Vantage Default Sun

Vantage Default Sun settings are divided into two tabs: basic and advanced, and sky.

– Basic settings tab.

– Advanced settings tab.

An * next to a parameter name indicates that the parameter value has been modified.

Enabled – Turns on and off the sun light.

Color – Changes the color of the sun.

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

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. 

Color mode – Affects the way the color in the Color parameter affects the color of the sun.

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 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.

Altitude – Sets the altitude position (in degrees) of the sun in the sky. Available for Altitude/Azimuth Sun position mode.

Azimuth – Sets the azimuth position (in degrees) of the sun in the sky. Available for Altitude/Azimuth Sun position mode.

Set start keyframe – Sets the current Day / Month / Year and Hours / Minutes values at the start of the sun animation track. Available for Animated Geolocation Sun position mode.

Set end keyframe – Sets the current Day / Month / Year and Hours / Minutes values at the end of the sun animation track. Available for Animated Geolocation Sun position mode.

North offset – Sets the altitude position (in degrees) of the sun in the sky. Available for Geolocation and Animated Geolocation Sun position modes.

Latitude – Defines the latitude position of the scene over the Earth globe. Available for Geolocation and Animated Geolocation Sun position modes.

Longitude – Defines the longitude position of the scene over the Earth globe. Available for Geolocation and Animated Geolocation Sun position modes.

Day / Month / Year – Specifies the day/month/year for which to compute the sun position. Available for Geolocation and Animated Geolocation Sun position modes.

Hours / Minutes – Specifies the hours/minutes for which to compute the sun position. Available for Geolocation and Animated Geolocation Sun position modes.

Time zone – Specifies the current time zone of the scene. The Time zone is not set automatically based on Latitude/Longitude values. Available for Geolocation and Animated Geolocation Sun position modes.

Daylight saving time – When enabled, compensates for Daylight Saving Time(DST). Available for Geolocation and Animated Geolocation Sun position modes.

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.

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.

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.

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