Houdini Lights

There are actually only three major lights of regular consequence in Houdini:  the Light Object, the Environment Light, and the Indirect Light. Two other lights, the Ambient Light and the Light Template are available, and while they can be useful, they are not used regularly anymore.

Light Object:

• Point Light - default
• Spot Light - enable spot light check box
• Area Light - light type is set to line, grid, disk, sphere
• Geometry Light - light type is set to geometry
• Distant Light - light type is set to distant

Environment Light:

• Environment Light - default
• Portal Light - enable portal geometry check box
• Sky Light - enable sky environment map check box

Indirect Light:

• Global Illumination Light (G.I.) - default
• Caustic Light - light type is set to caustic photon

Each light option and its settings are covered in detail in their own posts.

There are several approaches you can pick from when positioning objects such as cameras, lights, or geometry:

1. Just clicking on the shelf tool and moving the cursor around in the view port will enable the user to drop the camera anywhere on the construction plane (in the X and Z directions, but not in the Y direction). Holding down the 'alt' button while in the view port will affect the Y position of the object, and clicking in the view port will place said object.
2. Clicking on the shelf tool and then hitting enter in the view port will place the object at the center of the construction plane (0,0,0).
3. 'ctrl' clicking on the shelf tool will make the current view that object's view.