Facelights and how to use them in SL photography

You've probably seen an object called 'Facelight' in your evoX heads folder, or sometimes they come with an outfit.  Just what are they, and what do you do with them? Read on to find out!

Glowing Objects

A facelight is a very basic build - an invisible round ball that gives off light. They're very helpful in creating light effects for photography, or to make shimmer effects on skin or clothing more noticeable. I use them particularly in darker scenes when I want my avatar's face to be more noticeable.

Before Facelight (left)            After (right)

You can either add them to your avatar or rez them on the ground.  You can add multiple facelights, move them around, and adjust their intensity.

Moving Facelights

Right click on a facelight in your inventory and select 'add' to wear it. Then right click on it again and select 'edit'. You'll get a Build menu and a bunch of multicolor arrows around an invisible spot in front of your avatar. That's where your facelight is. If you hover your mouse over one of those arrows, it will grow a little bigger/bolder, then you can click and drag it where you want it to be.

Facelight Intensity

If you feel like your facelight is way too bright, you can move it further away from your avatar to lessen its impact. 

You can also adjust the lighting intensity. Look for a tab called Features in the Build Menu. Click on that, and look at the bottom of the window.  Play with the Intensity and Radius settings until you get the light to the output you want. 

Lighting Color

To change the color of the light, click on the white square next to the word "Light."  

I rez them on the ground when I want more light in odd places, or on multiple avatars in a single photo.  They're a little harder to find to edit them, but you can do an area search for 'facelight' and find it that way.

Make your own Facelight

It's very easy to make your own facelight.  You'll need to be in a place where you are allowed to rez items on the ground.

• Open your Build tab at the top of the screen, click on Build. you'll get a new window.
• Click on the Create icon (the magic wand) and then click on the round sphere icon. 
• Now, click on the ground anywhere in your screen.  You'll get a round wooden ball.
• Make sure it's selected, (It'll be outlined in yellow, and you'll see those three move arrows) then go back to your Build menu.  
• Click on the General tab and give your facelight a name. I always forget to do this.
• Click on the Features tab and look for the checkbox next to the word Light.  Click the checkbox. Your sphere is putting out light!
• We want it to be invisible, so click on the textures tab next, and then the 'Blinn Phong' tab. Click on the box with the wood texture in it. You'll get a new window to select textures with.  Look for the 'Transparent' button underneath the texture preview window and click it.  Your ball will disappear, and you'll see grey and white checks in the texture preview window.  Click OK.
• Adjust the light color and intensity the same way I described in the previous section.
• You can resize your ball by clicking and holding the CTRL+Shift keys, and clicking and dragging on the little colored boxes that appear around your ball. The white boxes will make every direction resize evenly, so it stays a sphere. Releasing those keys will give you back the move arrows.  
• When you're done, right click on the ball and click 'Take' to put it in your inventory.