lighting help needed!!!

[iamtravis316]

i am making a scene for school and i was wandering if anyone new how to make a beam of light.
i have the light how i want it but how do i make a beam from the 3ds max light to the ground. kinda like head lights at night or somthing.

because i want to have them kind of flicker on in a darker scene but i dont no how to get that beam????

if anyone could help that would be great.


and im using 3ds max 2009 and rendering with mental ray

[mikeab7925]

your not talking about volume lighting are you?

[iamtravis316]

yeah i just figured it out and it was volume light. however when i put it on there it wont let me control how bright the actual light is, like when it hits the surface. when i change the intensity on the light all it does is change how much you can see the beam, and the light on the ground is still the same intensity

[iamtravis316]

heres what im talking about, this is a test scene. the red is where i circled the problem area

[mikeab7925]

hmm. so you change the intensity of the light and light volume changes but not the light projected on the plane.

i was gonna suggest to turn the intensity for the light down and the volume light density up.

[iamtravis316]

ok i got it now, or at least i got it how i want it. here is an image of what i have so far. (the room goes all the way around, i just removed half of it for a better image) there is still alot to do, i still have to texture it and still model a couple of things and do a little more with the lights. then we are going to animate it next semester

[mikeab7925]

cool scene. will you keep us updated?

[iamtravis316]

thanx. yeah i will prob. put it in the WIP section next time i do something to it. (which should be soon)

[shashanks18]

nice scne Travis!!