VRay lights

[stef.thomas]

Ignore me please!

[stef.thomas]

Ignore that last post, just realised the problem is still there

[dlparisi]

tct: A workaround is to use the vraylightMtl in SP3 and check "Direct Illumination" and apply it to a plane in place of the light. Uncheck "visible to Camera", "Visible to refl/refr", "Cast and Receive shadows" in the object props and Uncheck "Visible to GI" in the vray props. I don't see any other way of forcing vray to ignore the light when calculating the GI (visible to GI is not available for lights).

[stef.thomas]

Using the plane lights as sky portals channels the environment light rather than blocking it.

I guess you just have to make a choice, use the plane lights in sky portal mode to supplement the environment light, improving illumination and sampling at the expense of render times and more noise; or use the plane lights as normal, effectively replacing the environment light for lower render times and less noise but more hassle in setting the individual multipliers.

Maybe someone better qualified can confirm this.

[tct70]

Thanks guys. I currently have them set in sky portal mode, which as you say, has increased the render times. I'll look into the work around.

Thing is, most of the tutorials I've seen have used plane lights to suppliment the sun and to get better shadows in the room - has it suddenly stopped working or it it just me?

How do you light an interior?

[stef.thomas]

Just tried it in max 9 with vray SP1, so nothing new. I always approach lighting interiors this way i.e. using plane lights to, as I assumed, supplement the environment light. I guess what's really been happening is the environment light is lighting the exterior visible through window openings but the interior is being lit solely by the plane lights plus direct sunlight.

If you're using an HDRI as your environment light and want the colour to influence your interior you would need to use sky portals.

[dlparisi]

But using the lights as portals doesn't allow you to boost the light level which is what I thought tct was after. You'll get better shadows, etc, but the light intensity should be roughly the same.

[stef.thomas]

Yes, that's correct. Light levels should be controlled using the camera exposure though when using the physical camera and vray daylight system, not by adding additional lights, if you're going for a realistic approach.

If you want independant control over exterior and interior lighting then you have to use the plane lights as standard.

[dlparisi]

tct: Another option if you want to boost the light coming in to the interior is to just put another light set to portal mode just behind the additional vray light. Since the skylight is no longer GI but is computed as an actual light it passes right through the next vray light.

[tct70]

Thanks,

The portal mode on the original lights appears to be giving me a good result. Rendering is slow though.

[dlparisi]

Thanks,

The portal mode on the original lights appears to be giving me a good result. Rendering is slow though.

You can try clicking "Store with Irradiance Map".

[stef.thomas]

There's nothing wrong with the other approach, it's all subjective after all. I generally never use plane lights in portal mode and wouldn't have noticed this issue were it not for this thread!

[dlparisi]

There's nothing wrong with the other approach, it's all subjective after all. I generally never use plane lights in portal mode and wouldn't have noticed this issue were it not for this thread!

All good . Whatever get's the job done. From tct's original post it sounded like he wanted to increase the amount of light in the room, not just get better shadows so that's what I was aiming for.

[tct70]

Yes I did want to get more light into the room, but I guess that's not what these lights will do in the way I thought.

I really apprecialte your help guys.

[Jer25]

I didn't understand the problem at first. When I built a scene I used the lights with all their default settings (multiplier at 30) and I didn't get this problem. Attached is a samples of your scene in case others didn't understand as well. I half expected the last image to be black.

Recently I've started lighting my scenes without using the light planes. I read up on some of Zuliban's posts and have been trying to take his advice. Here are some of his quotes, I've interpreted them in my own way and might have the setting wrong.

"i believe to get the best from a image is good to study a bit photgraphy tho i only use 1 light always ,not like vraypanels on windows(give very fake effect) and on ambient always try to use lot of colors and over the range HDR"

"i only use vray psherical light is the best one to simulate light -direct is a very fake one becase it has not automatic falloff and shadows are not based on size of light.. about settings i only use qmc + lc qmc at 45-55 most of the times and lc at 1400"

"all is gemoetry no hdris in any image used, whit HDR i mean out of range like output colors."

All the quotes are taken from this post on pages 3 & 4.
http://www.chaosgroup.com/forums/vbu...t=33682&page=3