Mixing lights - Working with the Emixer

Owned by Systems Next Limit (Unlicensed)
Last updated: 04 May, 2022 by Next Limit
3 min read

 

 

The Multilight™ tab represents mixer, where you can adjust the intensity of the lights and the ISO and shutter speed. Each emitter in the scene is represented by a slider with the name of the emitter, including the Sky (any of the available Sky options) and IBL environment. The Emixer key-framed sequence can also be saved as an .emixer file. This is useful if you have several camera views of the same scene and you want to apply the same lighting conditions to other camera views.

 

When the Multilight option is on, Maxwell offers you a mixed panel to control each emitter separately



  • Slider: Controls the intensity of the light. It has an input where the exact intensity can be specified. Next to the input is the current unit of the emitter (Watts, Lumens, etc.)

  • S: "Solo" button, will set the selected light as the only visible light, dimming all the others. Please remember that the Solo buttons work like the sliders of an audio sequencer. For example, if you have 20 lights in the scene, you can choose to Solo two lights. This is easier than having to mute 18 lights if you only wish to see the influence of two of the lights.

  • M: Stands for “mute” and will switch off the current light source.

  • Color chip (only in Color Multilight mode): In Color Multilight mode, a color chip will appear underneath the slider allowing you to change the color of the emitter.

  • Max Frames: Maximum number of frames in the Emixer timeline.

File Options

  • Apply Changes to Scene: After adjusting the light intensities using Multilight, you can revert those new values back to the scene, preserving those new values for future renders.

  • Save sequence: Save a sequence of images which can then be made into a video using a video editing application. Transitions are animated within core rendering application.

  • Load Emixer data: Load an emixer sequence file in .emixer format.

  • Save Emixer data: Save an emixer sequence file in .emixer format.

Note: The .emixer file is an ascii format that you can directly open with any text editor to read and/or edit it, allowing you to easily change the intensity and color of each emitter at each frame, to adjust the lights animation to your needs.

Edit Options

  • Play/Pause/Stop: Playback controls.

  • Create keyframe: Create a keyframe at the current frame.

  • Delete keyframe: Delete the current keyframe.

  • Autokey: When checked, a keyframe will be generated automatically at the current frame if any adjustments are made to the emitters or ISO/ Shutter speed sliders

  • Copy Key Frame: Copy the current keyframe.

  • Cut Key Frame: Cut the current keyframe.

  • Paste Key Frame: Paste the current keyframe.

  • Toggle Solo: Toggle the state of Solo emitters to Mute.

  • Toggle Mute: Toggle the state of Mute emitters to Solo.

  • Reset Light: Revert an slider to its initial value.

  • Reset All Lights: Revert all the sliders to their initial values.

  • Change Slider Range: Allow you to increase/decrease the range of sliders for more control.

View

  • Disable Preview: When animating lots of emitters, it may slow down the playback of the time line with Preview On.

  • Layout Horizontally: Switch to a horizontal layout of the Multilight sliders.

Animated Timeline

  • Creating a Keyframe: Change the slider to set a keyframe at the desired time. Right-click on the slider, set the keyframe and adjust light values or turn them on or off.

  • Deleting a Keyframe: Go to the keyframe you want to delete. You will notice it is a keyframe because the slider will turn orange. Right-click on the slider and choose Delete Keyframe.

Playback Controls

  • Begin: Go to the beginning of the timeline.

  • Play: Play the sequence (preview) or press Space bar.

  • Pause: Pause the animation or press Space bar.