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# UsdLight

This node allows you to create and edit native USD lights in Katana. See more about the workflow and examples on the Using UsdLight page.

Video: Learn how to use the UsdLight node to set up and manipulate your sequence level lighting - Katana 8.0 | Set up sequence lighting with USD.

Video: Learn how to edit lights on a per-shot basis, all while utilizing native USD light creation - Katana 8.0 | Multi-shot lighting with USD.

# Inputs

Connection Type | Connection Name | Function
input | in | The incoming scene graph data that the node will operate on or modify.

# Controls

Control (UI) | Connection Name | Function
action | create | Determines whether to either create a new light prim or edit an existing light prim.
primPath | /lights/light | Location Paths of where to create or edit Prim. For example, /lights/light.
primSpec | define | Choose the specifier for the prim. This is the role or function of the prim in the scene description. • define - defines a new, complete specification for a prim and its properties within a layer. • class - defines a prim meant to act as a template for other prims. It ensures uniformity and reusability throughout the scene by allowing other prims to adopt or specialize it, inheriting its characteristics. • over - indicates that the prim is an override. It's used to non-destructively modify prims defined in lower-priority layers. A prim with an "over" specifier is meant to modify or extend the properties or hierarchy of existing prims, without redefining them entirely. For more information, refer to the USD Glossary under Specifier.
lightType | N/A | Determines the type of light this prim will be. When in edit mode, this value is determined by the incoming light prim.
primSpecHierarchy | enabled | Determines whether to create all prims in the provided hierarchy with the primSpec. If disabled, all but the final Prim will take on the primSpec to avoid writing over primSpecs in lower order layers.
blockUpstreamAttributes | disabled | Determines whether to block all Attributes provided by the light Prim type.
Properties > inputs
color | 1.0000 | The color of the light (rgba).
colorTemperature | 6500 | The color temperature of the light.
diffuse | 1 | The amount of diffusal of the light.
enableColorTemperature | disabled | Enable or disable color temperature.
exposure | 0 | The amount of exposure of the light.
intensity | 1 | The amount of intensity of the light.
length | 1 | The length of the light.
normalize | disabled | Normalizes the light's power with the shape of the light.
radius | 0.5 | The radius of the light.
Properties > inputs > shadow
color | 0.0000 | The color of the shadow.
distance | -1 | The distance of the shadow.
enable | enabled | Enable or disable the shadow.
falloff | -1 | The falloff of the shadow.
falloffGamma | 1 | The gamma of the shadow’s falloff.
Properties > inputs > shaping
specular | 1 | The amount of specular shaping.
Properties > inputs > shaping > cone
angle | 90 | The angle of the cone in degrees.
softness | 0 | The softness of the cone.
focus | 0 | The focus of the cone.
focusTint | 0.0000 | The color of the cone’s focus tint.
Properties > inputs > shaping > ies
angleScale | 0 | The scale which defines the angular distribution of the light.
file | N/A | A file for an IES light which describes the angular distribution of the light.
normalize | disabled | Normalizes the IES light's power with the shape of the light.
Properties > inputs > texture
file | N/A | This field is available for light types that require a texture, such as the DomeLight and Rectlight
format | automatic | Format for the incoming file.
Properties > inputs > light > filters
materialSyncMode | noMaterialResponse | For a LightAPI applied to geometry that has a bound Material, which is entirely or partly emissive, this specifies the relationship of the Material response to the lighting response. Choose from noMaterialResponse, materialGlowTintsLight, and independent.
shaderId | Same as lightType | Default ID for the light's shader. This defines the shader ID for this light when a render context specific shader ID is not available.
Properties > inputs > proxyPrim
purpose | default | Purpose is a classification of geometry into categories that can each be independently included or excluded from traversals of prims on a stage, such as rendering or bounding-box computation traversals. • default - the object has no particular purpose and is rendered by default. • render - the object is the full resolution version for use when rendering the scene. • proxy - the object is a proxy version used for test purposes, which can be a lower resolution to decrease render times. • guide - the object is not rendered, but is visible in the Viewer for reference.
treatAsLine | disabled | A hint that this light can be treated as a 'line' light (effectively, a zero-radius cylinder) by renderers that benefit from non-area lighting. Renderers that only support area lights can disregard this.
visibility | inherited | Controls whether the object and its descendants are visible in the scene: • inherited - the object's visibility is controlled by its parent. • invisible - the object and its descendants are invisible in the scene. Visibility is meant to be the simplest form of "pruning" visibility that is supported by most DCC apps. Visibility is animatable, allowing a sub-tree of geometry to be present for some segment of a shot, and absent from others; unlike the action of deactivating geometry prims, invisible geometry is still available for inspection, for positioning, for defining volumes, etc.
Properties > transform
xformOpName | N/A | The name to be given to the XformOp when stored in USD.
order | Scale Rot Trans | Select the order by which the three transformations are applied.
rotateOrder | Rx Ry Rz | Select the axes order by which the rotation takes place. By default the rotation is first around the x axis, then y, and finally z.
translate | 0.0 | The amounts to translate along the x, y, and z axes.
rotate | 0.0 | The amounts to rotate the prims around the x, y, and z axes.
scale | 1.0 | The amounts to scale the prims along the x, y, and z axes.
pivotTranslate | 0.0 | The amounts by which the pivot point for transformations is translated along the x, y, and z axes.
makeInteractive | Yes | When set to "Yes", the selected path can be interactively manipulated in the Viewer.

Note: This section will show different options depending on the type of light you select.