mr Daylight System -- too bright

[stusic]

Okay, I try things in mr, then I get frustrated and give up. It happens time and time again. This timeI've got to use mr, cause the light tracer just doesn't want to work for me.

I'm using the daylight system and have got it working okay, but it's too bright and makes my scene look washed out. I can't change the intensity, so how do I go about lowering the brightness while keeping it lit and saturated? (see attached file for an example)

Thanks guys!

[mbutler.136569]

Looks like a pavers' paradise!

I've had similar problems with mr Daylight. You would think that it would create real-life daylighting by default, but it always needs tweaking. I've messed with mr sun & mr sky intensities, but it washes out the tops of things, so it only works when you can't see the tops in your rendering. If the entire rendering is evenly washed out, sometimes it's easier to adjust the "levels" in photoshop. Also, by looking at your camera angle and sun angle, most everything in your scene is getting direct light as it is.

[Steve_Bennett]

Changing the intensity values of the sun/sky was something I thought should be avoided - especially if working with a weather data file.

Try adjusting your Final Gather and GI settings. Depending on the scale of the scene in MAX and the detail level will affect what settings to go with in your render dialog. Can you provide some feedback on the details of your file?

Also, what type of materials are you working with? Arch+Design?

[dellis]

Which version of MAx are you using right now? Typically, you want to be mindful of your materials as well as your exposure control. I would lean more towards the exposure control in your case because it seems like the materials are okay. Give a bit more info about the scene and i'm sure we can get it straightened out.

[stusic]

I'm using max 9 and regular materials (no arch+design), FG with 1 bounce and 500 samples. No GI. I had the exposure controls set as the default.

I ended up messing with the exposure by lowering the brightness. That got it good 'nuff, but I've run into the problem before and I thought there'd be a better solution than to lower the brightness...

[rixhaus]

try to use ambient occlusion ..
and mr exposure control...
take care about gamma..put around 1.8 for input and output.
and finally change the time and place for your system daylight..

[ramyhanna]

Almost a surefire way to make mr Photographic Exposure work with saturated colors but not too dark are the following settings:

shutter speed: 1/512
f-stop: 6.0
ISO: 100

Highlights: 0.25
Midtones: 0.75
Shadows: 0.2

Try this out. You should never have to change the sun intensity. The Image Control should allow you to get the look you're looking for. These images should help you gauge your exposure:

exposure 01 (http://jeffpatton.net/Blog-images/exposure_01.jpg)
exposure 02 (http://jeffpatton.net/Blog-images/exposure_02.jpg)
exposure 03 (http://jeffpatton.net/Blog-images/exposure_03.jpg)

[robert.193805]

Your problem is tone mapping and exposure control. If your using mr sun and mr sky then you need mr photographic control. Pick your best preset for your particular scene. Also you need to set your gamma and input output.

[lucky.publication2012679131]

Your problem is tone mapping and exposure control. If your using mr sun and mr sky then you need mr photographic control. Pick your best preset for your particular scene. Also you need to set your gamma and input output.

This information was helpful for me too, who had the similar problem. But I did more; I reduced gamma Input and Output, also reduced skylight density and from render setup dialog box/advanced lighting, reduced skylight and global ,multiplier. I am satisfied with the output.
Thank you.

[rbcameron1]

This is pretty automatic now in 2015. glad everyone is learning though! Cheers!