Overcaster

Overcaster Sun

This is mainly to be used with outdoor setups. It's the basic spinning distant light but with extensive controls over the light's properties.  If the current camera doesn't have motion blur set up, the script will set up a requester where you can set up motion blur and anti-aliasing (Overcaster needs motion blur to work).

If there are no objects in the current scene, the script will add a null. This is because if the first object in the scene has sliders applied, the scripts will fail to apply the sliders plugin to the current mixer object.

The settings are quite self-explanatory. The Script will attempt to suggest you an unique name for the morph mixer control object, but you can name it manually if you wish. In this document, it will be referred to as the Sun_mixer object.

There are four resolutions to choose from.

1. EZ
Choosing EZ will set up a single distant light with spinning light trick. All light properties are set up like with any regular light. Only slider control is shadow softness.

2. Normal
This is the same as in previous version of OC Sun. The script will set up one set of spinning lights. There are separate lights for diffuse and specular shading, as well as shadows. The shadow quality is the same as with the EZ version.

3. Double
This option will create two sets of spinning lights.

4. Quad
This option will create four sets of spinning lights.

Choosing the correct resolution depends on your scene. Doubling the amount of lights roughly equals doubling the amount of AA passes when quality is concerned.  The softer the shadows, the more quality is needed.

In some scenes, more lights but less AA will render faster, in others the opposite.

If the script is run again while Sun mixer is selected, parenting and target settings can be modified.

If a SkyGen backdrop with a Sun control object is detected in the scene, the user will be have an option to get the Sun rotation from the SkyGen sun control object.
 

The Sun can be controlled with sliders. Another option is an endomorph mixer, found in the Sun_mixer object's properties/deformation tab.

The sliders let you control the diffuse and specular properties of the sun separately. The color setting is self-explanatory. Specular offset will tint the specular highlights. You can also control the color, density and softness of the shadow.

Only the diffuse part  is previewed in OpenGL.

Rotate the SUN_mixer object to aim the light as you would any regular distant light. Do NOT move or rotate the light itself.

 
PlugPak 1.0 notes

Only endomorph mixer slider controls are available, not the LightWave sliders. There's only one resolution available.  The shadow type setting is not available.