Autocad 2017 for student - Lighting properties missing

[Anonymous]

Good day to all, 

I currently have a copy of Autocad 2017 for student and I am missing some properties for light settings. I am inserting a "cylinder" light in my 3D scene and once it is positioned, I do not see the options to modify the radius or the length of the light. 

The only properties in my properties windows are: 

General:

• Name
• Type
• On/Off Status
• Intensity Factor
• Filter Color
• Plot Glyph
• Glyph Display

Photometric properties:

• Lamp Intensity
• Resulting Internsity
• Lamp Color
• Resulting Color

Geometry:

• Position X
• Position Y
• Position Z
• Targeted

Attenuation:

• Type
• Use limits
• Start limit offset
• End limit offset

Note that every options under "Attenuation" are greyed out and can't be modified.

Is there a setting that I have to enable in order to be able to modify the shape or the shadows?

Thank you very much and have a great day.

Alex

[imadHabash]

Hi and Welcome to AutoDesk Forum,

would you try to read this AKN article that it may help.

regards,

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the reply imadhabash, 

Unfortunatly this article does not really help me. as it says: 

---

• Existing light. Use the Shape property after setting the Type property (under the Render Shadow Details panel) to Soft (sampled).

Shapes available for selection depend on the type of the light:

---

But the thing is that I can't find the "Render Shadow Details panel". Where can I find it? I looked in my ribbon and every possible panels are on. 

Thank you very much for your help.

Alex

[Anonymous]

Here are screen shots of my computers: 

First image is from Acad 2017 and the "Render Shadow Details" panel is missing.

Second image is from Acad 2015 (french) and the "Render Shadow Details" panel is available. 

Is there a way to enable it in 2017? I read somewhere that in order to have this option, Mental Ray renderer must be selected. Unfortunatly in 2017, RENDERENGINE option has been removed. Is there anyother way to enable mentalray?

Thank you very much.

Alex

[john.vellek]

Hi @Anonymous,

There is no difference in features for an EDU license compared to a regular version of AutoCAD. So, in order to help, can you attach a sample drawing? I would like to see how you have put your light into the model and perhaps I can give you a solution.

[Anonymous]

Good day John, 

Here is the drawing I am working on. As you can see, it is pretty simple but whatever I am doing, I can't seem to have the "Render Shadow Details" panel to appear. I tried a lot of setting configuration while inserting the light but non of them give me the option to change the shape or the length AFTER it has been inserted in the scene.

Thanks a lot for your time 🙂

Alex

[john.vellek]

Hi Alex,

Can you tell me what specific values you would like to change? I see both of your lights in the Light List are Pointlights. You can adjust the Photometric properties by selecting the light in the list and then using the properties window.

You can also adjust the Position of the light and the target point if they light is Targeted.

Please tell me what else you are trying to specify.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the answer John, 

I am trying to change the shape of the light and the length. As I understand, this must be done through the "Render Shadow Details" panel but this panel is not present in my Acad 2017 version. 

I have the exact same setup in my Acad 2015 version at the office and the panel is there and I can change both settings normaly.

Thank you for your time John. 🙂

Alex

[Anonymous]

Here are screen shots of the exact same drawing. The same file I attached to a previous reply but one opened in Acad 2017 and the other one in Acad 2015. 

If you look at Acad 2015, I have much more options for the light, as in Acad 2017 those options are missing.

[john.vellek]

Hi Alex,

I think what you are facing is due to the change in rendering engine that came about in version 2016. Perhaps this article can help.

So for lighting changes take a look at this article. The lighting in 2017 actually is much more accurate but is definitely different than 2015.  See if this answers your questions and if not come back and post again.

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post solves your issue or answers your question.

[Anonymous]

Hi John, 

I read the first article you linked, but unfortunatly the "RENDERENGINE system variable" is not present in 2017 anymore so this is unfortunatly not a solution for me. 

As for the second article, from what I understand, the only way to achieve my goal would be to create "Luminary Assemblies" which is not ideal since it was much more easy to control the effet I am looking for in Acad 2015. 

As you can see in the following attachement, render done in Acad 2017, the light I inserted is a cylinder. If you look in the DWG file, the light is supposed to be set horizontaly and not verticaly. Also, it is supposed to have a length of 60 inches and it does not look like it in the rendered image. The only way I can fix this, without creating a luminary assembly, is to insert a new point light with different settings which is, in my opinion, very counter productive. 

All that being said, thank you very much John for your help and your time, it is truely appreciated 🙂

Alex

[john.vellek · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous,

Yes, I understand your point of view. I know over time that we have had requests to have AutoCAD  lights match actual real world fixtures so that the output could be used more accurately for lighting studies rather than just to produce "pretty pictures".

With that said, in my opinion, it would be nice to have the flexibility to do it in either fashion.  I suggest that if you feel strongly about this issue that you contact Product Development with your feedback.

You can contact the product team directly through the Product Feedback page. The links below go into more detail about the best ways to make suggestions.
How to provide feedback on Autodesk products
Raising enhancement requests for Autodesk products

Another great option is to participate in the AutoCAD Customer Council. This is an opportunity for our customers to partner with the AutoCAD development team to improve future releases of AutoCAD by giving continuous feedback on ideas, designs, and early builds.
In order to get involved email autocad.beta@autodesk.com or autocad.lt.council@autodesk.com

Thanks for your contribution!

[Anonymous]

Thank you very much John, I will send my feedback as you suggested. 

I wish you a very good day and thanks a lot for your time and help! 🙂

Alex