clicking the Create Light button. By default, the Create Light button creates a spotlight, but you can change the type of light using the options in the Properties palette. Poser lets you switch easily between the various light types. You can select the type of light to create if you right-click on the Create Light button and select the light type from the pop-up menu or use the Object, Create Light menu.

Using the Light Controls
The Light Controls offer a convenient way of creating and positioning lights, and setting light properties. To open the Light Controls palette, select Window, Light Controls. The Light Controls palette, shown in Figure 7-4, include a large sample sphere in the center that shows the lighting effects; surrounding it are three smaller circles. These smaller circles are the lights. You can change their locations by dragging them about the larger sphere. When you select a circle representing a light, controls for changing its intensity, color, and properties appear within the Light Controls palette. There are also buttons for removing the selected light and creating new lights.

If you click on the title of the Light Controls, you can access a pop-up menu of options. Using these pop-up menu options, you can select a specific light, as well as create and delete lights and access the Properties palette for the selected light. There are also two positioning mode options: Rotate and Revolve.

The default mode is Revolve. Dragging the smaller spheres in the Light Controls around the larger sphere with this mode enabled orbits the selected light about the larger sphere, thus changing its position. Dragging the smaller spheres with the Rotate mode enabled keeps the light in its current position, but rotates it about, which changes where it is aiming.

 The Rotate mode is only available when a spotlight is selected.

 

Changing Light Color
When a light is selected, you can click on the colored dot beneath the Light Controls or click on the Color button in the Properties palette to open the color selector dialog box where you can choose a different light color.

 When a color selector dialog box is open, you can select any color currently visible on the computer whether it is within the current interface or from another application.

Selecting and Positioning Lights
You can select lights by clicking their circular icons in the Light Controls, by selecting a light from the Actor List located at the top of the Document Window or in the Parameters palette, or by choosing a light from Hierarchy Editor. When a light is selected, an indicator of the light, shown in Figure 7-5, becomes visible within the Document Window. You can position lights by dragging their circular icons with the Light Controls or by dragging their indicator in the Document Window using the Editing Tools. Each indicator in the Document Window is different depending on the light type that is selected. You also can position lights using the parameter dials found in the Parameters palette.

 When the spotlight type is selected, the parameter dials include values for setting the spotlight’s cone distance and angle.