Usually when you have a red dot mark on the UI, it means a notification or something you need to deal immediately. This is such a random icon design. I don't even know what it's supposed to mean.

Me neither...
The Work Light options look good in theory, but after a few hours trying them out the reality is not so successful. A feature that doesn't seem to have been really thought through IMHO.

it doesn't seem completely random to me
in Solaris red dot means Viewport Overrides and choosing Work Lights or No Lights option will ignore the scene lights and therefore is also a viewport override, so my guess would be that's what the red dot could mean

if that's the case there is a bit inconsistency in the notation, as with actual viewport overrides being on on the stage and also turned on under the Sunglasses icon, I'd also expect sunglasses icon to have a red dot to suggest that some other Viewport Overrides are actually in use

Yes, it's a carryover from Solaris. The Material toggle also does the same thing when off. The UX team wanted some sort of indication that WYSI*not*WYG for a couple of very common cases that people kept tripping over when rendering with husk, especially with the physical sky and domelight worklights. It's definitely a bit of a slippery slope change - there's dozens of settings that can change what the viewport shows versus what husk renders - but we decided to start with the main offenders.

malexander
Yes, it's a carryover from Solaris. The Material toggle also does the same thing when off. The UX team wanted some sort of indication that WYSI*not*WYG for a couple of very common cases that people kept tripping over when rendering with husk, especially with the physical sky and domelight worklights. It's definitely a bit of a slippery slope change - there's dozens of settings that can change what the viewport shows versus what husk renders - but we decided to start with the main offenders.

So I suppose the red dot simply means "you're not using scene light"...?

raincole
So I suppose the red dot simply means "you're not using scene light"...?

Yes that's a good way to think of this, for the lighting override buttons. I like to say the red dot, whether in the Viewport buttons or the Scene Graph Tree, means "My appearance in the Viewport is altered by this option, so I will look different when rendered/saved to disk."

goldleaf

raincole
So I suppose the red dot simply means "you're not using scene light"...?

Yes that's a good way to think of this, for the lighting override buttons. I like to say the red dot, whether in the Viewport buttons or the Scene Graph Tree, means "My appearance in the Viewport is altered by this option, so I will look different when rendered/saved to disk."

Not sure who the UX team us but this is just bad design and the red dot - both the look and inconsistency or lack of clarity is quite distracting.

LukeP
Not sure who the UX team us but this is just bad design and the red dot - both the look and inconsistency or lack of clarity is quite distracting.

I strongly disagree, and if it is distracting you then it is doing its job perfectly by informing you that something is not as it should be, so watch out.

Work lights are meant to be a quick lighting override for when you don't have scene lights set up, and will not render as you see them in the viewport, and having a clear warning sign to that effect is pretty good UX in my opinion.

Mike_A
The Work Light options look good in theory, but after a few hours trying them out the reality is not so successful. A feature that doesn't seem to have been really thought through IMHO.

Can you elaborate on where they are falling short? My experience with them has been pretty good so far. They're doing what they are supposed to be doing (a couple of bugs notwithstanding, that should get sorted soon enough).

Edit: @Mike_A, I just saw your post detailing your issues with the Work Lights. Yes, there are bugs with the properties not working, but I expect those to be sorted fairly easily. When you say that the Work Lights haven't been really thought through, that implies that the feature is fundamentally askew, but I'm not seeing that.

Thankfully the major initial bugs have been fixed, but there are a few things that don't seem thought out IMO:

1. Physical sky
Do you like everything orange? It may be 'technically correct' in terms of absolute colour temperature, but human perception corrects that in reality. In display prefs there are all sorts of physical sky work light controls - apart from the one I think is really needed - saturation. Maybe it's a branding thing

2. No display preferences for ambient occlusion or shadows.
It would be great to be able to have AO or shadows set up for some work lights but not others in display prefs. So switching from one work light to another type would switch those features as well by default. That's not available. So to switch those features you've got the go to the viewport work light drop down twice - to change the work light, and back to switch AO or shadows if you want those. Having those features available as a display pref, with viewport dropdown as an override would be better IMO.

Or maybe I'm missing something?

Mike_A
Or maybe I'm missing something?

I see them as a way to get a quick and dirty lighting preview before you have actually lit your scene.

I'm not seeing them as a tool you use to actually light your scene with.

Maybe I'm missing something, but they seem fine to me in principle.

eikonoklastes
I'm not seeing them as a tool you use to actually light your scene with.

Neither am I. I just wish Sidefx would put a little more effort into refining the UX. These sort of issues, while in many respects very minor, add irritation and friction and could be easily avoided with some basic testing, feedback and revision. It's frustrating when this is a good and helpful feature overall.