Lights menu includes the supported light types in SimLab Composer, suitable for interior scenes. Users can add any of these light sources in addition to the light sources included in the environment image. Light sources in SimLab Composer -except the Camera Head Light- are exported to 3D PDF and HTML.
Point Light
Creates a spherical Light Source geometry and adds it to the scene. Point lights can be moved and positioned, using any of the move draggers. In the image below three point lights were added to the scene, and were snapped to the side lamps’ geometries using the Snap To Object tool in the Object task bar. Fine positioning was also done using the Move 3D tool.
The light properties can be found in the Properties Panel, to the right of the 3D area. There the user can edit the light properties, like changing its color, or its power.
Area Light
Depending on the effect the user needs, this is another light type that can be used. Same as Point lights, area lights have parameters that the user can change in the Properties Panel.
Spot Light
Spot Light is another light type that can be created in SimLab Composer. In addition to the main light properties, spot lights have Cone Angle property that sets the angle of the light.
Directional Light
Directional lights are for exterior scenes. The user can change the direction of the light but not its location. Other parameters for this light include, light Color, light Power, and light Name.
IES Light
IES light data is an important factor for architecture visualization, which can be used to produce more photo realistic scenes, as actual lighting effects are more realistically emulated. IES Lights Library in SimLab Composer (as shown in the following image) contains a collection of pre-installed IES lights and all of them can be used to generate nice ambience lit interior environment for renders.
Portal
Portal rendering is an optimization technique in SimLab Composer to avoid unnecessary calculations. It is an advanced feature used to link two divided adjacent zones (indoor and outdoor) through opening objects (portals). Portals are best suited for indoor scenes, used as windows, doors, and tunnels.
A special icon is given to a portal object in the Objects Tree, as shown below to distinguish it.
Trying to simulate a sunny day, and beyond the direct light coming through the window, it is still pretty dark. Portal is a good tool to use in this situation by converting the window or part of it into portal, this will give an efficient way of using a scene's existing sky lighting within interior scenes that do not require very long render times. A portal acts just like a mental ray area light, that gets its brightness and color from the environment already in your scene.
New Portal
Creates a portal from scratch.
To Portal
Converts a selected object face to portal.
New Portal tool creates square portals, whereas the To Portal tool creates portals from any selected shape.
