Modifying a Light's Color
Windows only

by Dale Fugier (Last updated:  Wednesday, December 5, 2018)

Overview

The process for modifying a light object is slightly different than the process for modifying other geometric objects, such as points, curves, and surfaces. This is because light objects are stored in a different location in the Rhino document.

How To

Light objects are stored in a CRhinoLightTable object that is held by the active document object. Thus, instead of using one of the ModifyObject() members found on CRhinoDoc, you need to use the ModifyLight() member found on CRhinoLightTable in order to modify an existing light object.

For more details on CRhinoLight and CRhinoLightTable, see rhinoSdkLight.h included with the C/C++ SDK.

Sample

The following example demonstrates how to modify the diffuse color of a light object…

CRhinoCommand::result CCommandTest::RunCommand( const CRhinoCommandContext& context )
{
  // Pick an existing light object
  CRhinoGetObject go;
  go.SetCommandPrompt( L"Select light to change color" );
  go.SetGeometryFilter( CRhinoGetObject::light_object );
  go.GetObjects( 1, 1 );
  if( go.CommandResult() != CRhinoCommand::success )
    return go.CommandResult();
 
  // The the light object
  CRhinoObjRef& ref = go.Object(0);
  const CRhinoLight* light_obj = CRhinoLight::Cast( ref.Object() );
  if( !light_obj )
    return CRhinoCommand::failure;
 
  // Prompt the user to pick a new color
  ON_Color color = light_obj->Light().Diffuse();
  if( !RhinoColorDialog(RhinoApp().MainWnd(), color) )
    CRhinoCommand::cancel;
 
  // Copy the light object's underlying ON_Light
  ON_Light light( light_obj->Light() );
  // Modify the diffuse color
  light.SetDiffuse( color );
 
  // Modify the light
  CRhinoLightTable& light_table = context.m_doc.m_light_table;
  light_table.ModifyLight( light, light_obj->LightIndex() );
 
  return CRhinoCommand::success;
}