More canned lights?

[Peter M. Gruhn]

Sometimes Maxwell can be too real.

 

I tried simulating skylight with a great big glowing panel right outside the window. Far fewer wasted photons and a better if less accurate result much much quicker. OK, simulate the sun for those little window shaped hot spots on the floor... um... how? Well, I can find no "Direct light". So I could make a bright sphere and try to create a parabolic reflector for it that bounces the light in through the window. But bouncing light off mirrors is a quality hit and my result isn't likely to look good.

 

And I've been making very nice use of photometric data lately for lights. And Max can even show the photometrics cast on surfaces in the viewport. And photometric sources should not be any source of lack of correctness of the final render.

 

So, am I missing the bit where you can create more usual or photometric lights without having to model the glowing filament?

 

Even a sky portal would greatly enhance interior renderings if perhaps at some (likely insignifigant) loss of correctness.

 

The renderer can be beautiful. And it can also be useless. I'm more wed to "useful [quick enough to use] and gorgeous" than I am to "photon perfect".