8
1164 Chapter 15: Lights and Cameras
Outdoor scene illuminated by t he IES Sun light
The menta l ray renderer g ives physically accurate
results for IES Sun, and renderings that use it will
appear similar to renderings done with the default
scanline renderer. You do not need to turn on
Final Gather for light from IES Sun to render.
Note: Whileyoucancreatedaylightlights
manually, you should use them in conjunction
w ith the Daylight system to get the best results.
The Daylight system combines the two daylight
componentsofsunandskyinaunifiedinterface.
Tip: If you use the IES sun or sky with the
Logarithmic Exposure Cont rol (page 3–293)
,
turn on both the Daylight and Exterior options.
This will provide greater control for properly
mapping the higher energy levels to RGB colors.
Inaddition,itisimportanttosetthePhysicalScale
to the brightest light source in your scene. If the
IES Sun is used, set the Physical Scale to 90000 cd.
Note: When you add an IES Sun light, 3ds Max
automatically assigns a
Look At controller (page
2–329)
to it, with the light’s target object assigned
as the Lo ok At target. You can use the controller
settings on the Motion p anel to assign any other
object in the scene as the Lo ok At target.
Interfa ce
On—Turnssunlightonandoffintheviewport.
Targeted—When on, t he IES Sun is targeted to the
center of the compass rose created by the
Daylig ht
system (page 1–394)
.Ifthisisoff,thepositionof
the sun can be set manually.
Cast S hadows—Sets whether the sunlight ca sts
shadows or not.
Intensity—The intensity of the sun light. The color
swatch to the right of the spinner opens the
Color
Selector (page 1–157)
to set the color of the light.
Typical intensities in a clear sk y are around 90,000
lux.
Note: Intensity is set a utomatically and cannot be
set manually if the sun is under the control of a
daylight system.
Shadows group
On—Determines whether the sunlight casts
shadows or not.
Sha dow M ethod drop-down list —Determines
whether the renderer uses
shadow maps (page
3–1104)
,
ray-traced shadows (page 3–1094)
,
advanced ray-t raced shadows (page 3–1094)
,
mental ray shadow maps (page 2–1205)
,or
area
shadows (page 3–1005)
to generate shadows for
this light.