X5 Vs Thea...

[Chad Cardin]

Jintu,

I was also wondering what is the point of the advanced tab on the raytrace choice if it often brings up unwanted results in the final rendering? Do you ever use the advanced tab and if so for what application?

[Chiefer]

Jintu,

Thanks for the additional diagrams to show the settings. Both the exterior and interior raytraces are acceptable now as I adjusted the settings just like you recommended. Only thing is how do you control it from looking over exposed like the pic I attached? It seems like the sun isnt natural and over done? I also cant get the sun angle dbx to pop up to make adjustments to the angles like you mentioned earlier in this thread. How can I manually find it to adjust them?

You may adjust sun intensity prior to raytracing or during raytraces to control exposure.



Sun Angle adjustment:

[Chiefer]

Jintu,

I was also wondering what is the point of the advanced tab on the raytrace choice if it often brings up unwanted results in the final rendering? Do you ever use the advanced tab and if so for what application?

Photon mapping in the Advanced tab is most useful for chief's material definition - S/S, glossy materials for example will not be accomplished as they should be if it is not utilized. i.e. we will get a very dark floor with almost no reflections if its material property class is defined as polished. also radiosity is zero, (no secondary light bounce from any light source).

[Chad Cardin]

Jintu,

Loved the explanation and examples for the photon mapping, very clear on why you would want to use it. Thanks for the additional information!

[Chad Cardin]

By the way Jintu... any recommendations on sun angles for best exterior renderings? Ive been directing the sun behind the camera for exterior shots but all of this is new so Im not sure what looks best. Also I noticed in the raytrace dbx it asks for time of day, I always leave it at the default thinking the mid day is best for lighting... what do you think about this?

[Chad Cardin]

Jintu,

With these settings versus the default raytrace wizard its makes my polished stainless steel look black??? What selection am I making to have this turn out the wrong color? I have the exact settings you recommended, what am I not selecting correctly?

[Chiefer]

By the way Jintu... any recommendations on sun angles for best exterior renderings? Ive been directing the sun behind the camera for exterior shots but all of this is new so Im not sure what looks best. Also I noticed in the raytrace dbx it asks for time of day, I always leave it at the default thinking the mid day is best for lighting... what do you think about this?

For exterior shots most clients want the main entrance to be brighter so I move the sun angle to that direction or I would change the tilt angle to -35 or -45 for my time of day. -25 is early morning or late afternoon.

[Chiefer]

Jintu,

With these settings versus the default raytrace wizard its makes my polished stainless steel look black??? What selection am I making to have this turn out the wrong color? I have the exact settings you recommended, what am I not selecting correctly?

Try to use photon mapping.

[Chad Cardin]

Nice, thanks for the heads up on the angles, I will test those out! Thanks Jintu!

[Chiefer]

This is a good setting:

[Chad Cardin]

Jintu, thanks for the example, I will use these settings on my next exterior rendering and see how it turns out!

[Chad Cardin]

Jintu,

I cant get the sun angle dbx to open up. This is the case with all my plans, even using just a plain default plan. The only noticeable difference in the settings you posted is when you click on the lightbulb, then sunlight, it has a zero next to it. Strange thing is when I complete the renderings (without adjusting sun angle since Im not able to open the dbx) the rendering looks ok and the sun and shadows are appearing. So its clear Im missing the big giant TURN ON THE SUN button somewhere. Do you know what Im not selecting to get the sun angle dbx to open and get it to show (default sun being used) vs (default sun being used 0)?

[Chiefer]

Chad,

This could be because of your default settings. Please report this to tech support.

[Chad Cardin]

Does this sound like a bug or just me not selecting the right buttons in the dbx in default settings? Everything seems to work ok, I just cant access the sun default spec? I will give them a call.

[Glenn Woodward]

Chad,

Do you have "Sun light 0 (used in current view)" in the Adjust Lights dbx? I think the answer is yes.
That means that you have a Sun Angle arrow in your plan and Chief is using that arrow and its data instead of the default sunlight - "Default Sun (used in current view)", as shown in Jintu's pic.

When you see "Sun light 0 (used in current view)", you can select it, hit Adjust..., and the full Sun Angle Specification dbx will open.
This is a lot more comprehensive than the Default Sun Light Specification dbx.

If you are getting the "Sun light 0 (used in current view)" in the Adjust Lights dbx in a new plan, it means that you must have a Sun Angle saved in your template plan.

Open your template plan and have a look for the Sun Angle arrow, delete it and save your template plan.

When you don't have a Sun Angle arrow in your plan and open the Adjust Lights dbx, you will see "Default Sun (used in current view)".
If you select the text, click Adjust..., the Default Sun Light Specification dbx will open as per Jintu's pic.

Note that you need to select the text and hit Adjust..., not just tick the checkbox.