Hi everyone,
This is a small test I made yesterday, trying to use the new architectural material in 3ds max 6 as a light material, and the results are quite good.
As you can see, the scene is very simple (so the rendering times do not get too long),
I used at first four combinations for the test, using a VRay light, a box with architectural material with luminance value about 10,000.
And for the materials, once I used a VRay material, and then an architectural material (without luminance), both set to pure white, for the ground and the aeroplane.
I actually noticed an increasing rendering time using the architectural material as a light, than rendering using the VRay light.
Anyway the good thing that you can use this material to make any shape of light object, though when using the sphere object as a light, the results was a little bit less accurate.
I also noticed that using the architectural material as a light material, makes it a light with decay, so I used a VRay light with decay so you can compare it easily, I also tried to make both the object light and the VRay light equal in multiplier as much as possible,
Fisrt bounce : irradiance map multiplier 1.0
Second bounce : direct computation multiplier 0.5 depth 10
VRay light : set to store with irradiance maph multiplier 2.5 with decay and ignore light normals
Irr. map quality : High preset
AA : fixed rate 3
VRAy version : 1.09.03 n
3ds max version : 6.0
Hope all of you find the test useful, I find it so, because I sometimes need to make a light with a shape other than rectangular, circular for example, especially for my architectural interiors.
And finally, it really pleases me to hear your posts and comments, and as I'm a little bit busy, you can try all sorts of tests and combinations and share them.

Just one little more thing, I made a couple of tricks resulting in very interestnig results:
- I made a half-sphere and used it as a dome around the objects I'm welling to render, then assign a architectural material with luminance to it, making it something like a sky light, (if maybe less accurate), anyway I'm trying even more tests to make it better, and find more uses for this material.
- Secondly, I made a very funny effect, (actually this has nothing to do with the architectral material), I rendered the same aeroplane scene, using only a single VRay light from the side, first I calculated the irradiance map with the VRay light NOT set to store with the map, then stored the map, and turned off the VRay light, and rendered the scene just having the bounced light only.
And at last, (hope I haven't taken too long) , this is the most interesting test I've made, it's what I call a "Lightbox", using the arch. material with luminance for the four walls and for the roof (but not for the floor), the second image uses a falloff map for the luminance value.
PS: Using a standard material, or a standard material with an advanced lighting override to have the same effect turned out to be ineffective, (correct me if I'm wrong), anyway I'm pleased with the results for now, hope you are too.

Thanks for listening,
Your's Husaam
This is a small test I made yesterday, trying to use the new architectural material in 3ds max 6 as a light material, and the results are quite good.
As you can see, the scene is very simple (so the rendering times do not get too long),
I used at first four combinations for the test, using a VRay light, a box with architectural material with luminance value about 10,000.
And for the materials, once I used a VRay material, and then an architectural material (without luminance), both set to pure white, for the ground and the aeroplane.
I actually noticed an increasing rendering time using the architectural material as a light, than rendering using the VRay light.
Anyway the good thing that you can use this material to make any shape of light object, though when using the sphere object as a light, the results was a little bit less accurate.
I also noticed that using the architectural material as a light material, makes it a light with decay, so I used a VRay light with decay so you can compare it easily, I also tried to make both the object light and the VRay light equal in multiplier as much as possible,
Fisrt bounce : irradiance map multiplier 1.0
Second bounce : direct computation multiplier 0.5 depth 10
VRay light : set to store with irradiance maph multiplier 2.5 with decay and ignore light normals
Irr. map quality : High preset
AA : fixed rate 3
VRAy version : 1.09.03 n
3ds max version : 6.0
Hope all of you find the test useful, I find it so, because I sometimes need to make a light with a shape other than rectangular, circular for example, especially for my architectural interiors.
And finally, it really pleases me to hear your posts and comments, and as I'm a little bit busy, you can try all sorts of tests and combinations and share them.

Just one little more thing, I made a couple of tricks resulting in very interestnig results:
- I made a half-sphere and used it as a dome around the objects I'm welling to render, then assign a architectural material with luminance to it, making it something like a sky light, (if maybe less accurate), anyway I'm trying even more tests to make it better, and find more uses for this material.
- Secondly, I made a very funny effect, (actually this has nothing to do with the architectral material), I rendered the same aeroplane scene, using only a single VRay light from the side, first I calculated the irradiance map with the VRay light NOT set to store with the map, then stored the map, and turned off the VRay light, and rendered the scene just having the bounced light only.
And at last, (hope I haven't taken too long) , this is the most interesting test I've made, it's what I call a "Lightbox", using the arch. material with luminance for the four walls and for the roof (but not for the floor), the second image uses a falloff map for the luminance value.
PS: Using a standard material, or a standard material with an advanced lighting override to have the same effect turned out to be ineffective, (correct me if I'm wrong), anyway I'm pleased with the results for now, hope you are too.


Thanks for listening,
Your's Husaam
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