Why are there no more lights?

[mikeyindaburg]

I appreciate any input anyone would have on this...

I created a room with a bunch of lights, and they were working fine. Then all of a sudden I want to add a chandelier, and it doesn't want to let off any light! So I make sure that all the light preferences are correct, and that doesn't work either. I deleted it and put another one in its place, and still nothing. I tried several other lights from the library to make sure it's not the chandelier, and for some reason the program doesn't want to allow any more lights into the room! So I think, maybe if I delete a couple lights that are in the room, it will let me add a new one--so I delete a couple, and still it won't let any new light I add to the room shine any light!

I'm pulling my hair out here! Can anyone help?

[ARCHIJEF2000]

Most video cards will only support the rendering of 8 light sources, some will support 16.
Remember some lamps have more than one light source, particually chandeliers. This restriction does not apply to raytracing, however you would do well to restrict the number of lights in any scene, since they will affect both rendering times and raytracing. Lights can be turned off via their dialog box. If for example you are doing a raytrace or render of a daytime scene, make sure all the lights are off, otherwise you will experience delays as the program tries to calculate a complex lighting problem.

[alobartn]

Remember this too: If your camera is not in the same room as the lights, the room will not appear lighted. You can get around this be selecting the partitioning wall and checking no room definition so the camera thinks it's in the same room as the lights. Doesn't apply to raytracing.

[mikeyindaburg]

Thank you very much...the video card thing makes sense. My laptop is just getting more and more useless each year, haha. I will try other ways.

[Sledge]

Remember this too: If your camera is not in the same room as the lights, the room will not appear lighted. You can get around this be selecting the partitioning wall and checking no room definition so the camera thinks it's in the same room as the lights. Doesn't apply to raytracing.

just like to say thanks for this advice.

(My search terms actually worked )

I was doing a render of a gazebo and couldn't work out why none of the lighting was working.

Moved the camera "inside" and all is well. (sort of... after punching the walls and throwing a brick through my monitor J/K )

[dimprov]

Remember this too: If your camera is not in the same room as the lights, the room will not appear lighted. You can get around this be selecting the partitioning wall and checking no room definition so the camera thinks it's in the same room as the lights. Doesn't apply to raytracing.

Thanks for this tip!

I have set my camera so that it can move through walls without getting whacked askew. So, what I typically do is start by creating the camera in the room of interest, so the lights turn on, and then move to wherever I want to view the scene.

David
X2