Overview
Redshift Light Manager is a mixing board for your Redshift
lights. Every light gets its own clear line, like channels on a console, with all
its settings right next to the other lights, so you can see what each one is doing
at a glance: its color, intensity, exposure, and layer. Adjust one light or many
at once, without hunting through the Object Manager or accidentally moving a light
in the viewport.
Requirements / Compatibility
Cinema 4D 2023 through 2026 (Mac or Windows).
Redshift installed. The tool manages Redshift lights only; it does not affect
standard Cinema 4D lights or other render engines.A Greyscalegorilla or Everything Bundle subscription, with Cargo (see
Installation).
Installation
We ship through Cargo, Greyscalegorilla's app, so there is no hand-placing of
files.
What you need:
A Greyscalegorilla or Everything Bundle subscription.
Cargo installed. Grab it at greyscalegorilla.com/cargo and sign in with your
Greyscalegorilla account.Cinema 4D 2023 through 2026.
Steps:
Open Cargo and close Cinema 4D if it is running.
Click the Connector icon in the lower-left of Cargo, choose Connect Software,
pick Cinema 4D, then select your version.Click Install Connector, then open Cinema 4D once to activate your license. If
you already use the Connector to send assets, skip this, the same Connector
handles tools.Back in Cargo, go to the Tool page and click Install on this tool.
Restart Cinema 4D. The tool is ready.
Updating: when a new version is out, an Update button appears on the tool card in
Cargo. Click it, then restart Cinema 4D.
Quick Start
Open the panel: run Redshift Light Manager from the Extensions menu, or
press Shift+C and search for it.Every Redshift light in your scene shows up as a row. Use the Search box to
find one fast.Edit any value right in its row: intensity, exposure, color, name, and more.
The change happens right away.To change several lights together, select their rows (click one, then
Shift-click or Cmd/Ctrl-click to add more), then make your edit.To focus on one light, click its Solo box. The rest switch off so you can judge
it alone. Clear Solo to bring everything back.
What you can do
Edit a light
Change any value in a light's row: name, on/off, type, color or temperature,
intensity, exposure, area shape and size, spread, spot cone, dome rotation, or
layer. You see the result immediately, and every edit can be undone.
Each cell is a real Cinema 4D control. Double-click a name to rename it in place,
pick from the dropdowns, and drag the sliders. You can type an exact value into
any slider instead of dragging it.
Only the settings that apply to a light are live. A dome has no cone angle, so
that cell stays empty rather than pretending otherwise.
Change many lights at once
Select the rows you want (click one, then Shift-click or Cmd/Ctrl-click to add
more), then make your edit. It applies to all of them, as a single undo step.
The selection stays in sync with the Object Manager, so you can build it there
too. With a single row selected, an edit affects just that light.
Read the scene at a glance
Each light shows its real Cinema 4D icon, tinted with that light's actual color,
whether that comes from a color, a temperature, or both. You can read your scene's
warm and cool mix straight down the icon column without reading a single value.
Set color or temperature
Use Color Mode to choose how a light's color is set, then pick a color from the
swatch or set a temperature. Temperature can be a list of common presets (candle,
tungsten, daylight, and so on) or a Kelvin slider. Switch between them in Display
Settings. Lights that do not use temperature simply hide the option.
Dial in exposure
Use the minus and plus buttons to the right of the Exposure slider to nudge a
light by a quarter stop, or hold Shift for a half stop. You can also drag the
slider, which moves in fine steps for precise control, or type an exact value. If
the clicked light is part of a multi-row selection, the whole selection moves
together.
Dial in spread and cone
The minus and plus buttons to the right of the Spread/Cone slider work the same
way, so neither has to be typed. Area lights step their spread by 0.05 per click,
spot lights step their cone by 1 degree, and Shift takes a bigger step (0.1 and 5
degrees). If you have a mix of area and spot lights selected, each one steps in
its own unit.
Solo a light
Click Solo on one or more lights to switch the others off and focus on your
selection. Clear Solo and every light returns to how it was, so you can compare
against the full scene at any time. Solo sticks through a refresh, and through
lights being added, removed, or renamed.
Look through a light
Click the yellow LT button on a light's row and the active viewport looks down
that light's axis, which makes aiming it easy. Click the active one again and your
original camera comes back. Domes do not offer this, since there is nothing to
look through.
Keep a big scene organized
Search filters the list by name as you type.
Filter shows all lights, just the ones that are on or off, or a single type.
Group the list into collapsible sections by type, layer, or shape.
Sort by clicking any column header. Click it again to reverse.
Arrow keys walk you up and down the list, and your selection stays in sync with
the Object Manager both ways.
Set up the panel your way
Drag column headers to put the columns in the order you want. Use the Columns menu in the toolbar to tick columns on and off quickly, or click the gear (⚙) for the
full Display Settings: which columns show, row spacing, temperature as presets or
a slider, and which parts of the toolbar you want. Columns that no light in your
scene needs hide themselves automatically, so you are not looking at an Area Size
column in a scene with no area lights.
Your layout saves right into the scene file, so reopening the scene brings the
panel back the way you left it.
Dock it into your workspace
Drag the panel into your Cinema 4D layout like any other manager, and save the
layout. It comes back where you put it the next time you launch Cinema 4D.
A docked panel keeps itself current: open a scene and its lights appear on their
own, with no need to click Refresh first.
Get back to the default layout
Right-click any row for Reset Column Order, which puts the columns back in
their default order and leaves your hidden columns alone. Display Settings also
has Reset to Default Layout, which resets everything: order, hidden columns,
and auto-hide.
Tips
Solo a light while you tune it, then clear Solo to instantly compare it against
the whole scene.Group by layer to work the way your scene is already organized.
Hide the columns you never touch. The panel gets narrower and easier to read,
and the layout stays with the scene.Add, delete, and reset lights in the Object Manager as usual. The panel keeps up
automatically.
Troubleshooting
A light is missing. Click Refresh, and make sure it is a Redshift light.
Standard Cinema 4D lights do not appear here.The panel did not show up after installing. Give Cinema 4D a full restart.
Newly installed tools only appear on a fresh launch.A cell is empty or greyed. That setting does not apply to that type of
light, so it is left alone rather than given a meaningless value.A column is in an odd place, or one is missing. Your layout saves with the
scene, so an older scene restores the layout you left it with, and any column
added in a newer version lands at the far right. Right-click a row and choose
Reset Column Order.Right-clicking a column header does nothing. Cinema 4D uses that for
dragging columns, so the menu lives on the rows instead. Right-click any row to
hide a column, reset the order, or open Display Settings.A docked panel says "Plugin not found" after updating. A layout you saved
with an older build points at the panel in a way newer builds no longer use.
Close that empty panel once, drag a fresh copy of the tool into place, and save
the layout again. It sticks from then on.
Which version am I running?
The version number sits in the panel's title bar, next to the name. Handy when
reporting something, so we know exactly which build you are on.