[x3d-public] lights in switch nodes

[Don Brutzman]

I've added the following warning to X3D Tooltips.

"Warning: DirectionalLight default global=false to limit scope and avoid inadvertently illuminating every object in a large scene. PointLight and SpotLight default global=true since they are each scoped by maximum radius value."

http://www.web3d.org/x3d/tooltips/X3dTooltips.html#DirectionalLight.global
http://www.web3d.org/x3d/tooltips/X3dTooltips.html#PointLight.global
http://www.web3d.org/x3d/tooltips/X3dTooltips.html#SpotLight.global

Because the potential downside of a DirectionalLight with global true getting loaded, with result that a new Inline or Prototype model suddenly and mistakenly affects everything else in a large aggregate world, it seems like we should keep this design pattern.

Some alternative approaches that set global false in parent scenes are conceivable but seem to quickly get too problematic to be practical.  It is OK to be in charge of truly global scope of DirectionalLight, but potential negative impacts seem too powerful to allow misunderstood defaults to dominate.

p.s. who is posting the Blender bug and testing correct implementation of their exporter?  This might even fix a mystery bug on their end that DirectionalLight was ineffective.  Past experience has shown that the Blender developers are very responsive.

all the best, Don
-- 
Don Brutzman  Naval Postgraduate School, Code USW/Br       brutzman at nps.edu
Watkins 270,  MOVES Institute, Monterey CA 93943-5000 USA   +1.831.656.2149
X3D graphics, virtual worlds, navy robotics http://faculty.nps.edu/brutzman