PC Industrial Lights Emit Light in Arcs?

[Riamus]

Why is it that industrial lights emit the light in two arcs rather than an entire sphere?  I should not have a shadow on the box that is right next to the light.  If you look closely, you'll see the light is emitted to either side of the light in arcs of maybe 120 degrees each while the other two sides are left in shadow.  These lights may have bars on them but they do not have wide areas of metal that block off anywhere near that much light.  They should give an equal light emission in all directions the same as the basic light.

 

[theFlu]

I don't know, but it kinda looks like the lamp is casting a shadow of itself. Just misplaced in the depth direction in the image.

 

[Riamus]

probably attempt to fix performance by using spotlight instead of point light. It is never going to do any good unless you use it for small light sources with emissive texture applied. I could be wrong tho, could be just a intersecting point light...

If the basic light gives light to all directions, I don't know why this needs to be different.

I don't know, but it kinda looks like the lamp is casting a shadow of itself. Just misplaced in the depth direction in the image.

Hm... I do have some other lights but the light distance on these has been significantly reduced in A21 so I'm not sure they would create a shadow.  All the lights in the room have the shadow in the same areas as well, which also suggests it's not a shadow from other light sources as you'd see the shadows in different directions based on placement of the various lights.  Still, I'll have to do a little more checking on it just to verify that.

 

[theFlu]

I do have some other lights but the light distance on these has been significantly reduced in A21 so I'm not sure they would create a shadow.

Ye, I was saying that the same lamp is giving a shadow, the lightsource being behind the shadow-casting parts.. Dunno if it even should do anything, but turn shadows off for a test?

 

[Riamus]

Ye, I was saying that the same lamp is giving a shadow, the lightsource being behind the shadow-casting parts.. Dunno if it even should do anything, but turn shadows off for a test?

Ah, I misunderstood.  Yeah, I can definitely try turning off shadows to test it.  I'll try that out later tonight to see.

It is kind of a pain because the basic light gives better illumination over a distance and doesn't have these shadows but it's so bright if you look up at it.  The industrial lights don't have that glaring brightness when you look at them and worked fine in A20 to give good illumination while being less harsh.  Now, they are dimmed so much that it takes about twice the number to illuminate an area and these dark areas don't look too great.

And unfortunately, the new fluorescent light is so dim that it might as well be a night light.  It's okay for giving a general light to the area if you really don't need to see much of anything but is otherwise pretty useless.