Deborah R. Fowler
Houdini Lighting - Solaris/Karma
Posted Dec 2 2019
Updated on Dec 8 2019
Light Types - Karma
Houdini offers light types very similar to other 3D packages.
- Cylinder (control the size with radius, length)
- Distant (directional light - light comes from parallel rays to simulate "sun")
- Disk (control radius - one-sided)
- Geometry (make your own geo be a light)
- Point (calculates from a point source, cheaper, works fine, not always what you want - good for practical lights)
- Rectangle (area light - control width/height - one-sided, normalize power off by default)
- Sphere (useful shape, visually better than a point light)
And as a separate type:
- Dome (environment light, usually use an HDRI in texture parameter)
All have intensity and exposure controls
Other important Karma settings:
- active radius (limit the reach of light calculations)
- sampling quality (per-light sampling)
