
Places distant lights (displayed as glyphs) in drawings for use with rendering. Distant lights represent sources that are far off, such as the sun,

Accessing the Command

command bar: distantlight
menu bar: View | Rendering | Lights | New distant light
toolbar: Render | Lights | 
ribbon: View | Lights | Create | Distant Light
: Distantlight
Displays a dialog box:

To be able to use distant lights in drawings, you must turn off default lighting. (Default lighting is the light sources the program uses when you have defined no lights yet.)
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Choose Off
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Click OK
Prompts you in the command bar:
Specify light direction or [Vector] <0,0,0>: (Pick a point, enter x,y,z coordinates, press Enter to accept the default, or else type V)
Specify light direction TO <1,1,1>: (Specify a second point, enter x,y,z coordinates, or else press Enter to accept the default)
Enter an option to change [Name/Intensity factor/ Status/ Photometry/ shadoW/ filterColor/eXit] <eXit>: (Enter an option, or else press Enter to exit the command)
Command Options
Option
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Description
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Name
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Specifies a name for the light; prompts you:
Enter light name <Distantlight1> - (enter a name, or else press Enter to accept the default name)
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Intensity Factor
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Specifies the intensity of the light; prompts you:
Enter intensity (0.00 - max float) <1.0> - (enter an intensity value of between 0.00 and the maximum supported by your system)
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Status
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Toggle the light; prompts you:
Enter status [ON/OFf] <ON> - (choose ON to include the light when calculating renderings)
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Photometry Options
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Description
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Photometric
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The Photometric option defines intensity and color characteristics of the light; prompts you:
Enter a photometric option to change [Intensity/Color/eXit] <Intensity> - (enter an option.)
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Intensity
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The Intensity option defines the brightness of the light by Cd, flux, or illuminance; prompts you:
Enter intensity (Cd) or enter an option [Flux/Illuminance] <1500.0> - (enter an option:)
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Enter intensity (Cd) - specifies the intensity expressed in Candela (Cd)
The candela (symbol: cd) is the SI base unit of luminous intensity; that is, power emitted by a light source in a particular direction, weighted by the luminosity function (a standardized model of the sensitivity of the human eye to different wavelengths, also known as the luminous efficiency function). A common candle emits light with a luminous intensity of roughly one candela
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Enter Flux (Lm) - specifies the luminous flux expressed in Lumen (Lm) The lumen (symbol: Lm) is the SI unit of luminous flux, a measure of the power of light perceived by the human eye. Luminous flux differs from radiant flux in that luminous flux measurements (such as lumens) are intended to reflect the varying sensitivity of the human eye to different wavelengths of light, while radiant flux measurements (such as watts) indicate the total power of light emitted. The lumen is defined in relation to the candela as: 1 lm = 1 cd·sr
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Enter Illuminance (Lx or Fc) or enter an option [Distance] <9424.8> - (specify the illuminance expressed in Lx (lux) or Fc (foot-candle) units) Distance - (enter a distance expressed in drawing units) In photometry, illuminance is the total luminous flux incident on a surface, per unit area. It is a measure of the intensity of the incident light, wavelength-weighted by the luminosity function to correlate with human The foot-candle (Fc) is a non-metric unit of illuminance that is used in photography. The unit is defined as the amount of illumination the inside surface of a 1-foot radius sphere would be receiving if there were a uniform point source of one candela in the exact center of the sphere. Alternatively, it can be defined as the illuminance on a 1-square foot surface of which there is a uniformly distributed flux of one lumen. This can be thought of as the amount of light that actually falls on a given surface. The foot-candle is equal to one lumen per square foot. One foot-candle is equal to approximately 10.764 lux, although in the lighting industry, typically this is approximated as 1 foot-candle being equal to 10 lux. As a full sphere has a solid angle of 4·pi steradians, a light source that uniformly radiates one candela in all directions has a total luminous flux of 1 cd·4pi sr = 4pi ≈ 12.57 lumens. For example, if a candle emits light with a luminous intensity of about 1 candela, the total light emitted is about 12.6 lumens.
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The Color option determines the color of the light by light type of degrees Kelvin; prompts you:
Enter color name or enter an option [?/Kelvin] <D65> - (enter an option:)
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Enter color name - (specifies the name of a color of light, as listed below)
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? prompts you "Enter color name(s) to list <*>" - (press Enter to see the valid names of light colors:)
D65 Fluorescent Coolwhite Whitefluorescent daylightfluorescenT Incandescent Xenon Halogen Quartz Metalhalide mErcury Phosphormercury highpressureSodium Lowpressuresodium
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Enter Kelvin temperature <3600.0> - (enter a color temperature expressed in degrees Kelvin (K))
Color temperature is a characteristic of visible light that has important applications in lighting, photography, videography, publishing, manufacturing, astrophysics, and other fields. The color temperature of a light source is the temperature of an ideal black-body radiator that radiates light of comparable hue to that light source. The temperature is conventionally stated in units of absolute temperature: degrees kelvin (K). Higher color temperatures (5,000 K or more) are called cool colors (blueish white); lower color temperatures (2,700 – 3,000 K) are called warm colors (yellowish white through red).
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eXit |
Exits this sub-level of command options, and returns to the previous level; prompts you:
Enter a photometric option to change [Intensity/Color/eXit] <Intensity>: (Enter x to exit photometric options) Enter an option to change [Name/Intensity factor/Status/Photometry/shadoW/filterColor/eXit] <eXit>:
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Shadow Options
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Description
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shadoW |
Determines the look of shadows cast by lights; prompts you:
Enter shadow settings [Off/Sharp/soFt mapped/soft sAmpled]: <Sharp> - (enter an option)
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Off |
Disables the calculation of shadows; this light will cast no shadows, which helps speed up renderings.
The command prompt returns to the previous level.
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Sharp |
Displays shadows with sharp edges; this option renders lights with shadows more quickly than lights with soft (diffuse) shadows.
The prompt returns to the previous level.
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soFt mapped |
Displays realistic shadows with soft edges. Prompts you:
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Enter map size [64/128/256/512/1024/2048/4096] <256> (enter a value between 64 and 256.) The map size determines how diffuse the shadow is at its edges. A larger number is more diffuse (has softer edges) but takes longer to render.
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Enter softness (1-10) <1> - (enter a value between 1 and 10.) The software determines the softness of the body of the shadow. A larger number is software, but takes longer to render.
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soft sAmpled
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Displays realistic shadows with shadows based on extensive options. Prompts you:
Enter an option to change Shape/sAmples/Visible/<eXit> - (enter an option:)
Shape - specifies the shape of the shadow; prompts you:
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Enter shape [Disk/Rect] <Disk> - (enter d or r)
When the shadow has a disk shape, prompts you: Enter radius <0.0> - (enter the radius of the disk)
When the shadow has a rectangular shape, prompts you: Enter Length <0.0> - (enter length of the rectangle) Enter Width <0.0> - (enter width of the rectangle)
sAmples - specifies the number of samples to take for the shadow:
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Enter Shadow Sample <16> - (enter a value between 0 and 2147483647); a larger samples slows down the rendering speed, but generates a more realistic-looking shadow
Visible - specifies the visibility of the disk or rectangular shadow shape:
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Enter Shape Visibility [Yes/No] <No> - (enter y or n.)
eXit - exits this sub-level of command options, and returns to the previous level.
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filterColor
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Specifies the color of the light based on RGB, ACI, or HSL systems; prompts you:
Enter true color (R,G,B) or enter an option [Index color/Hsl]:<255,255,255> - (enter an option)
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True Color (RGB) - (enter three integers in the range of 0 to 255, where each number refers to the amount of red, green, and blue, such as 0,0,0 (black), 255,0,0 (red), 255,0,255 (purple), 128,128,128 (gray), or 255, 255,255 (white). Refer to the Color command's dialog box for the meaning of the RGB numbers.)
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Index color - specifies the CAD Color Index color; prompts you:
Enter color name or number (1-255) - (enter a value between 1 and 255; refer to the Color command's dialog box for the meaning of the color numbers.)
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HSL - specifies the color using three parameters that determine the amount of hue (color), saturation (strength of color), and lightness (brightness or darkness of color. Enter HSL number (0,0,24) - (enter three values between 1 and 255; refer to the Color command's dialog box for the meaning of the color numbers.)
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eXit
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Exits the the command and places the light in the drawing.
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To edit the properties of the light, double-click it.
Related Commands
Light - creates a new light in the drawing.
Lightlist - displays the Drawing Explorer - Lights dialog window.
Pointlight - creates a point light.
Render - calculates a photorealistic image of the 3D model.
Spotlight - creates a spot light.
Sunproperties - displays the Sun Properties of the Active Viewport editor in the Drawing Explorer - Lights dialog.
Weblight - creates a web light.