Environment Global Lighting with GI

[mbr]

I was wondering what people put the Env. Global Lighting on when using a program such as Final Render? Is it better to keep it on the default 1.0, or to try to aim for the lowest possible as you typically would for a non GI rendering.

Thanks.

[stefkeB]

In GI the environment actually contributes with the lighting so it may be high. You can really light a scene with the environment in these kind of renderings (unlike with flat ambient setting).

 

The typical ambient is just an unoriented added amount of light, that doesn't help at all in perceiving depth and shading.