Dreamscape 2.5

[Devin Johnston]

I've got a problem with a Dreamscape sky I'm working on. I've set up a scene where the sun is in about the 11 o'clock position and my camera is basically making a 180 degree pan of the scene. The problem is when the scene first starts everything looks fine, as the camera pans around the sky gets darker and darker (see attached animation). Does anyone know how to evenly light the sky so I don't have this dark overcast look? I've attached the Max scene file and a sample animation, any help would be greatley appreciated!

[oluv]

have you tried it with exposure control? i think dreamscape represents a physical sky with a high dynamic range.

so imagine you are taking a photo directly into the sun and then turn the camera into the other direction and take a photo. it will also appear much too dark.

when you film such a scene with a videocamera it will adjust the aperture automatically to achieve the right exposure value. maybe you can simulate this in max by trying "automatic exposure" and process background and enviroment maps.

but i am not sure if this is really the right way i hope there other experts here who know it better and can help.

[Devin Johnston]

Man, you gave me a great idea that worked! I just animated the exposure value under the Dreamscape peramaters and it worked. It's not perfect but at least I can use it now. Thanks again.

[oluv]

have you tried it with max's exposure control? i think it is more flexible because you can also adjust contrast.

by the way, your clouds are looking great. did you have to tweak a lot to get them like this? i once tried dreamscape and the preset clouds were not looking too realistic, but telling the truth i haven't played much with all the settings.

[Devin Johnston]

I'd say it took me about an hour to get the sky to the point it is now, I'm only using 2 cloud layers. I'll try the exposure controll if this doesen't wind up working for me, thanks again.