2008

The Light Tracer provides soft-edged shadows and color bleeding for brightly-lit
scenes such as outdoor scenes. It is typically used in conjunction with a
Skylight on page 4940 . Unlike radiosity on page 5976 , the Light Tracer does not
attempt to create a physically accurate model, and can be easier to set up.
Outdoor scene lit by Skylight and rendered with light tracing
TIP While you can use light tracing for indoor scenes, radiosity is usually the better
choice in such cases.
Previewing the Effect of Light Tracing
■ To get a quick preview of the effect the Light Tracer will have, lower the
values of Rays/Sample and Filter Size.
The result will be a grainy version of the full effect.
■ Another way to get a quick preview is to make sure Adaptive Undersampling
is turned on. In this group, set the Initial Sample Spacing sampling and
the Subdivide Down To setting to the same value. In the General Settings
group, lower the value of Rays/Sample, and set Bounces equal to 0.0. This
gives a rather blotchy but fast preview of the rendering. Increase the
Rays/Sample and Filter Size values to improve the image quality.
Default Scanline Renderer Rollout | 5965