The first rule to understand is that Lights are NOT a part of the bin. There is nothing special about a lamp post that makes it so that it can have a light. All models can have a light. All of them!
Where does the light come from ?
It is a built-in part of the mtm2 game! When you set the model property to "moving", the mtm2 game interprets that information and thinks you have inserted a train into your track. You will notice that all objects set to moving will make train sounds. One of the first tracks to use moving cars was Cape Hatteras by Yeastman. It is widely known that that track had to be placed above the sound pod in the pod.ini list or the train noises would drive you off the rails. Little known, however, was that if you run Cape Hatt at night, each and every vehicle set to moving has a huge train headlight floating just in front of it. And why not, since, after all, train engines have them, don't they? In summary, the moving feature was built into mtm2 for the use of trains. Moving objects have train horns and train headlights.
Making street lights is just our way of exploiting this moving train feature for other purposes.
How to do it - Shorthand
From Twisted Moto Cross Lights by Twisted to Night Trains by Oops I think that the common difficulty has been that there are basically two problems to overcome when designing a light for a track.
1. making the light appear in the correct spot in your model.
2. making the finished model stay where you want it.
Part 1
To come straight to the point, when a model is set to moving, the light beam will appear at the (x,y,z) intercept (50, 2004, 3927) and it will point in a positive direction along the z axis. I have come to call this the pin point spot of the beam.
Then, simply determine which part of your model that you want to have serve as your light source and position it so that it is in line with this location. It is easier than it sounds.
Note: be careful not to position a face on your model in front of the
beam. It will block the light and create ugly shadow effects.
Part 2
When a model is inserted into the terrain and is left at the default position, the light beam will run parallel to a flat terrain (i.e., to the horizon) along the z axis.
Unfortunately, seldom is this configuration useful.
The trouble begins when you try to aim/tilt the light in other directions. It seems that moving objects must run along the terrain (trains cannot fly in the air) and so the model sinks to the ground the moment you start the race. This can be very frustrating when your hard work sinks to the ground only to light up the underworld.
I have found that the best way to counter this tendency is to make use of an invisible "control bar" merged with the street light model. This control bar is nothing more than a 100 foot long face, mapped with a transparent texture. It should run along the y axis, be centered on the x and y axes, and be set at zero along the z axis. It needn't be wider than a foot or two. This control bar is what will allow you to position the height and direction of the light beam, and subsequently where your post will meet the ground.
Here are the coordinates of the control bar I've provided.
(-313,12800,0) | (313,12800,0) |
(-313,-12800,0) | (313,-12800,0) |
The x values are an arbitrary number that I chose while working with the pin point spot on the beam. You may use wider or narrower values. You should not, however, vary the y and z values. Doing so could cause problems in the track.
Once you have the light and post positioned the way you want in relation to the pin point spot, simply insert this control bar into the model and save.
In the track, use the vertical orientation feature to set the post upright. That's all there is to it.
Rule of thumb. If your light post floats in the air, shortening the control bar will lower it. If your light post sinks into the ground, lengthening the control bar will raise it up. The effectiveness of shortening and lengthening the control bar will vary with the degree of the beam's inclination. A small inclination will have a greater response. A wider inclination will have a lesser response. I am sure the precise intersecting spots can be calculated, but I've found that just playing with it works rather quickly.
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