Here I will go over the new physical camera, sun and sky and explain how they all work together.

I will also cover how to setup the VRAY sun and attach it to MAX's daylight system in order to create a simple time lapse animation.

For reference you can download the scene here

1. Create a VRAY Sun

- To create a VRAY Sun select the lights icon on the create tab of the control panel.

- In the object type rollout select VRaySun

2. Place VRAY the sun is the scene just as you would a standard max targeted light.

- I always like to place the sun a reasonable distance away from the structure I am rendering as shown on the left.

Note: you will be promted to create a VRAY Sky as well. Choose yes and VRAY will add the VRAY Sky to max's environment slot for you.

Note: The VRAY Sky will change automatically based on the sun's position in the sky.

3. With the VRAY sun selected click the modify tab of the control panel to access the sun's settings.

- I find that you will typically need to lower the sun's intensity multiplier considerably. I used .008 in this example. Also make sure the photon emit radius is grater than the area of the objects you want lit. In this example I used 300 feet.

4. Now we need to create a daylight system which we will attach our VRAY sun to. This way we won't have to animate the sun's motion manually.

5. Place the daylight system as shown in the image on the left.

- Make sure the daylight compass in roughly in the center of the structure.

6. Click on the select and link tool on the main MAX toolbar. Now click on the VRAY sun but do not release. With the left mouse button still depressed move your cursor over the daylight sun icon and release.

Note: If you are having trouble refer to the max help files.

7. With the VRAY sun selected press "Alt A" and then select the daylight sun. This will align the VRAY sun to the daylight system.

8. Now that we have our VRAY sun linked and aligned to the daylight system, we need to add some animation the daylight system which our VRAY sun will follow.

- Select the daylight sun which is called daylight01.

- In the modify tab under the Daylight parameters rollout click on the setup button.

- This takes you to the control parameters rollout.

- Animate the hours value over any given time frame. For this example I animated the time lapse over 200 frames.

Note: When you change the hours, minutes or seconds values of the daylight system, the VRAY sun should follow since we have linked the VRAY to the daylight system.

VERY IMPORTANT

- Make sure that the daylight system is disabled by un-checking the active box

- Make sure that the skylight is disabled by un-checking the on box. VRAY will crash if you do not do this.

Note: This problem is supposed to be fixed in the future release candidate of VRAY. Even if it is fixed it won't hurt to make sure both of these options are disabled.

9. Make sure you use a VRAY physical camera in conjunction with the sun and sky.

- To create a VRAY physical camera select the camera icon on the create tab of the control panel.

- From the drop down list choose VRay.

- In the Object Type rollout select "VRayPhysicalCam"
Note: part of the text is cut off.

- Place the camera just as you would a standard max camera

Physical Camera Settings

- Select a Still camera or Video camera depending on whether you are rendering still or animation.

- I find that I always have to lower the f-number from its default value of 8 though it all depends on the scene and your lighting.

- Refer to the screen grab on the left when analyzing the comparison renderings below.

Camera Settings

The image on the left represents the base configuration for all the comparisons that follow.

All of the following images have the same configuration as the image on the left except for the change noted.

Refer to the screen grab above for the base configuration settings.

Exposure = OFF

Film Gate = 50

F-Number = 1.0

F-Number = 5.0

Focal Length = 60

Shutter Speed = 60

Vertical Shift = .05

Zoom Factor = 2