Compatibility with 3ds Max Lights

Iray for 3ds Max supports many of the existing lights and lighting features in 3ds Max. This means that your existing non-Iray scenes should continue to work without replacing them all. The following page has details of the features that work and the documented exceptions.

Features supported in 3ds Max lights:

• Light Templates: templates which use any parameters supported below will work.
• Photometric Distribution: .ies files are supported (but not .cibse or .ltli files).
• Intensity: intensity in all calculations (lm, lx at, cd).
• Color: all templates, tints and color temperatures supported.

Features not supported in any 3ds Max light:

• Shadows: Iray is physically accurate, therefore shadows will always show accurately.
• Attenuation: not supported, as it is not physically accurate.
• Atmospheres & Effects
• Advanced Effects: Contrast, Soften Diffuse Edge and projector maps are not supported.

Further detail on Light Compatibility is available here.

Supported 3ds Max lights

Group	Light Name	Compatibility
Standard	Target Spot	✔
	Target Direct	✔
	Omni	✔
	mr Area Omni	✖
	Free Spot	✔
	Free Direct	✔
	Skylight	✖
	mr Area Spot	✖
Photometric	Target Light	✔
	mr Sky Portal	✖
	Free Light	✔

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Light Details:

• Physical Sky
• IBL
• Iray+ Lights
• Iray+ Emission

See Also:

• Lighting Concepts

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