What does 3D max light type mean?

First of all, these 8 types of lights are standard lights. Standard lights are computer-based objects that simulate lights such as household or office lights, lighting equipment used in stage and film work, and sunlight itself. Different types of light objects can project light in different ways to simulate different types of real-world light sources. Unlike photometric lights, standard lights do not have physically based intensity values.

Target Spotlight: A spotlight projects a focused beam of light like a strobe, which is a hot spot in a theater or under a masthead. A target spotlight uses a target object to point at the camera.

Free Spotlight: A spotlight projects a focused beam of light like a strobe, which is a spotlight in a theater or under a masthead. Unlike Target Spotlight, Free Spotlight has no target object. Free spotlights can be moved and rotated to point in any direction.

Target directional rays: All directional rays project parallel rays in one direction as the sun casts its shadow on the Earth's surface (applicable to all practices). Parallel light is mainly used to simulate sunlight. You can adjust the color and position of lights and rotate them in 3D space.

Target directional lights use a target object to point the light. Because parallel rays are parallel, parallel rays appear as circular or rectangular prisms rather than "cones."

Free directional light: Unlike target directional light, free directional light has no target object. Move and rotate light objects to point them in any direction. Others are equivalent to target directional lights.

Floodlight: A "floodlight" projects light in all directions from a single light source. Omnilights are used to add "auxiliary lighting" to a scene, or to simulate a point light source.

Skylight: The "Skylight" light creates a model of daylight. You can set the color of the sky or assign it as a map. Model the sky as a dome above the scene. Skylight works better when combined with advanced lighting (light tracer or radiosity) when rendering with the default scanline renderer.

mr Area Omnilight: When rendering a scene using the mental ray renderer, area omnilights emit light from a sphere or cylinder instead of from a point light. Using the default scanline renderer, area floodlights emit light like other standard floodlights.

mr Area Spotlight: When rendering a scene using the mental ray renderer, area spotlights emit light from a rectangular or disc-shaped area rather than from a point light. Using the default scanline renderer, area spotlights emit rays like other standard spotlights.