Sky brightness?

[byronnash]

I am lighting my scene with a Sun and Sky. I'd like to add some more fill to the shadow areas but the Sky Intensity Multiplier doesn't seem to make a difference. What's the best way to add some fill light to a sun/sky setup?

[Svetlozar Draganov]

The Sky Intensity Multiplier is not taken into account when the Sky is linked to the VraySun.
There are a couple of ways to change the intensity of the sky.

The first one is to create a new sky which is not linked with the VraySun. You can do that by click on Delete Sky btn into V-Ray Sun and Sky rollout then go to HyperShader create new VraySky node and drag it into all channels into Environment Tab > BackBround / GI / Reflection / Refraction. Now the VraySky Intensity Multiplier is no longer linked to VraySky and you will be able to control them separately. The downside of this approach is that VraySky is no longer controlled by the VraySun and if you want to change to position of the Sun the Sky will remain the same.

The second and better approach would be to change VraySky model to CIE Clear from the Sky Model dropdown menu - by doing so the Horiz Illumination parameters will become accessible and by changing its value you can control the illumination of the sky independently. The good thing here is that the Sky is still linked to the Sun and at the same time you have a separate control for its intensity.

Another solution would be to use Ambient Light to illuminate the scene uniformly.

And as a final one you could increase Dark Multiplier value into Color Mapping rollout in order to increase brightness into darks areas.

[Undersky]

Another solution would be to use Ambient Light to illuminate the scene uniformly.

Where is it in Maya? I remember it from 3ds Max, but can't find it in Maya. Or is it new in V-Ray 2.4? I'm only on 2.3 right now.

[byronnash]

Before you replied last night, I put in a dome light and that seems to add some light in once I pump the intensity way up. Is there a downside to the dome light over the ambient light?

[Svetlozar Draganov]

Domelight is usually calculated slower than Ambient Light but it produce a better quality.