Is it currently possible to create a directional light with a location and attentuation as well as direction? This would be very useful for bounce light coming from a ground plane. Also, DomeLights (Directional with adustable falloff around surface ) would be quite useful for outdoor scenes.
If not, is this something I could add myself in the jME code? Or is this stuff embeed in openGL or lwjgl?
A DirectionalLight is an inifinite light. It has no location.
You can set a PointLight with attenuation, perhaps this is what you are looking for? Again, your DomeLight sounds like a PointLight.
Right. However, there are other types of light types in 3D than the 3 provided in jME. Are the 3 types of light in jME defined in OpenGl or lwjgl? If not, can I add my own to jME?
One is an Planar Light. It has a source plane, rather than a source point and all light travels in the same direction. It is defined by giving a point and a normal. It is very useful for emulating the light reflected from the ground when combined with attenuation. Attenuation is calculated based on distance from the plane rather than the point. If you give bounds to the plane, it is an Area Light; these are more expensive to compute. Something similar thing could be accomplished by attaching point light underneath each actor, but it still wouldn't be quite right.
Another a light that emulates the blue skysphere. It Is defined by giving a direction and a rate of decay based on the surface normal. It is often similar to an ambient light, with the advantage that it doesn't flatten everything.
Anyway, just wondering how I could go about adding these to jME.
The 3 lights that jME define are the 3 lights that OpenGL defines.
I see. Thanks for the quick response.