Max 2009 - Lights Gone!

Murdoc

Hey,

So in max 2009 now but my lights in the viewport keep disapearing. They are still in the scene, still work, but its impossible to work with when i can't see them

Nothing is hidden, they aren't in layers,and I've restarted max.

I have no idea what is going on; has anyone else run into this?

Joseph Silverman

Either shift L or ctrl L hides/unhides lights (the other one toggles using them/default lighting, i can't recall which is which)

renderhjs

its ctrl+L switches to default light setup (1 light at the perspective/camera position). Its usefull when modeling but you already placed light in your scene.

Murdoc

Thanks for the response, but I mean the light icons/cones/etc... in the viewport are gone and the lights are not hidden; they simply dont appear.

renderhjs

i noticed that max2009 handles visibility settings now through layers instead of indivdual instances (aka nodes) - which I personally really hate- but you already said that there are no xtra layers.
hit the [H] key to display all objects of your scene and filter for lights,- do you still see them there? because if they are you should be able to select them through that interface. Once selected hit the [Z] key to focus on them maybe they are moved out of your working space?

Mark Dygert

They probably aren't hidden by object, or by layer which "right click > Unhide All" would bring them back. They are probably being hidden by category which is a separate method.

Short Term Fix:
On the display tab (looks like a little monitor next to the hammer) under "Hide by Category" see if "lights" is checked on. If so un-check it and your lights should come back.

Long Term Fix:
The shortcut is Shift-L like SupRore pointed out. You're probably hitting it by mistake on your way to another KB shortcut? Might want to remove Shift-L from the keyboard shorts (customize > user interface > KB tab > type shift-L in the hotkey box and hit remove) if its a problem.

Murdoc

Sorry for the late resposne, I was out last week due to wisdom teeth being yanked out

Thanks Vig, I must have changed my shortcut, but other people have not and keep turning them off on me, because sure enough looking in the little monitor they were hidden by category.

Thanks again man, always helpful.

Mark Dygert

Ahh... good to hear its workin! mostly because if that wasn't it, I had nothing else, other then, "woa max, freaky sh!t huh?"

Sorry to hear about the teeth that's not fun at all. I hope you heal up fast!