He means like the flashlight I've attached.
I know in 3ds max 5.1 to get this result.....simply puta plane under you object, then place a default skylight infront of, and tothe left of your object. Then go to adavanced lighting, and select light tracer.
Heres a good tutorial as well:
http://www.3dnuts.com/tutorials/render_wip.shtml