ABSTRACT
Lighting exteriors is often a straightforward process. However, the camera and scene composition, object details, material properties, colours, shadow direction and render contrast can ultimately determine whether the final output will be successful. As mentioned earlier, shadows can help make an exterior shot look more interesting and detailed, especially when they are long and dark. To quickly achieve this, first enable the Hardware shading and shadows in the camera viewport. This will help visualize the shadow direction in the viewport. Use some of the techniques covered earlier to do this. In the Select V-Ray G-Buffers file name dialogue, set the filename as 'Exterior Daylight' and select the file type TIF Image File. Next, open the Indirect illumination tab and change the Irradiance map Current preset to Medium. This built-in preset should be sufficient to achieve good results in exterior scenes. However, try different presets, if desired.
