Genesis - Light Generator v1.0 Documentation
Getting Started
- Make sure you have downloaded the .zip file onto your computer.
- Install and enable the Genesis Add-on by launching Blender and going to Edit > Preferences > Add-ons > Install… > Picking the .zip > Install Add-on.
- With an object selected, Press N in the 3D view to show the tool panel if it's hidden, click Tool, and expand the Genesis panel if it's hidden.
- In object mode, select the subject you’d like to add lights to, and click the Generate Lights button. That’s it!
Full Walkthrough
Here's everything you need to know about Genesis.
- Generates GENESIS collection, with child GENESISLights and GENESISUtilities collections
- Generate Lights - Makes collection of lights around the selected object. This will delete any lights or other objects in the GENESISLights folder, so be careful.
- Light Types:
- Point - Emit light in every direction
- Sun - Emit light from an infinite distance
- Spot - Emit light in a cone shape
- Area - Emit light from a plane
- Plane - Emission shader from a mesh plane
- Color Modes:
- Range - Hue value between Min Hue and Max Hue
- Complementary - 2 Hues from opposite ends of the color wheel - 180 degrees apart
- Triad - 3 Hues on opposite sides of color wheel - 120 degrees apart
- Monochromatic - 1 Color, all the same hue
- Split Complementary - 3 Colors on opposite sides of color wheel - secondary and tertiary colors are +/- 160 degrees apart from the primary color
- Analogous - 5 Colors on same side of color wheel
- Layout Modes:
- Sphere (Creates lights equidistant from the selected object)
- Top Sphere (Same as Sphere, but creates lights above horizon (+Z))
- Grid (Creates lights above the selected object in a grid spiraling outward)
- Number - How many lights to create (Min 1, Max 200)
- Radius - How far away the lights are from the selected object in Sphere and Top Sphere Layout mode (Min 0.0001, Max 1,000)
- Grid Spacing - How far apart the lights are from each other in Grid Layout mode (Min 0.0001, Max 1,000)
- Grid Height - How far up (+Z) the lights are from the selected object in Grid Layout mode (Min 0.0001, Max 1,000)
- Power Multiplier - Overall light energy multiplier (Min 0.01, Max 1,000)
- Min / Max Hue - In Color Range mode, determines what hue values the lights will pick randomly from. 0 and 1 are both red, 0.3 is green, 0.6 is blue. Orange is 0.04, Yellow is 0.17, Teal is 0.5, Purple is 0.7, and Pink is 0.83. (Min 0.0, Max 1.0)
- Base Color - By clicking the color swatch, you will set the primary color for modes Complementary, Triad, Monochromatic, Split Complementary, and Analogous (not Range)
- Hue Spread - How much randomness in hue to use in color modes Complementary, Triad, Monochromatic, Split Complementary, and Analogous (not Range)
- Min / Max Sat - Multiplier for saturation to use for lights. 1 is full saturation (pure hue colors like red), 0 is no saturation (white). (Min 0.0, Max 1.0)
- Min / Max Size - Size or angle of lights. (Min 0.0001, Max 1,000)
- Min / Max Power - Range of randomness for power / wattage / energy for lights. (Min 0.0, Max 1,000,000)
- Lights with Keyframes - Makes a set of lights per frame in the timeline. Set the range to a small range (3-10 frames) for testing, as it can be slow. It will keyframe the lights on for 1 frame. Useful for testing several lighting setups, or for artistic effects.
- Note: GENESISEmpty can be moved around to point the lights to a specific spot, or can be deleted to make lights point straight down.