Clearer link between vraysun and vraysky

[tricky]

Quite often we have a number of different vraysuns or Daylight systems in our scenes. This is either due to a max bug whereby merging models from another scene also brings in a Daylight system, or it is intentional in a scene where we need to have a daylight system (using vraysun/vraysky) for time-of-day sun positions for certain cameras but a manually placed vraysun for other cameras.

The problem I seem to have is that I am never quite sure which vraysun the vrayskylight is 'attached' to. For example, I am rendering an animation at the moment and the scene has a number of different cameras. In this scene, I have a couple of different vraysuns (one in a daylight system and one manually animated from one position to another so that the sky turns from day to dusk). I have saved solutions assuming that the sky is linked to the fixed sun position, but on rendering, there are all sorts of visual errors as it seems that the sky is animated from dawn to dusk.

There needs to be a better way to link sun and sky, or at least have different skys that are linked to different suns.

This is really difficult to explain - does anyone follow me?

[jacksc02]

Clear as mud!
Have you tried scene states? or RPManager? Either option can help you organise your main scene files if you have multiple shots in it.
Alternatively you can set up individual "render files" that have cameras and lights with the main model xref'd in.

[Morne]

I usually switch of all suns except the one I need. The VraySky autoupdates depending on which sun is "on"

but Chris' trick sounds good also

[tricky]

We tried scene states (or was it state sets...or both?) a few iterations of Max ago but had issues. I don't recall what now, but I know there were problems. Possibly fixed now.

If you create a daylight system in a fresh scene and tell the sun to be a vray sun, it will automatically put a vraysky in the environment slot.

If, at some future point, you create another vraysun (not in a daylight system), vray will prompt us to replace the vraysky in the environment slot.

Obviously, I only use one sun at a time, so switch off the one I am not using. How do you know which sun the vraysky is attached to?

[tricky]

I usually switch of all suns except the one I need. The VraySky autoupdates depending on which sun is "on"

but Chris' trick sounds good also

So do we usually. However, I just had an issue where BOTH of our suns were switched off as I just wanted the dusk colours of the sky to create the GI. I didn't want any sun shadows at all. How do we know which vraysky is being used in this situation?

[alexyork]

Yes that duplicate/multiple daylight systems bug is very irritating and has caught me off guard a couple of times.

[Neilg]

We xref our model(s) into a scene with just the lighting and camera. Folder system with model scenes and with render scenes, a new one for each camera so IR maps/resolutions & any other weird things can sit comfortably there. xref has 'ignore lights & cameras' checked so people working in the main model can still do test renders to check materials.

[vlado]

Obviously, I only use one sun at a time, so switch off the one I am not using. How do you know which sun the vraysky is attached to?

This is why you have the ability to explicitly specify which sun to use in the VRaySky texture.

Best regards,
Vlado