Help with V-Ray sun

[Fortinbras79]

Morning all,

 

I am in the process of teaching myself V-Ray (2.0) for Max (2012) and have come up against some issues with the sun. I cannot seem to get the sun to shine into the scene and illuminate it. If the sky model rollout on the vray sun parameters is set to Preetham et al. and move the sun to a relative midday position, I get a blue render (Please see attached.) If the sun is at sunset position, the color seems accurate. I have the sun set in this scene to shine through the windows, but no sun is entering the scene and I am limited to the light (it would seem) from the vray sky.

 

The one that looks alright is what happens when I switch the sky model to cie overcast.

 

I apologize if this is a noob question but I am in a desperate position here.

 

Thank you so much

[matthewgriswold]

It looks like you have geometry for your glass: make sure you have "affect shadows" checked in the glass material settings.

[Fortinbras79]

Yes it is checked...is it maybe a setting with the sun? What would prevent the sun from illuminating only allowing the GI to light a scene...and GI override is not checked..

[matthewgriswold]

hmmm, strange. Do you have a plane for the glass, or does it have thickness? You might check the geometry to make sure faces aren't flipped. I doubt that's the case, but just trying to get the troubleshooting started...

 

You might try deleting the sun, clearing out the sky map and starting fresh. I know sometimes while I tweak I inadvertently flip a setting that comes back to bite me in the arse later...and I usually can't find it.

[Fortinbras79]

It still does not pool the light on the floor even when I delete the glass alltogether...all I get is the diffuse light.

 

As for deleting and replacing the sun, I've tried that and still have the same problem. It's still all blue

 

I really think this is from some sun setting or possibly render setting (especially since deleting the glass didn't help)...this is driving me bonkers. I've been at this for two days now.

 

I just want some bloody light pools on the floor to help illuminate the scene!

[matthewgriswold]

It still does not pool the light on the floor even when I delete the glass alltogether...all I get is the diffuse light.

 

I really think this is from some sun setting or possibly render setting (especially since deleting the glass didn't help)...this is driving me bonkers. I've been at this for two days now.

 

...The sun is on, right?

 

Otherwise try merging your scene into a new file, create a new Sun and cross your fingers.

[Fortinbras79]

...The sun is on, right? .

 

You know, on a whim I unchecked "enabled" under the vray sun parameters and it rendered the scene exactly the same...with or without the sun enabled....What the heck does that mean????

 

I am going to try to merge into new scene now.

[Fortinbras79]

OH MY GOD I WAS PUTTING THE SUN IN BACKWARDS!!!!

 

I feel like a total moron..I told you I was a noob. Yup, turns out you put the sun in and drag to the focal point, not the other way around.

 

Wow...well at least that's fixed.

 

Thank you Matthew

[matthewgriswold]

No problem. Sometimes all it takes is a little discussion to get the kinks worked out. Glad I could help.