Problem with interiors

[Mike Mangold]

I have always had problems with interiors. I can never get the lighting correct. I have tried radiosity but it never looks right. Probaly I just don't have the experience with radiosity. So now I am trying mental ray in Max 6. Vary is not an option since we don't own it and a demo is not available. I have 16 mental ray spots and some IES lights in the soffit of the tray. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Ricardo Eloy]

The "problem" with radiosity is that you need to set the lights correctly, according to a real project in order to achieve decent results. The solution is pretty accurate, only depends on the lights (and correct scale, but I assume you're already working like that). If I were you, would stick to radiosity instead of Mental Ray's GI. It's faster and easier to setup (imho).

[Mike Mangold]

Thanks for response Rick. I tried using radiosity and it seems I lost shadows and some things are washed out. Any suggestions? I have placed lights according to the architects plan.
Thanks,
Mike

[Ricardo Eloy]

Post your light setup and radiosity setup so we can help you more directly.

[Frances Gainer Davey]

Things to check if you're using radiosity:

- Reflectance values of your materials in the scene. They should be within the ranges of real world values. There is a basic table of values in the max help.

- Radiosity will "leech" color from bitmap and procedural textures, usually to the red side. You can control bitmap saturation in the Bitmap Output rollout. Use the HSV color controls for materials without bitmaps. Remember that when you look at the material sample in the editor, it is "pre-lit" and that your lighting simulation will add onto what you see in the editor.

- Make sure your model is the correct scale.

- The radiosity meshes for the objects in your scene look too large. You won't get good definition with large mesh parameters unless you use Regathering. You can set meshing parameters by object in Object Properties or Bylayer in the Layer Manager. You can also set the number of refine iterations by object.

- According to Alex at Autodesk, you should run your solution to 98% initial quality to get accurate results from your photometric lights.

- Use Logarithmic Exposure Control with photometric lights. Usually, I find the default Brightness (65) to be too bright.

I hope this helps you.

[Mike Mangold]

Thanks Fran and Rick for your help. Here are my settings see attched images. I will try and scale down the mesh and increase the solution to see what happens.

Thanks,
Mike

[Michael Secrist]

Doesn't using the filter setting which you have set at '5' take away the definition of everything including shadows from the lights. I try not to use that setting because I usually get weird things to happen to my shadows and lights.

[Andrew Alcantara]

hi everybody! i am wondering on how to use an ies light in a vray set-up........i've tried it before but theres a splash-like lights coming up from my glass windows....what is it? and please guys, could u share some pointers in using ies lightings? thanks!!!