lighting/ray trace help


freshrooms
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Now if someone can tell me why, no matter how hard I try, how many times I read the help directions/watch the training videos/check my settings, I can NOT get sunlight to come in through the windows to cast sunbeams.  

 

I mean, I can never get it to work.  It makes my renders look so flat.  Could it be something in my hardware?

 

Do you really mean "renders" or do you mean "ray trace"?

 

To make things easier, make sure you have a Sun Angle in your plan that has all the correct settings and that it casts a shadow on the terrain.

To get the sun to shine through the windows, you need to do a couple of things that relate to the glass material:

 

The first thing is

3D...3D View Defaults...Options...Auto Adjust Default Glass Properties - check this and you should always get the sun through the windows no matter what material or material setting.

 

With this setting unchecked:

 

1. Use a Transparent material.

2. Use a General of Reflective material, BUT you need to set the Transparency value to at least 51%. 

 

If none of that works, post a plan that you are having trouble with.

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Hi,

 

Sorry, I do mean ray trace, and yes I've set the sun angle and all that.  

 

I have not, however, checked or changed the glass default properties because, you know, I assumed they would auto-default to transparent - being glass...I will look to see what my settings are there and try again.

 

The thumbnail you posted is not mine, I am not the OP.  I was just commenting on the shiny spots - I have already eradicated that pest  ;)

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  • 1 year later...

Hello, I am trying to get rid of these annoying lighting spots or glare spots. I've read all the suggestions and comments here, nothing works with wood floor glare spots, is anyone still having issues with this and/or has anyone figured out how to soften or remove them completely? I know a little glare adds to the realism but too much takes away from the image. Everything I read here, I've tried and these suggestions do not work for me, are there any "new" ideas ?

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Hello, I am trying to get rid of these annoying lighting spots or glare spots. I've read all the suggestions and comments here, nothing works with wood floor glare spots, is anyone still having issues with this and/or has anyone figured out how to soften or remove them completely? I know a little glare adds to the realism but too much takes away from the image. Everything I read here, I've tried and these suggestions do not work for me, are there any "new" ideas ?

 

Would you mind attaching an example of the image you are unhappy with please? And maybe a plan as well?

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Two things

 

I'm not sure where you got it that my raytraces take max 2.5 minutes.  Not really!  My exteriors go very fast. But for exteriors I generally use only the single light source, the sun, and no photon mapping.

 

My interiors take longer - 10 minutes, maybe 20.  I use more lights and I do use photon mapping for interiors.

 

I concur with the suggestions about altering materials.  The truth is that a "shiny" wood floor in the real world is still not so much high gloss.  Even a matte finish poly looks shiny to most people.

 

For lights - less is more.  Put in what you need and only what you need.  And that light source behind the camera (but slightly to side) - I do that too.  Think of it like a flash.  And those who say to think of lighting like a photographer are correct also.  Pro photographers not only use a flash but usually some bright lights and those reflector things.  And absolutely make sure you've turned off the lights in other rooms.  Otherwise you're computer is tracing the rays in places you can't see!

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