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Iray and Skydomes

holden_attradiesholden_attradies Posts: 121
in New Users

IS it possible to use a skydome with iRay? Everytime I've tried the scene just comes out black.

Comments

  • FishtalesFishtales Posts: 6,162

    Short answer? No. There are ways around it but the easiest is to put the image that came with the skydome into the Dome Environment Map in Iray.

  • Herald of FireHerald of Fire Posts: 3,504

    The downside with plugging skydome textures into the enviroment map is that they're usually unsuited in due to UV layouts for the dome itself. However, there is a solution which works wonders. Simply turn the skydome surface into an Iray emissive material.

    By doing so you effectively turn the entire skydome or skybox into a light source which reflects light inwards and gives an effective IBL.

  • ToborTobor Posts: 2,300

    This method works well:

    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/63014/yet-another-iray-skydome-technique

    and has the benefit of not slowing down renders by having a huge emissive surface (lots of exitance points to calculate). This also allows you to use the sun or a good HDRi as well, so you don't lose shadows.

    Not mentioned in Will's writeup is that you should start with the Iray Uber base (3DL shaders won't cut it), and the Glossy Color should be white.

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