beam_spotlight

beam_spotlight is a point entity available in all Source games since Left 4 Dead. It is also available in Garry's Mod.

Class hierarchy
CBeamSpotlight ↳CBaseEntity
beamspotlight.cpp

It is used to draw a spotlight. Will draw a beam when the player views it side on, and a halo when it's facing towards the player. It will also create a dynamic light wherever the end of the spotlight rests. Other than its ability to rotate, this entity is functionally identical to point_spotlight.

Note:This spotlight is entirely client side, and rotation may be desynchronized between clients.

Tip:Can be set to rotate for a lighthouse search beam effect.

Flags

Start On : [1]

No Dynamic Light - Do not create any actual light. : [2]

Start with Rotation On : [4]

Reverse Direction : [8]

X Axis : [16]

Y Axis : [32]

(^[Clarify] are these axes relative to the world or to the entity?)

Keyvalues

Max Rotation Speed (maxspeed) <integer>

The maximum rotation speed of the spotlight, in degrees per second.

Spotlight Length (SpotlightLength) <integer>

Length of the spotlight beam.

Spotlight Width (SpotlightWidth) <integer>

Width of the spotlight beam.

HDR color scale (HDRColorScale) <float>

Multiplier for sprite color by when running in HDR mode.

Halo Sprite (HaloSprite) <sprite> (only in )

The material that should be used for the halo.

Beam Sprite (BeamSprite) <sprite> (only in )

The material that should be used for the beam.

RenderFields:

Render Mode (rendermode) <byte choices>

Set a non-standard rendering mode on this entity.

Render Modes

0: Normal 1: Color 2: Texture 3: Glow 4: Solid/Alphatest 5: Additive 6: Removed, does nothing 7: Additive Fractional Frame 8: Alpha Add 9: World Space Glow 10: Don't Render

Render FX (renderfx) <byte choices>

Various somewhat legacy alpha effects. See render effects.

Render Amount / Transparency (renderamt) <byte>

Transparency amount, requires a Render Mode other than Normal. 0 is invisible, 255 is fully visible.

Render Color (R G B) (rendercolor) <color255>

Color tint.

Inputs

LightOn

Turn the spotlight on.

LightOff

Turn the spotlight off

Start

Start rotating.

Stop

Stop rotating.

Reverse

Reverse the direction of rotation.

RenderFields:

Alpha <integer 0–255>

Sets the entity's transparency to a number from 0 (invisible) to 255 (fully visible). Requires the entity to have its rendermode set to a number other than 0.

Color <color255RedirectInput/color32>

Sets an RGB color for the entity.

Outputs

OnLightOn

Fires when light turns on.

OnLightOff

Fires when light turns off.