Autodesk 12812-051462-9011 - 3DS MAX 9 COM LEGACY SLM, Help File, Page: 2385 / 2577

When you render with the default scanline renderer on page 6141, Skylight
works best with advanced lighting: either the Light Tracer, or radiosity on
page 6168.
WARNING When you render with the mental ray renderer on page 6230, objects
illuminated by a Skylight appear dark unless you turn on Final Gathering on page
7978. The toggle for Final Gathering is on the Final Gather rollout on page 6295 of the
Render Setup dialog.
A skylight is modeled
as a dome above the
scene.
TIP There are several ways to model daylight in 3ds Max, but if you use the Light
Tracer, a Skylight often gives the best results.
TIP If you encounter visual anomalies when rendering a bump-mapped material
with a Skylight, convert the material to an Advanced Lighting Override material
on page 5734 and then reduce the Indirect Light Bump Scale value.
Using a Map with the Skylight
If you use a map with a Skylight, the following guidelines can improve its
effect:
■
Make sure that the mapping coordinates are spherical or cylindrical.
■ For light tracing, make sure you use sufficient samples. A good rule of
thumb is to use at least 1,000 samples: set Initial Sample Spacing to 8x8
or 4x4, and increase the value of Filter Size to
2.0 .
■ Use an image-processing application to blur the map before you use it.
With a blurred map, you can use fewer samples to obtain good results.
When used with Skylight, a blurred map will still render well.
Be aware that using sufficient samples with a mapped Skylight will take longer
to render than if the light were not mapped.
5066 | Chapter 18 Lights and Cameras