vray exposure control and camera exposure control perspective view too

[s_gru]

hello, i'm new to vray and have only used it on a few projects so far, but learning. anyway, i am having some confusion over the selection of exposure control and where to set it.

normally i'm thinking of a "global" EC, such that no matter what viewport i am rendering (for example perspective viewport with IPR rendering) or what camera view i'm rendering all show the same exposure control.

i do like camera exposure control however so different cameras can have different EC.

where my confusion comes in is that most of the time i start working with the perspective view and that typically renders very very white over exposed if using a vray sun, put very very black if using HDRI map.

so i fiddle with the exposure control in the environment settings of max (8 key) and i have to close down the frame buffer, reopen it, stop/start the render and eventually i get it to work.

but then i start adding cameras and rendering with IPR to set exposure - so do i have to set <no exposure control> in environment settings and then switch back to each camera view and set exposure there? what happens when i switch to perspective or front or top view? it seems i'm jumbling around and setting too many things to accommodate different settings and viewports. then i fiddle around with all those exposure settings until IPR is not showing black or white (under/over exposed).

i havve seen "from camera" in the vray exposure control option but again i have to fiddle and select a camera and then turn it off when i go to another view etc...

so i guess what's the best approach to using camera vs environment settings for EC that would accommodate the different viewports and camera views?

[piotrus3333]

you can use auto exposure (render settings) for all the non-camera views. or for everything if that seems easier.

[s_gru]

thanks! i noticed i do have to use light cache in order to enable this. which is OK i guess vs using brute force while previewing / building a model.

is there an explanation of order of operation or which exposure control takes precedence over others?

for example right now i find:

1. Vray exposure control in 3ds Max Environment and Effect
2. Settings > Camera rollout in Render Setup
3. Color & Exposure in a selected Vray camera

sorry if this seems elementary, but i'm newer to vray and only ankle deep into the weeds.

*EDIT: is #1 even used by anyone anymore or is that sort of defunct b/c of #2 and #3?

[piotrus3333]

exposure controls will not stack. only one is used at a time. in max environment you can set it for perspective views only for example. same with auto exposure. camera is an obvious place for that for me. use ev or iso so you keep dof and mblur control separate.
and yes, auto exposure requires light cache.

[s_gru]

thanks, got it. good point on the mblur and dof! didn't think of that.