Indirect Lighting

Indirect lighting models the transfer of light energy among drawing objects and materials, as the light bounces around and affects the surroundings. The more bounces specified, the more realistic the rendering, but also the more time required to render.

Select the level of indirect lighting to use for rendering:

●        None: Direct lighting only, for quick rendering

●        Immediate Preview, Slow Resolve, 2 Bounces: If Fullscreen Preview is selected for Custom Renderworks Options or Renderworks Styles, provides an immediate full-screen preview at a very low resolution that is slow to resolve to final resolution; this is useful when working interactively on a design layer, but is not appropriate for producing final renderings

●        Exterior, 3 Bounces: Three bounces of lighting is often enough to enhance exterior views

●        Normal, 4 Bounces: Four bounces of indirect lighting is appropriate for exterior scenes and well-lit interiors

●        Interior, 16 Bounces: Using sixteen bounces of indirect lighting is suited for darkened or partially-lit interior scenes, or very detailed and complete indirect lighting

Individual textures can have their own indirect lighting setting overrides to enhance a scene while reducing the rendering time required.

When rendering with Fast Renderworks, indirect lighting is rendered at a “Low” quality; Final Quality Renderworks uses a “High” quality setting for indirect lighting, and Custom Renderworks allows the quality setting to be selected.

Ambient Info

Any changes to the ambient lighting options prompt immediate re-rendering (Open GL render mode only)

On/Off

Activates or deactivates the ambient light settings for the layer

Color

Specifies a default color associated with the ambient light; click the color box to select the color

Brightness

Specifies the ambient light brightness; drag the slider bar or enter a percentage

Ambient Occlusion

Darkens corners, crevices, overhangs, and areas where objects meet, with soft shadows, enhancing edges and creating a more realistic feeling of depth.

If ambient lighting is turned off, ambient occlusion is not available.

Strength

Specifies the darkness of the shadows in corners and areas where objects meet

Size

Sets the distance that the shadows extend; a larger size increases the effect

Emitter Options

Emitter Brightness (%)

Adjusts the brightness of all light objects with Use Emitter selected.

A recommended alternative method of adjusting all lights is to keep this setting at 100%, and adjust the image exposure using the Renderworks Camera tool options instead.

White Color Temperature

Select a color temperature that will be balanced to appear white. Lower temperatures, which might otherwise have an orange cast, or higher temperatures, which might otherwise appear with a blue tint, are adjusted to appear white. Select Custom to specify a temperature to be white balanced.

Custom (K)

If a Custom Color Temperature is specified, enter the temperature in Kelvin

Environment Lighting

When a panoramic image background has been selected for the layer or viewport, specifies how to control its lighting contribution to the rendering (see Creating panoramic image backgrounds)

From Current Background

Uses the image environment background set for the layer as both a background and a light source

From Selected Background

Lights the model with the colors from the panoramic image background selected here. Select the Renderworks Background.

None

Uses the image environment background set for the layer or viewport as a background only. The background does not contribute to lighting.