help regarding background (ie sky) not showing on render

[stevewrighty2k]

hi, ive been scratching my head with this and cannot seem to get it to work - i downloaded vray tutorial files and matched the settings and still when i render i cannot see any sky!!!

environment - background setting checked - bitmap selected and it shows in the preview window (ie the sky i want)

but no sky shows on the render window

i also checked environmental overrides gi skylight and reflection (copied the same texture from background above as shown in tutorial) - still no sky.

odd thing also, when i added a dome light it did not render a sky (this was one of the reasons i selected a dome light) - even when theres a sky image selected in colour/texture hdr

please can anyone help....

thanks
steve

[Peter.Chaushev]

Hello, Steve,

My first suggestion would be to double-check the Sun position and geo location. Next one - experiment with the Environment Background intensity.
Could you tell which QuickStart video tutorial project you are using (and which version of V-Ray)?

Kind regards,
Peter

[stevewrighty2k]

thanks for your reply -

it was the environmental lighting tutorial (with the aerial staircase)

regarding the environment intensity (is this the number next to the colour swatch on the background setting) - it was originally 1, but i changed it to 40 to match the tutorial settings and it made no difference.

i dont think its the sun position as theres no background at all (its not over exposed) its just a generic gradient like its displayed in sketchup

[stevewrighty2k]

these are my setting screenshots if you can see anything glaring obvious that im doing wrong?

[Peter.Chaushev]

Thanks for the additional info!
It appears you have stumbled upon a bug which is already resolved in our internal builds. The fix will be publicly available with the upcoming v3.60.03.
In the meantime, as a temporary workaround, you can do the following:
- leave the Environment Background multiplier set to 1
- instead of a Bitmap texture, use a Simple Mix in the Background slot
- within the Simple Mix slot the intended Bitmap texture and increase the Multiply Result value

Additionally, when you multiply the background it is a good idea to use the same value for each of the Environment Override multipliers (e.g. Background is multiplied by 40, use the same amount for GI override instead of 1, as seen in your screenshot).

Kind regards,
Peter

[stevewrighty2k]

Hi Peter,

many thanks for your help,at least i know im not going mad!

i tried your points above by adding the texture to the simple mix aswell as all the other settings you describe above, but im still getting no sky rendered in the background

im quite surprized to be honest, as i would have thought having a sky is quite important in architectural visuals (i understand many are added post production in photoshop, however im trying to increase the realism of the glass in the windows, and to achieve more realism reflections are one important element, so i was hoping for some reflections of sky in the glass of the external shots)

i also tried the old school way of encircling the building with a giant cylinder with the texture applied but it does not give convincing results

[stevewrighty2k]

ive found what may be another bug - being able to add the teture in the simplemix section as above, only seems to let me do it once or twice - when i now click the texture button within simple mix, it does not open up an explorer window to locate the texture, but seems to go "back" ie same function as the back button!

[stevewrighty2k]

i notice also that if i turn off affect environment and affect background under volumetric environment, the sky goes completely black (despite me changing everything i can find to white!)

seem to be making things worse than better!

[Peter.Chaushev]

This is puzzling indeed. Would be best if we could take a look at your project.
Could you please use Extensions > V-Ray > Pack Project and send the archived scene through a file-sharing service of your choice addressed to support@chaosgroup.com or in a PM directly to me?
Regarding the sky reflections in windows - usually you would need to experiment (increase) the IOR value of the glass material until you achieve the desired effect (not an entirely realistic method, use it unless the interior is well-made).
Would also recommend using a 360 panoramic sky texture for best results. You will not achieve quality lighting with an image set to Screen texture placement.

Kind regards,
Peter

[stevewrighty2k]

managed to find a workaround - i reactivated the dome light, and found that i need to make sure that affect background is switched off, which then enables the sky bitmap to be visible from the dome light