finalrender linear lights in 3dsmax 6...

[ironman]

...How do you get these dopey lights to work properly?

 

I like to use them as cove lights, but instead of distributing light evenly over the length of the light, they have a "hot spot" at the center of the linear light, and the light "decays" at both ends of the length of the light.

 

Anyone else have this problem, and does anyone know how to fix it?

[Cad64]

I've never used Finalrender, so I can't help you with that, but with Mental Ray, I typically create a light emitting material and apply it to whatever object I want. Here's a good tutorial: http://www.cgarena.com/freestuff/tutorials/max/glowingmaterial/index.html