Also, keep in mind that since lights are Shader Tree items, they can have additional Shader Tree item layers added to them; images can be added to produce slide projector types of effects (by adjusting the settings of the Texture Locator), and by right-clicking on the item's Effect column, different options can be selected producing a variety of different and interesting effects. For more information on light effects, see the Effect - Light Item topic.

Affect Subsurface: Subsurface scattering is the appearance of light entering a translucent surface, diffusing (bouncing around) and then exiting. Typically when this happens, the exiting light is tinted by the interior of the surface producing a unique effect. The 'Affect Subsurface' percentage value provides the ability to control how much the lights illumination contributes to the overall subsurface scattering within a scene on a per light basis. You can set this value to 0% if you want to disable the light from contributing to subsurface scattering. Values beyond 100% boost the lights affect on the subsurface amount.

Set Temperature: This setting allows you to set a light's color based on the familiar kelvin scale for color temperature.

So the clear winner here is the Way Too Cool C8. Trailing behind is the UF-21. Then the two Convoy S2 flashlights and the UV-1408 are all pretty close. Last, but not least, in this list is the old original Convoy S2+. A very good light. It just doesn't hold a candle to all the new lights. The Convoy C8 accomplishes this with a better driver and just a single UV LED. The UltraFire lights have to burn 3 and 5 LEDS and aren't quite as powerful. They did a good job leapfrogging the Convoy S2 products at the time. But they are no longer give you the longest searching distance.

Lights derive settings for their illumination color, shadow color and how much they contribute to diffuse and specular shading from the light material item, as well as their volumetric settings as appropriate to the light. While lights are located within the Items (Scenes) List, the light material item is located inside the Shader Tree; outside of the camera which has no material settings, Lights are the only items the have a dual identity in Modo existing in both places. The Light Material item can be found by clicking the small arrow widget next to the light item's name to reveal/hide the material item. Selecting the item displays its properties within the Properties viewport. All lights have a set of default values that can be easily modified, providing an intuitive and flexible method for customizing a light's effect. Additional settings related to the various light items can be found within the light's properties.

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Affect Diffuse: The diffuse lighting is the light illuminating a surface that is only affected by position and angle of the light source, but is unaffected by the viewers position or angle. Light that behaves this way is described as being isotropic. In simpler terms, this is the normal shading you see over a surface. This percentage value provides the ability to control how much the light's illumination contributes to the overall diffuse shading within a scene on a per light basis. You can set this value to 0% if you want to disable the diffuse shading, allowing the creation of a "specular only" light source.

Over the last couple years the fastest growing population of fluorescent mineral collectors is probably surrounding Lake Superior in Michigan and adjacent states. An ever increasing number of collectors are hitting the beaches looking for glacial, rounded Sodalite rich Syenite, known as Yooperlites, Emberlites or other locally coined names. Different attractive patterns of specks, blebs or bands of Sodalite in the rock glow in various intensities of orange color under 365nm UV light.

Later I put a pretty rich Yooperlite next to the meter, walked further back and then found the distance when I started seeing the specimen. There was a street light about 75 feet behind me. My porch light was on. So I did have some distracting ambient light like you may experience either toward dusk or if there is moonlight when you collect. I then pointed the light directly at the sensor to try to determine what UV radiance seems to be needed to find these Great Lakes Sodalites. I found this to be around 0.25 mW/cm2. So how close do you need to be to easily find the average Lake Superior Sodalite when there is some ambient light, but pretty dark?

This article compared a handful of lights. There are plenty of others on the market. It was created in response to the many customers asking me "How far away can I see Yooperlites?" I give conservative distances. There are so many variables that can affect the distance. Different people have different vision (young vs old). We all use different batteries. Outside temperature may be a a factor. I tested everything on a 28 degree evening. The idea was to provide a basic ranking of some popular lights.

Density: This value sets the density or thickness for the volumetric effect, higher values make the volume thicker and more opaque and lower values make it appear more sparse and transparent.

Opacity: Changes the transparency of the current material layer. If only one material is associated with your light, this also dims the light itself.

Affect Specular: The specular lighting is light that is dependent on the viewer's position and angle. Specular is meant to simulate the reflection of a bright light source upon a surface and is calculated as an angle vector between the camera and the light source itself. This percentage value provides the ability to control how much the light contributes to any specular shading within a scene on a per light basis. You can set this value to 0% if you want to eliminate specular shading produced by the light, allowing the creation of a "diffuse only" light source.

I have conducted some "rough" observations of a number of UV flashlights in order to present a comparison for you. UV radiance measurements were taken at 2 foot intervals starting at 20 feet from my UVX radiometer 365nm sensor and decreasing down to 2 feet. I left each light on for a few minutes to let voltage drop a bit and then conducted some quick range measurements. As you see in the graph below, the numbers follow the Inverse Square law. It states that when you double the distance away from the source, the light will be 1/4th the intensity at the original distance. When you move the light triple the distance away, the light will be 1/9th the intensity. Four times, 1/16th. As you can see by the numbers, light intensity drops off pretty quickly. The numbers on the left of the graph are in mW/cm2. The scale on the bottom is the number of feet from the UV radiometer the measurements were taken. It should be noted that I was going to try to see how one of the common 21-LED 395nm Unfiltered UV flashlights would perform. But as expected, this quality UV radiometer sensor completely ignored the wavelength of light coming out of it. Putting it right on the sensor may have read 0.01 mW/cm2. I wrote this article in January, 2020. Since that time, I have had my UVA Radiometer factory calibrated. So the actual numbers in mW/cm2 are higher than the scale on the left side of this graph. Relative strength as you see compared in the graph is the same. I will be re-measuring a number of lights in the future with the calibrated meter. But for now, please excuse the uncalibrated readings on the left.

Shadow Color: This setting tints the shadows produced by the associated light. In most cases this color is left as black, producing the 'absense-of-light' shadows we are all used to seeing, but other times, there can be creative reasons to modify the shadow color to either simulate a specific phenomenon, or simply for artistic effect. Some consider it good practice to tint the shadow with a complementary color to that used for the light's Color setting.

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Certainly, the number of LEDs in a light, LED output, reflector quality and shape, battery voltage and numerous other variables factor into what makes one light more useful than another. When comparing flashlights, one of the biggest factors defining the useful distance of the flashlight is rarely talked about. What minerals you are collecting? The human eye detects certain colors in dark environments better than others. Willemite from Franklin, New Jersey glows an intense green under shortwave ultraviolet light. But some of the material responds almost as bright under longwave UV as well. Canadian Wernerite and Greenland Sodalite are some of the brightest longwave minerals on the planet! Some of the latest high power UV LED flashlights will allow your eyes to find this material starting at around 80-100 feet away. But that is NOT always the case with most other longwave UV reacting minerals. Fluorescent minerals from different localities react differently. Some localities produce solid masses of minerals where others may have crystals in a non-fluorescent matrix. The richness of the piece would define how bright the rock reacts to UV. On average, much of the Sodalite I have seen from Lake Superior areas is a varying mix of fluorescent Sodalite to non-fluorescent Syenite. Certainly there are super-rich pieces found. But there are plenty which are not. And I have seen rows of 5-gallon buckets of this rock.

Enable: Toggles the layer on and off. If there is only one material attributed to the light, this disables/enables the light itself.

Blend Mode: Affects blending between material layers applied to the light allowing you to stack several layers for different effects. For more on blending, see Layer Blend Modes.

Light Shift: As the light is increasingly attenuated, certain wavelengths are absorbed or scattered. The Light Shift function simulates this phenomenon. Negative values push the color of the volume increasingly toward cooler light blues, while positive values push the color toward warmer orange and red hues. The Light Attenuation value must be a number above 0% to see any effect

Light Attenuation: Attenuation is the gradual loss of intensity when light is passing through any medium. With an attenuation setting of 0%, Modo produces a smooth gradual falloff along its length. as the Light Attenuation value increases, the volumetric effect gradually fades in overall intensity with a bias toward the light source.

I talk with many, many customers both in-person and online about Ultraviolet Flashlights. Most everyone asks me how bright is one UV flashlight compared to another UV flashlight. Or "How far does the beam on that flashlight go?" Not all 365nm Longwave Ultraviolet flashlights are equal. And most importantly, not everybody will be using their flashlight in the same way. Some mineral collectors need a UV flashlight for shopping at Mineral Shows. Some, use them as tools when looking at their mineral collections to find fluorescent minerals they may not realize they had. Many customers take their UV flashlights out into the field.

Affect Caustic: Caustics are the refraction or reflection of light, either through a transparent object or off of a reflective object and projected onto a surface. This percentage value provides the ability to control how much the lights illumination contributes to the overall caustic shading within a scene on a per light basis. You can set this value to 0% if you want to disable the light from contributing to generated caustics.

Color: The color control uses the standard Modo color component of three RGB values and provides direct control over the color of light emitted. Our brains are used to seeing pure white lights, but often times, there are many reasons to change the color for artistic affect. Also, when simulating outdoor lighting, setting a lights color to cooler values such as blue-ish tones tends to simulate mid to late day-time lighting where as warmer colors such as yellow or orange-tones is more like evening time.

Scattering Color: This allows you to set an RGB color value for the light volume itself. You usually want this to be the same color as the light, however, there may be some creative reasons one might want to change it to something else entirely.

When light shines on microscopic particles suspended in the air, such as water vapor, smoke or even pollution, the light rays become visible. In computer graphics this phenomenon is known as a volumetric light, their effect can be subtle or pronounced, either way it adds a good amount of believability and atmosphere to rendered images. For volumetrics to work, they must first be enabled in the light item's properties where additional settings specific to the volume itself are located.