Lights in After Effects

[John Read]

Thank you for responding.

Yes the layout of the comp is reasonable. In fact the light was working. Adding a light made no change (it wouldn’t work) but duplicating a light did. Ultimately, I deleted all lights and when I went to start from scratch NONE of them worked.

AE 7.0 – win XP – Quadro FX 2000

John R.

[Chris Smith]

That’s normal behavior. It works just like most 3D programs. Where if there is no lights in the scene then it defaults to an “auto light” where you see everything. But if you add a light, the auto light shuts off and only the lights you add in the scene are lighting anything. So make sure the light you added is actually shining on something. You can also turn up the ambiance setting as well.

Chris Smith
https://www.sugarfilmproduction.com

[John Read]

[Chris Smith] “That’s normal behavior. It works just like most 3D programs. Where if there is no lights in the scene then it defaults to an “auto light” where you see everything. But if you add a light, the auto light shuts off and only the lights you add in the scene are lighting anything. So make sure the light you added is actually shining on something. You can also turn up the ambiance setting as well.”

The light is shining on something. The original comp was working beautifully (light interacting with 3d objs, shadows, etc.) When I added lights nothing happened (no additional light) however duplicating the light yielded the result I wanted. When the all the lights were deleted so I could start over, none of them worked.

John R.

[Mylenium]

Have you ruled out OpenGL problems by disabling it?

Mylenium

[Pour Myl

[Bob Bonniol]

I’ve found this can be a complex issue… Can I ask how you ‘know’ it’s shining on a layer ?

Have you turned on the 3D clickbox for the layer ?

Is the light possibly even with, or on the backside of the layer in Z space ?

Is it a point or spot light ?

I find it is very often the case when I begin a comp, that layers are naturally at the 0,0,0 point in AE ‘space’ and if you create a light layer, it is also at this point, resulting on nothing being illuminated because the objects are existing in the same place. I find if I make adjustments to the z position of the light things quickly become evident.

-Bob Bonniol

MODE Studios
http://www.modestudios.com
Contributing Editor, Entertainment Design Magazine
Art of the Edit Forum Leader
Live & Stage Event Forum Leader
HD Forum Leader

[John Read]

[Mylenium] “Have you ruled out OpenGL problems by disabling it?

Mylenium”

Thank you for responding.

As far as I know but I may be missing something. I’ve tried turning off “Enable OpenGL” under Preferences>Previews but that didn’t do it (understandably) and I can’t find any other reference other than Composition Settings>Advanced.

I installed the latest driver for my card (9.1.3.6) to no avail.

John R.

[John Read]

[Bob Bonniol] “I find it is very often the case when I begin a comp, that layers are naturally at the 0,0,0 point in AE ‘space’ and if you create a light layer, it is also at this point, resulting on nothing being illuminated because the objects are existing in the same place. I find if I make adjustments to the z position of the light things quickly become evident.”

Thank you for responding.

1.I “know” it’s shining on a layer because it was working. The layout is fine (3d check boxes, tried all 4 kinds of lights, intensity = 100, etc.)

2.When I went to add more lights they had no effect. Duplicating the working light however did.

3.When I deleted all the lights to start over = no lights worked.

4.I’ve made additional test comps trying to figure what’s happening with the same results. No lights.

John R.

[Dotan Baytman]

Have you checked the layers in the comp have accept light ON?

[Matt Hall]

Have you tried adding an ambient light rather than a point or spot light? That should tell you if lights are working at all.

……………………..
Matt Hall
Hallway Media, LLC
http://www.hallway-media.com

[John Read]

Thanks for responding.

Yeah I’ve tried it all.

I’m guessing it might have something to with OpenGL but I don’t know what to do about it.

Does anybody know an adobe phone number I can call?

John R.