Lets you align a light (or an object) to another object so that its highlight (or reflection) can be precisely positioned.
From this flyout, you can also choose Align, Align Normals, Align to Camera, or Align to View.
In Place Highlight mode, you can click and drag the mouse around in any viewport. Place Highlight is a viewport-dependent function, so use the viewport that you’re going to be rendering. As you drag the mouse around in the scene, a ray is shot from the mouse cursor into the scene. If it hits a surface, you see the surface normal at that point on the surface.
When you hit a surface, any selected objects are positioned along a line that represents the ray reflected off the surface about the surface normal. The objects are positioned along this line based on their original distance from the surface point. For example, if the object is 100 units from the surface point before it’s moved, then it will be positioned 100 units from the surface point along the reflected ray.
If the object is a light, the position of the highlight on the surface of the object will be the surface point that you’ve chosen.
Tip: Place Highlight works with any kind of selected object. You can also use Place Highlight with a selection set that contains more than one object. All objects maintain their initial distance from the face.
Note: For materials in 3D StudioMAX, highlight rendering depends on the material's specular properties and the type of rendering you use.
The result of Place Highlight depends on what is visible in the viewport.
If the button is not visible on the toolbar, choose it from the Align flyout.
When you place an omni, free spot, or directional light, 3D StudioMAX displays a face normal for the face the mouse indicates.
When you place a target spotlight, 3D StudioMAX displays the light's target and the base of its cone.
The light now has a new position and orientation. You can see the highlight illumination in shaded viewports that show the face you chose, and when you render those views.