PRG Mbox Designer Manual 3.9 - Manual (Page 24)

16 MBOX ® MEDIA SERVER USER MANUAL
Lighting Fixtures
The tools for image composition in the Mbox software incorporate a 3D environment into which objects can be
placed. While textures need no lighting to be visible, 3D objects require some form of lighting to be properly visible.
There are two sets of lighting fixtures, with three types of lighting fixtures in total.
The lighting fixtures are virtual (i.e., they can't be seen in the composite view) and affect all objects in the scene
equally. The lighting will create shadows on the surface of objects based on the shape of each individual object.
However, objects do not cast shadows on each other.
Note: Digital Gobos and Animated Gobos are 3D objects, and as a result, they also require lighting to be visible.
Standard Lighting
There are two types of standard lighting fixtures, the ambient light and the spotlights. These fixtures are included in
the standard patch. There is one (1) ambient light fixture and four (4) spotlight fixtures. The standard lighting fixtures
have controls for intensity and color (RGB mixing).
+ Ambient Light - The ambient light washes objects evenly from every possible angle at the same time, and
therefore does not create any shadows on objects. It can be used to illuminate objects with the intention of
making an applied texture more visible.
+ Spotlight - Each of the four spotlights comes from a different angle and will create shadows on objects. The
spotlights can be used in combination to create naturalistic shading on an object. (Note that the spotlights cannot
be repositioned.)
Professional Lighting
Professional lighting fixtures are not included in the standard patch for Mbox, but can be added as required. Like the
standard lighting fixtures, "pro" lighting fixtures have both intensity and color controls. In addition, pro lighting fixtures
have additional controls for positioning the fixture and adjusting the spread of the light beam.
All pro lighting fixtures are aimed towards the XYZ origin (0,0,0) of Mbox's 3D environment. Their point of origin can be
moved in real time to produce the effect of a moving light. The beam can also be adjusted from full spot to full
ambient in real time.
Note: Using one or more professional lighting fixtures will disable all of the standard lighting fixtures. Mbox will allow
up to five pro lighting fixtures.
Master Fixture
The Master fixture provides mastering controls for video output intensity, color, pixel mapping intensity, and audio
output volume; a control channel for Mbox macros and HUDs; two master effects, the standard viewpoint camera
controls, master decay, and shutter damping controls.
Note: Because the Master fixture in Mbox Designer has controls for the viewpoint camera, it is sometimes referred to
as the "Camera" fixture rather than the Master.
Note: Mbox Designer’s Dual Independent Mode has two Master fixtures.
Master Intensity
When used with the Dual I/O Module, the Master Intensity parameter will control the hardware dimming level of the
stage outputs on the I/O module; both outputs together in the Single and Panoramic output modes, or independently,
using the two Master fixtures, in Dual Independent mode. Without the presence of the I/O module, this parameter
directly dims the overall video image on the output of the computer.