8
1150 Chapter 15: Lights and Cameras
Model rendered with a single skylight, and light tr acing
When you render with t he
default scanline
renderer (page 3–37)
,Skylightworksbestwith
advanced lighting: either the Light Tracer, or
radiosity (page 3–50)
.
Wa rn in g : When you render with the
mental ray renderer
(page 3–77)
, ob jects illuminated by a Skylight appear
dark unless you turn on
Final Gathering (page 3–1034)
.
The toggle for Final Gathering is on the
Final Gather
rollout (page 3–109)
of the Render Scene dialog.
A skylight is modeled as a dome above the scene.
Tip: There
are several ways to model daylight in
3ds Max, but if you use the Light Tracer, a Skylight
often gives the best results.
Tip: If you encounter visual anomalies when
renderin
gabump-mappedmaterialwitha
Skylight, conv ert the material to an
Advanced
Lighting Override m aterial (page 2–1410)
and
then reduce the Indirect Light Bump Scale value.
Using a Map with the Sk ylight
If you use a m ap with a Skylight, the following
guidelines can improve its effect:
• Makesurethatthemappingcoordinatesare
spherical or cylindrical.
• Forlighttracing,makesureyouusesufficient
samples. A good r u le of thumb is to use at least
1,000 samples: set Initial Sample Spacing to 8x8
or4x4,andincreasethevalueofFilterSizeto
2.0.
• Use an image-processing application to blur the
map before you use it. With a blurred map, you
can use fewer samples to obtain good results.
When used with Skylight, a blurred map will
still render well.
Beawarethatusingsufficientsampleswitha
mapped Skylight will take longer to render than if
the light were not mapped.
Using R ender Elements with a Sk y light
If you use
Render Elements (page 3–126)
to output
the
lighting element (page 3–136)
ofaskylightina
scene using either radiosity or the light tracer, you
cannot separate the direct, indirect, and shadow
channelsofthelight. Allthreeelementsofthe
skylight lighting are output to the Indirect Light
channel.
Procedures
To create a Skylight:
1.
OntheCreatepanel,clickLights.
Standard is the default choice of light type.
2. In the Object Type rollout, click Skylight.
3. Click a viewpor t.