Sun

This page provides information about the Sun rollout of Vantage's Environment tab.

Overview

The Sun rollout provides properties to configure the sunlight in the scene. In combination with the settings available in the Sky rollout, they define the overall lighting conditions of the scene.

The Sun rollout is located under the Environment tab in the right-hand side panel.

The Sun settings are grouped into basic and advanced settings tabs.

	Basic settings tab.
	Advanced settings tab.

Basic Settings

Enabled – Turns on and off the sun light.

Color – Changes the color of the sun and depends on the Color mode parameter. See the Sun Color examples below.

Intensity – Specifies the intensity of the sun and can be used to reduce the default brightness. See the Sun Intensity examples below.

Sun size mult. – Controls the visible size of the sun disc. This value can be used to control shadow softness cast from objects. Lower values produce sharp shadows, while large values produce softer shadows. See the Sun Size Multiplier examples below.

Color mode – Affects the way the color in the Color parameter affects the color of the sun. See the Sun Color Mode examples below.

Filter – Shifts the hue of the sun towards the color specified in the Color parameter.
Direct – Sets the color of the sun to match the color in the Color parameter. In this case, the intensity of the light does not depend on the V-Ray Suns position in the sky and is controlled through the Intensity parameter.
Override – Sets the color of the sun to match the color in the Color parameter but the intensity of the light still depends on the sun's position in the sky.

Sun position mode – Specifies the control mode for the sun's position in the sky.

Manual – Specifies a manual control of the sun position using the Rotate () transform tool.
Altitude/Azimuth – Specifies the use of Altitude and Azimuth values to control the sun's position.
Geolocation – Specifies the use of location coordinates, date and time of day to control the sun position.
Animated Geolocation – Specifies the use of location coordinates, date and time of day to control the sun position that can be animated in the Sun track in the animation editor.

Invisible – When enabled, makes the sun invisible, both to the camera and to reflections. This is useful to prevent bright speckles on glossy surfaces where a ray with low probability hits the extremely bright sun disk. See the Sun Invisible example below.

Altitude/Azimuth

The following parameters are available for the Altitude/Azimuth Mode:

Altitude – Sets the altitude position (in degrees) of the sun in the sky.

Azimuth – Sets the azimuth position (in degrees) of the sun in the sky.

Geolocation Mode

The following parameters are available for the Geolocation Mode:

North offset – Sets the altitude position (in degrees) of the sun in the sky.

Geo coordinates – Defines the latitude and positions of the scene over the Earth globe.

Day / Month / Year – Specifies the day/month/year for which to compute the sun position.

Hours / Minutes – Specifies the hours/minutes for which to compute the sun position.

Time zone – Specifies the current time zone of the scene. The Time Zone is not set automatically based on Latitude/Longitude values.

Daylight saving time – When enabled, compensates for Daylight Saving Time(DST).

Animated Geolocation Mode

The following parameters are available for the Animated Geolocation Mode:

Set start keyframe – Sets the current Day / Month / Year and Hours / Minutes values at the start of the sun animation track.

Set end keyframe – Sets the current Day / Month / Year and Hours / Minutes values at the end of the sun animation track.

North offset – Sets the altitude position (in degrees) of the sun in the sky.

Geo coordinates – Defines the latitude and longitude positions of the scene over the Earth globe.

Day / Month / Year – Specifies the day/month/year for which to compute the sun position.

Hours / Minutes – Specifies the hours/minutes for which to compute the sun position.

Time zone – Specifies the current time zone of the scene. The Time Zone is not set automatically based on Latitude/Longitude values.

Daylight Saving Time – When enabled, compensates for Daylight Saving Time(DST).

Note that only Day / Month / Year and Hours / Minutes can be animated in the Sun animation track.

Advanced Settings

Shadows – When enabled (the default), the light casts shadows. Turn this option off to disable shadow casting for the light. The value moves the shadow toward or away from the shadow-casting object(s). Higher values move the shadow toward the object(s), while lower values move it away. If this value is too extreme, shadows can "leak" through places they shouldn't or "detach" from an object. Other effects from extreme values include Moire patterns, out-of-place dark areas on surfaces, and shadows not appearing at all in the rendering. See the Shadows example below.

Affect diffuse – Determines whether the light affects the diffuse portion of the materials. The value controls the light's contribution to the diffuse portion of the materials. See the Affect Diffuse example below.

Affect specular – Determines whether the light affects the specular portion of the materials. The value controls the light's contribution to specular reflections. See the Affect Specular example below.

Light include/exclude – Specifies a list of objects to be included in or excluded from illumination. Objects are added to the list using the Pick scene object(s) tool.

Shadow include/exclude – Specifies a list of objects to be included in or excluded from shadow-casting. Objects are added to the list using the Pick scene object(s) tool.

Pick scene object(s) () – Selects objects and adds them to the include/exclude list.