Introduction to Maya - Modeling Fundamentals Vol 1
This course will look at the fundamentals of modeling in Maya with an emphasis on creating good topology. We'll look at what makes a good model in Maya and why objects are modeled in the way they are.
# 1 25-06-2003 , 04:25 AM
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Fog Light

Hi all, it's me again.

I'm trying to make a fog light, but no matter what I do the fog portion is infinitesimally small. I've tried scaling the light but to no avail. I have it set to "no decay" so I'm not sure what's going on.

Any help would be appreciated.

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File Type: ma fog.ma (52.0 KB, 211 views)
# 2 25-06-2003 , 05:49 AM
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By "infinitesimally small" you mean not visable?
4.5 has a bug when mapping light fog. Trying deleting your lightfog node, and reapplying the light fog.
Also, you should use a decay with a lightfog light, else you'll get a very harsh edge where the fog stops, and it doesn't look pretty.
Try using linear decay, and upping the light intensity.


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Last edited by Blinn; 25-06-2003 at 05:53 AM.
# 3 25-06-2003 , 06:47 AM
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I tried deleting the light fog node (I'm guessing you mean in the hypergraph), but it didn't help. I did find that if I set the scale to 50,000 then I can see the fog. However, if I set any decay, the whole thing goes away and will not render.

Is there maybe a global setting somewhere that I have set that is messing me up?

So how bad is this 4.5 bug? Can I not do fog lights?


Last edited by Dann; 25-06-2003 at 06:50 AM.
# 4 25-06-2003 , 01:10 PM
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Here is a file with what I think you are trying to get at.

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File Type: mb fog01.mb (42.7 KB, 233 views)
# 5 25-06-2003 , 05:06 PM
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When you create the fog, there should be a blue cone that appears within your spotlight cone. This is the volume in which the fog will be displayed, so scale that up. The bug isn't much of a problem, just a tad annoying.


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# 6 25-06-2003 , 05:43 PM
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Roach, Jacob, how did you scale that blue cone? I noticed it also does not have the same angle as the maroon cone, how did change that as well.

I looked at the cone shape tab, and saw the "Render Cone Attributes", but they are un-editable as if controlled elsewhere.

What about decay? Even on Roach's light, if I add decay the whole light disappears.

# 7 25-06-2003 , 06:01 PM
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Hey Dan, Once you apply a fog to the light the blue cone should show up automatically. You should notice the cone gets larger with a blue cone around it. In regards to decay. This allows you to control when you want your light to start and end. To control the decays you can do it manually in the attrubute editor under light effects or with the cone selected and in manipulator tool mode by clicking on the blue follow through tab on the manipulator you can click on this till you get the decay regions to display. You can then control them by middle mouse clicking on each region. Curve intensity is also good to use. You can create one and than edit it in the Graph Editor. This tells maya what intensity you want the spotlight at different regions. I hope this helps.

# 8 25-06-2003 , 06:41 PM
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OK, this is what I'm seeing.

The blue cone DOES show up, but the other cone DOES NOT get larger. They have the exact same cone angle.

I get how to control the decay regions now, thank you! However, why doesn't the fog continue to the last decay region? It always stops half way. Even on your light, it ends at the end of the blue cone, which is only half way to the end of the decay regions.

Decay Rate: How can I use this? All it does is make my fog light disappear. (or maybe it gets really really small.

# 9 25-06-2003 , 06:49 PM
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scale out the cone and increase the intensity

# 10 25-06-2003 , 07:58 PM
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YAY!

Thank you for your GREAT help.


By Using the Intensity Curve I can get great results. It is odd that the Decay rate function makes the cone so small regardless of the scale of the light. Maybe it's a bug in 4.5. Either way, I got what I want so I'm happy.

THANKS!!!

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# 11 25-06-2003 , 08:08 PM
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awesome! looks good.

# 12 25-06-2003 , 09:36 PM
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