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Table of Contents

This page gives information on the VRayLightMix render element.

 

Overview


The VRayLightMix render element provides adjustment control to the lights in the scene from inside the V-Ray Frame Buffer (VFB2). When a VRayLightMix render element has been added before rendering, the intensity and color of the lights and light emitting materials can be changed directly from the VFB during and after rendering; lights and self-illuminating materials can be enabled or disabled on the go, without the need of re-rendering your final output, or navigating to individual lights parameters during IPR. Furthermore, modifications made in the LightMix can be transferred back to the actual lights and materials in the scene with a single click. This feature can handle individual lights and emitting materials as easily as light groups, layers or custom selections.

Find out more about how VRayLightMix works here: Chaos Blog

 

 

 


Parameters


VRayVFB – When enabled, the render element appears in VFB.

Denoise – Specifies whether to denoise the Light Mix render element if a VRayDenoiser render element is present.

Group by – Specifies how to group the lightning information:

Instanced lights – If there are instanced lights in the scene, each group has its separate channel. All unique lights in the scene are stored in their individual render channels;
Individual lights
 – Lighting information of each light is stored in a separate channel;
Grouped lights – Lighting information of each group of lights is placed in a separate channel. All lights that are not attached to any group in the scene are stored in their individual render channels;
Layers – Lighting information for each layer is stored in a separate channel;
Manual light selects – Render channels are created based on the existing Light Select render elements in the scene. Lights that are not specified there, are collected in single render channel called Rest.

Each grouping mode automatically creates Environment and Self Illumination render elements. The information from the light emitting materials is stored in the Self Illumination channel, while the Environment info is stored in the Environment channel.

Separate emissive material – When enabled, illuminating materials are also included in the VFB LightMix controls together with scene lights. The materials which V-Ray respects are: VRayMtl with non-black self-illumination, VRayLightMtl, and 3ds Max native Physical Material with non-black emission color.

Include "Rest" channel when saving to file – Disabled by default. If enabled, it creates an additional channel when exporting, which stores all the lights not included in any Light Selects or exceeding 62 individual lights. For example, if a scene has more than 62 lights which are not grouped in any way, the first 62 lights will have individual Light Selects and the rest will go to the Rest channel.

 


How to Set up


To set the LightMix for use, choose one of the following approaches:

1. Add the LightMix Render Element to your scene from Render Setup > Render Elements tab > Add... > VRayLightMix

    1. Then, render the scene.
    2. In the VFB > Layers, set the Source to LightMix
    3. Now you can tweak your lights!

2. Add the LightMix Render Element directly from the VFB.

    1. In the VFB > Layers, set the Source to LightMix.
    2. Click Add LightMix to the scene.
    3. Start a new render to apply the changes.
    4. Now you can tweak your lights!

Before rendering, set your lights to white (neutral) color and boost their intensity.

Rendering with lower intensity and then increasing it from the LightMix might produce noise in your render. If this happens, use the "To Scene" option and re-render the scene.


LightMix Mode Parameters


When the Source is set to LightMix, you can enable/disable lights and adjust light intensity and color during and after the render. The modifications can be saved as light mix presets and reused. VRayLightMix automatically creates Environment and Self Illumination render elements.

Reset – Resets all changes made to default values.

Save – Saves the changes as light mix preset.

Load – Loads a light mix preset.

To Scene – Applies the current VRayLightMix changes to the scene. This sends all changes to colors/intensities back to the scene items (except the items which were left out in Rest). This option is only available when the render has stopped.

To Composite – Sends the Light Selects from LightMix to Composite for additional post adjustments.

Recent – Shows a list of recent light mix presets.

Checkbox – Enables/Disables the selected light.

Multiplier – Specifies an intensity multiplier.

Color Slot – Specifies a color for the selected light.



All
– Turns on/off all lights.

Environment – Contains the emitting effect of any map placed in 3ds Max's Environment map slot (Rendering > Environment) or the Environment overrides (Render Setup > V-Ray tab > Environment rollout).

Self Illumination – Contains either all parts of the scene which have a self illumination material, or only the parts of the scene which haven't been included in any groups specified by Light Selects. Some parts of the scene might also be present in this category if the individual number of self emitting materials exceeds the maximum range of 62 for all the Light Selects.

Rest – Includes all the individual lights that are not part of any group defined by a Light Select or exceeding the limit of the list (the limit of the list is 62 individual lights or Light Selects).

 



 

A context menu is available when you right-click on a light's name/label in the LightMix properties. The same menu is also available when you right-click on a listed material. The menu also respects the LightMix grouping modes and can be used with instancing, groups, or layers.


When you right-click on a light:

Select lights in scene – Selects the lights.

Add lights to the selection – Adds the lights to the current selection.

Remove lights from selection – Removes the lights from the current selection.


When you right-click on a material:

Select lights in scene – Shows the material in an additional Slate Material Editor view named VRayPickMtlView and loads the parameters of the material.

Add lights to the selection – Adds the material in the current active Slate Material Editor view (if not already there) and loads the parameters of the material.

When right-clicking on a listed material and selecting the Remove lights from selection option, the option has no effect.

 

 

Common Use


The VRayLightMix Render Element is useful for changing the appearance of the image by controlling the lights in the scene.

In the example, we've created two different light setups with the help of VRayLightMix: sunset and night. The Sunset appearance is achieved by using sunlight and an additional softlight to simulate light coming from the outside. The Night appearance is achieved by setting the Sun Multiplier to 0, changing the Color multiplier of the outside light to blue, increasing the Intensity multiplier of all interior lights and tinting them with warmer colors (all ceiling and built-in furniture VRayLights), adjusting the self-illumination multiplier of desk and ceiling lights, shaded with VRayLightMtl.


Sunset
Night

Notes


  • VRayLightMix requires Consistent lighting elements and internally switches render elements calculation to this mode even if the option (placed in the Global Switches tab) is disabled in the UI.
  • VRayLightMix does not work with the Irradiance Map GI engine.
  • With V-Ray 6, update 1, instanced lights by VRayInstancer / Forest Pack / Rail Clone, etc. are part of the Light Select RE of the respective source light.
  • Light mix is available even during the Light Cache calculations.
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