Storing Indirect Light from the Environment

Location:

• The Render Manager > mental ray (Global Renderer)

• The Render Manager > (select a pass) > mental ray

• Set a current pass and choose Render > Render > Renderer Options from the Render toolbar.

• Tab: Irradiance Particles

• Options: Particle Map File [Properties Reference]

Irradiance particles are also able to gather light information from the environment shaders that simulate a global environment for the reflective objects in your scene. For more information about environment mapping, see Using Environment Map Shaders [Texturing].

1. Select the Enable checkbox if you want to gather light from the environment shaders in your scene.

2. Set a scale factor for the Intensity of the effect.

3. Specify the number of Rays used to evaluate the irradiance coming from the environment shader. Here are a few guidelines:

   • For outdoor scenes, the Environment Rays should be set to the same number as the Accuracy Rays (which are discussed in Setting the Number of Rays).

   • For indoor scenes, where the environment is only seen through a small window, it is better to increase the Environment Rays value above that of the Accuracy Rays value.

     When possible, a better solution is to turn the Environment option off and use the Portal Light (mia) shader instead.