Light-centric exclusion in Arnold

[aaronfross]

The Arnold Include/Exclude functionality has many shortcomings, and it's not nearly as flexible as the old 3ds Max native Include/Exclude.

The fact that we can't include/exclude shadows separately from illumination, but only illumination and shadows together, is a major limitation.

But the fundamental issue with Arnold Include/Exclude is that it's object-centric, not light-centric. If we want a light to only shine on one object, then we have to add an Arnold Properties modifier to every *other* object in the scene. This is a workflow nightmare.

If Arnold lights had the same functionality as other lights, this would not be a problem. Lights should have the ability to include or exclude objects. Objects having the ability to include or exclude lights is not good enough for real production problems like simply trying to illuminate a character's eyes and nothing else.

[aaronfross]

Arnold Properties now supports Shadow Groups, which is great. Now we can exclude certain objects from casting shadows from certain lights in the scene. But it's still object-centric. It really would be great if we could get a light-centric option, too, due to the workflow hassle of needing to instance many Arnold Properties modifiers onto many objects.

Thanks

[Kranos_Orphydian]

Ive included this great idea in a larger compilation of Lighting concern ideas. Pls support it here !

[Lights] Editing and Renderer feature support improvement ideas