--- title: "Light Select" canonical: "https://documentation.chaos.com/space/VRAYNUKE/110625529/Light%20Select" format: markdown --- ## **Overview** --- ** ** ** ** --- ** ** ** ** UI Path: ||Toolbar|| >** V-Ray Menu icon > Render > VRayRenderElement > Type: Light Select** ** ** ** ** ## **Inputs** --- The Light Select Render Element node allows one or more lights to be connected as inputs.   ## **Properties** ---   ![image](media://2f2394c5-5839-4ad7-b6ef-a8de1d9bec1c)     **Apply Color Mapping** – When enabled, Color Mapping will be applied to the Render Element. **Consider for Anti-Aliasing **– When enabled, anti-aliasing will be used where possible. > Macro (anchor) **Type** – Sets what type of lighting contribution is generated in the element as follows: **Direct illumination** – Lighting within the Light Select element behaves as normal and contains diffuse and specular information. ** Direct raw** – Lighting within the Light Select element behaves as a raw render element. **Direct diffuse** – Lights within the Light Select element output only their diffuse contribution and contain no specular information. ** Direct specular** – Lights within the Light Select element output only their specular contribution and contain no diffuse information. **Full** – Lights within the Light Select element provide full output for all information available in the scene such as GI, SSS, reflection, refraction, etc. **Indirect illumination **– Outputs all indirect light bounces, including indirect diffuse and specular information. **Indirect diffuse** – Outputs only the indirect diffuse light bounces. This mode is similar to the [GI render element](https://docs-chaos.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/VRAYNUKE/pages/110625505).  **Indirect specular **– Outputs only the indirect specular light bounces. This mode is similar to the [Reflection render element](https://docs-chaos.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/VRAYNUKE/pages/110625521). **Subsurface **– Outputs only the information calculated from Subsurface Scattering materials. **Light path expression** – Allows capturing custom light transport paths with regular expressions. Right-click in the field for a list of presets. See the [Light Path Expressions](https://docs-chaos.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/VRAYNUKE/pages/110626278) page for more information. ## **Common Use: Changing Lighting in Composite** --- Below is an example of how to use the Light Select Render Element in a composite. Both of the element's **Types** have been set to set to *Direct illumination.*  The scene used for the images below uses only two lights, a [VRaySunSky](https://docs-chaos.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/VRAYNUKE/pages/110626608) and a [VRayLightMesh](https://docs-chaos.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/VRAYNUKE/pages/110625375) and each has their own Light Select Render Element. The renders below show how the two Light Select Render Elements can be combined to give the same result as the [Lighting Render Element](https://docs-chaos.atlassian.net/wiki/pages/createpage.action?spaceKey=VRAY4MAYA&title=Lighting), and combined with the [Global Illumination Render Element](https://docs-chaos.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/VRAYNUKE/pages/110625507) to give the equivalent of the [Total Lighting Render Element](https://docs-chaos.atlassian.net/wiki/pages/createpage.action?spaceKey=VRAY4MAYA&title=Total%20Light). This gives a finer level of control in the composite to change things such as the intensity, or color tinting for individual lights within separate passes.   For more information, see the video.    > Macro (iframe)   ### vrayRE_Light_Select Render Examples ---   > ⚠️ As the second light (the [VRayLightMesh](https://docs-chaos.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/VRAYNUKE/pages/110625375)) contains no specular contribution at all, it is not rendered out for Light Select 2.     > ⚠️ Light Select Direct Diffuse, Direct Raw, and Direct Specular **Types** are combined by all Diffuse being merged together with a plus operation in the composite. The same is done to the Direct Raw and Direct Specular **Types. **The combined Direct Diffuse Light Select passes are then merged in composite with a Multiply operation with the Direct Raw Light Select passes. These are then merged with the Direct Specular **Type** Light Select passes, which then produces the same as the [Lighting Render Element](https://docs-chaos.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/VRAYNUKE/pages/110625499). If all these combined Light Select operations are then combined with the [GI Render Element](https://docs-chaos.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/VRAYNUKE/pages/110625505) with a plus operation in composite the [Light Total Render Element](https://docs-chaos.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/VRAYNUKE/pages/110625525) will be reproduced. > ⚠️ > ⚠️ As the Specular component is already present in the Light Select Render Elements, no [Specular Render Element ](https://docs-chaos.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/VRAYNUKE/pages/110625509)is needed to be present in the final composite. > ⚠️ > ⚠️ In the examples shown here, as the background is camera projected onto simple geometry and we do not need any extra lighting information added to it; A mask created from the inverted blue channel of a [Multi Matte Render Element](https://docs-chaos.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/VRAYNUKE/pages/110625173). > ⚠️ > ⚠️ ![image](media://f09fbba9-4823-47ce-aedc-2330f9d97cc0) > ⚠️ > ⚠️   > ⚠️ > ⚠️ > Macro (legacy-content)   ---   ## **Notes** --- - When using Light Select, a good practice is to have one Light Select pass for each light source in your scene. This way the [Lighting ](https://docs-chaos.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/VRAYNUKE/pages/110625499)element can be recreated from them, and adjusted as needed while compositing without re-rendering. - If the Light Select element **type** is set to **Direct illumination**, the specular contribution is added to the render element. While this is perfect for simple compositing, a better workflow is for each light to be selected for two Light Select Render Elements, one with its **type** set to **Direct diffuse** and another with its **type** set to **Direct specular**. In this way, the specular and diffuse lighting can both be controlled independently at a composite level.