How to use the Lights Effects (PSP X4)

[kelda]

I saw a very neat tutorial for spotlighting a photo in PS (http://www.catscrap.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9625). I tried my darnedest to translate to PSP X4. I naturally went to the the menu bar in PSP, EFFECTS> ILLUMINATION >LIGHTS...

Wow. A lot of controls and settings! I read the help section, but I still cannot figure this out. I tried searching google, but came up empty handed. Basically, I can get the light everywhere but the actual area I want spotlighted... Does anyone have any wisdom or tutorial links they can share?

[LeviFiction]

The Lights effect is pretty simple in spite of the number of options it gives you but it does not act like the lights example you see in Photoshop.

All of the lamps are essentially meant to start at a single location and fan out from there like you'd see with a flash-light or spot light. They never point down-ward toward the canvas.

Now you only have five possible light sources. And each light-source can be turned on or off depending on how many lights you need.

Under the "Light sources" frame you'll see a number box labeled "Darkness" this controls how dark the ambient light or world light is. So if you're looking for pitch black wold where only the light-source you're working with is showing you'd set this to 100. If you don't want any darkness and just want a light to shine on the canvas you'll set this to 0.

Under neath that you'll see five icons, each represents a different light. If you look in the "Before" preview you'll see each lamp (represented by five dots) will become selected and have three lines popping out of it. The line with a circle on it allows you to control the direction and Asymmetry of the light (more on that later). The two lines comming out that end in crosses control the edges of the light, or how wide the cone is. You can drag these around the preview to set up the direction and location of the light on your canvas.

All of these settings can also be controlled by the numerous number boxes below the preview.

the "On" check box obviously refers to whether the lamp is on or not. "Intensity" refers to how bright the lamp is and how much of an effect it has on the image.

The color selection box (by default a grey color) allows you to assign a specific color to the light for fun lighting effects.

"Direction" obviously refers to the direction (angle) the light is pointing.

"Horizontal" and "Vertical" measure the distance the light is from the center of the image. So a value of -70 in the Horizontal is to the left of the center of the image. These have a maximum range of -200 to 200. So only 400 movement steps. On a larger image this means that the light will move more pixels per step. On a smaller image this means that light will move fewer pixels per step.

"Smoothness" refers to the transition from the Darkness to the Light cone. With a smoothness of 0 you get a very strict jagged line as the darkness abruptly haults and the light begins. With a smoothness value this becomes a graduated look.

"Scale" refers to how much of the image the light effects. Use a smaller setting have the light brightest near the source and fade of quickly. Have a higher value to brighten more of the image as the light travels across it.

"Assymetry" refers to how symmetrical the light source is. With a lower value it's more circular and even. With a higher value (making it more asymmetric) it looks more like an egg or ellipse becoming elongated at one end.

And of course "Cone size" refers to how thick the light is. Is it a narrow light source that really focuses a narrow beam, or is it a more open light source that covers more of the image.

And always in the 2D plane.