closest thing to a max Direct light

[Guest]

Hi

What's the closest thing to a max Direct light in V-Ray?
I need a light to use as the Sun, but the subject is the globe of the Earth.

Thanks.

[hermit.crab]

Try using VRayLight's (rectangle/disc light) directional parameter.

[super gnu]

why not just use a vray sun?

[Guest]

Aleksandar, thanks! I missed that setting.

Super gnu, because as far as I know there's no way to turn it into a regular light (disable the automatic lighting dependent on elevation). Is there a way to do that?

[super gnu]

thats a good point. i didnt consider that aspect.

you could also just use a max direct light with a vray shadow.. maybe a vraylight with directional is the way to go though, although to illuminate the whole globe it would need to be large, which, my brain is telling me, will give you soft shadows, even if its directional 1

[joconnell]

Swap your vray sun colour mode to "direct" and it'll kill off the angle based stuff and work just like a normal max direct light - multiplier of 1 and white as your colour will get you something standard!

[Guest]

Thanks! I missed that.

[JonasNöll]

Hi, there are 2 options from my point of view:

1. Use a 3ds Max Direct Light and use V-Ray shadows. However I would not recommend that because it may have issues with sampling and you should better use option 2
2. Create a V-Ray Light, make it targeted and exchange the shape to disk. Then enable the "No decay" option and set intensity to e.g. "1". Position the light pretty far away from your objects so that your shadows will become parallel.
With with the size and distance to your objects you can control the sharpness of your shadow. Also play with the directional options

[Guest]

Hi, there are 2 options from my point of view:

1. Use a 3ds Max Direct Light and use V-Ray shadows. However I would not recommend that because it may have issues with sampling and you should better use option 2
2. Create a V-Ray Light, make it targeted and exchange the shape to disk. Then enable the "No decay" option and set intensity to e.g. "1". Position the light pretty far away from your objects so that your shadows will become parallel.
With with the size and distance to your objects you can control the sharpness of your shadow. Also play with the directional options

Thanks Jonas. I'll try that.

[Joelaff]

We always use VRaySun for this. The directional setting in a VRayLight is very useful, like to simulate various grid spots, etc. However, increasing the Directional setting increases noise and render times quite a bit. VRaySun gives you parallel rays and a nice setting to tweak the shows softness uniformly without having to move your light, which may affect the light brightness (depending on setup).

[Guest]

We always use VRaySun for this. The directional setting in a VRayLight is very useful, like to simulate various grid spots, etc. However, the Directional settings in creases noise and render times quite a bit. VRaySun gives you parallel rays and a nice setting to tweak the shows softness uniformly.

Thanks for the info.