Random light colors in aiStandin not working

[hollierthomas]

I would like to randomize the color of a light inside an aiStandin node. I have done this with surface material, using the aiJitterColor node in "Procedural" mode and it does the trick (although it's super fiddly I could only get it to work reliably when I had "auto instancing" off BEFORE duplicating the nodes. Turning it off AFTER the duplication caused all sorts of unpredictable behavior).

Doing the same setup with the light color doesn't work.

maya 2022, mtoa plugin 4.2.1, windows

[Stephen.Blair]

What kind of light?

And is the jitter shader in the ass file?

[hollierthomas]

I've tried it with both and aiAreaLight and aiMeshLight. And yes, the aiColorJitter shader is in the .ASS file.

Are there any other ways to encapsulate this kind of automatic randomness inside an ASS archive? I tried the random() function in a local override on the color attribute of the light but I have tons of nodes I'm trying to randomize so doing it by hand is not an option.

[hollierthomas]

Additionally, if I duplicate an existing aiStandin node with a working override that uses a random() for the light's color attribute, the override no longer gets applied in the render. I have to go into the interface and click on the tick box to restore the override.

[Stephen.Blair · Accepted solution]

I don't think jitter won't work with lights. I can't get it to work, and I don't expect it to.

I would use an operator that sets the light color to random()

Example (from C4DtoA, but it shows the idea)
https://answers.arnoldrenderer.com/questions/33931/cloned-lights-in-random-colours.html

[hollierthomas]

Okay, cool. That worked. Is there a way I can apply that operator to hundreds of aiStandin nodes via a script?