Self Illumination Question

[Michael J. Brown]

I do a lot of interiors using the daylighting system (in conjunction with interior lights). I also use self-illuminated materials for a couple of applications. But I find that self-illumination does not render whenever Exposure Control (specifically, Logorithmic) is turned on.

 

Is there a way (in MAX 9) to re-enable self-illumination while using EC?

[neko]

i was looking forward to seeing some good replies to this thread as well, but seeing as it never took off, i'll give you my thoughts.

 

i had trouble with self-illuminating objects using mental ray (which i've only been using for about six months now). since all the self-illuminating materials i had used were 'architectural', i decided to try using A+D materials and adding a 'glow' shader to the 'self-illuminating' slot under 'special purpose maps'

 

that seems to be working pretty well, though i'm sure there could be more to it than that.

 

hope that helps

 

paul

[Michael J. Brown]

Thanks Prodham & Bradley. I'll try both these options. My work-around up until now has always been to simply forego Exposure Control all-together (when using a daylight system with an interior shot) and just knock the Global Lighting Level down to between .03 and .05 while increasing the output of my photometric lights by about 25x to 40x.

 

Keeping the G.L. down that low keeps the scene from being washed-out by the daylight and still allows light from my photometrics to emit - albeit at a greatly reduced amount (thus the need to increase their output). But, beleive it or not, you can still acheive some pretty beleivable results using this method. AND it allows self-illuminated materials to read.

 

In fact, check out this image I generated earlier this year using this method. (of course, the only thing self-illuminated here is my computer monitor in the foreground. Normally I have SI assigned to my light diffusers too, but not this time.)

[Justin Hunt]

check out Jeff Patton's latest block, he covers this in good detail,

 

http://jeffpatton.cgsociety.org/blog/

 

jhv