Overcaster

Overcaster Spot

This is the most versatile of all Overcaster lights. OC Spot can be set to look like a spotlight, area light or linear light, depending on the settings.  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 Spot_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 Spot. 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.

Shadow type and resolution, as well as intensity falloff can now be set. If the script is run again while Spot mixer is selected, these settings can be modified

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

The sliders let you control the diffuse and specular properties of the Spot separately. There is two sets of specular lights - both can be adjusted 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. The cone controls are the same as in LW - one percent represents one degree. Shadow softness will also affect the cone soft edge.

Only the diffuse part  is previewed in OpenGL.

Move and rotate the Spot_mixer object to aim the light as you would any regular spot light. Do NOT move or rotate the light itself.

If you wish to look through the light while rotating, use Spot_OpenGL light - other lights in the rig may behave erraticly.

Scaling the Spot mixe in Z axis adjusts the light's range - the object acts as a proxy preview in OGL. The lights are targetted to the tip of the Spot mixer. The outer circle shows the path the lights follow when spinning. This is very similar to the size of an area light. You can scale the mixer object in Y and X axises to adjust the softness of the light. If shadow softness is reduced, a circle will show the path the lights follow. If specular softness is reduced, a dotted ring will show the path for the specular lights.

One set of specular lights is always ignoring the spinning setup, and will shine with hard specularity. This way cool specular highlight effects can be obtained.

On the right: blue hard speculars and red sof speculars. Soft, dim diffuse light. The ambient done with OC Ambimage.

 
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.