Ambient Light and Sunlight

Setting Lighting Options

The Set Lighting Options command specifies the ambient light brightness and default color for the current layer, or, when Unified View is selected, the view. By default, the ambient light parameters are set to On, with a Color of white, and a Brightness of 35%. When the Renderworks product is installed, this command also sets the white balance for any light sources with a color temperature, and specifies environment background lighting parameters when a Renderworks panoramic background resource has been added to the drawing.

The ambient light of a selected viewport can be edited by clicking Lighting Options from the Object Info palette (see Creating Sheet Layer Viewports).

To set ambient light:

1. Switch to the layer where the desired ambient light settings are to be set.

2. Select View > Set Lighting Options.

The Lighting Options (Renderworks required) or Set Ambient Light dialog box opens. Set the ambient light for the layer. The white balance setting can be adjusted for light sources in the layer with a color temperature specified (Renderworks required). For a chart of common color temperature ranges, see Correlated Color Temperature.

If the lighting options are controlled by a Renderworks style that is currently in effect, the Edit Renderworks Style dialog box opens instead; see Renderworks Styles.

Click to show/hide the parameters.

Parameter	Description
Indirect Lighting (Renderworks required)	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: 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, 8 Bounces: Using eight 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	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
Brightness	Specifies the ambient light brightness; enter a percentage or drag the slider bar
Color	Specifies a default color associated with the ambient light; click the color box to select the color
Ambient Occlusion (Renderworks required)	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 (Renderworks required)
Emitter Brightness (%)	Adjusts the brightness of all light objects with Use Emitter selected
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 (Renderworks required)	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
None	Uses the image environment background set for the layer or viewport as a background only. The background does not contribute to lighting.

3. Click OK.

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Adding Light

Adding Sunlight

Shadow Analysis

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