Double the emphasis on light portals for IRAY.

Flortale

If you're using Sun-Sky or Dome to light an indoor scene. You should put more effort into light portals.  You should put the option to easily add a light portal, stick it by a window and that's it, you're done.  Then your indoor room will get perfectly lit by the outdoor light from the sun-sky or dome.   This way you can manage the amount of light so it doesn't overpower the window frames.

I highly suggest coming up with an official solution.  Dome or Sun-Sky should have two optional light portals ready to go that you can just checkbox and enable, then place them where you need outdoor light to fill an indoor room.

Currently light portals don't seem to work with Dome or Sun-Sky, so what's the point?  There isn't even any documentation on light portals.

I highly suggest DAZ dev team look into setting this up.

Richard Haseltine

According to nVidia this is not a situation in which a light portal would be expected to help. Changes to the way portals work would be beyond Daz' control, as the render engine is simply delivered to them as-is.

Flortale

The problem I have right now is that Dome & Sun-Sky lights don't fill an indoor room with enough light the same way it occurs in real life.  I have to setup two additional point or mesh lights by the window to shoot more light into the room.    This idea is similar to what a light portal is supposed to do.

Unfortunately light portals don't work in DAZ.  I can't get them to work with Dome & Scene or Sun-Sky.  I followed what little documentation there was precisely, but they just don't work.  I got the point light to show me the option "light portal" and ticked it to on.  I set caust sampler to on.  I followed all the instructions, but they don't work.

This is why I made the post. I'm hoping DAZ dev team can give a serious look at light portals, get them to work, make example screenshots and explain how to get them working. The idea behind them is important, to direct and focus outdoor light into an indoor room.

Richard Haseltine

The portal may have been working - as we keep saying, nVidia state that portals are not needed when using a sun light as the engine is already doing a good job of optimising the light path tracing; if that is correct then the portal would not make a lot of difference to the time taken. The advice from nVidia is that portals are typically called for when the light source si more even, and when your windows are small - that doesn't sound to match your situation.

Is the issue the time taken to converge (which is what protals should help with when they do anything) or the light level in the room, which would be adderssed via Tone Mapping?

Flortale

Richard Haseltine said:

The portal may have been working - as we keep saying, nVidia state that portals are not needed when using a sun light as the engine is already doing a good job of optimising the light path tracing; if that is correct then the portal would not make a lot of difference to the time taken. The advice from nVidia is that portals are typically called for when the light source si more even, and when your windows are small - that doesn't sound to match your situation.

Is the issue the time taken to converge (which is what protals should help with when they do anything) or the light level in the room, which would be adderssed via Tone Mapping?

I experimented with tone mapping, but couldn't get good results. I left the exposure at default.

The technique of placing lights outside of the window in addition to a Dome & Scene produces good indoor lighting so I'm happy with it for now. 

It's crazy how much better DAZ Studio is than Poser.  Poser has definitely lost the battle to DAZ.

nonesuch00

liplin901 said:

Richard Haseltine said:

The portal may have been working - as we keep saying, nVidia state that portals are not needed when using a sun light as the engine is already doing a good job of optimising the light path tracing; if that is correct then the portal would not make a lot of difference to the time taken. The advice from nVidia is that portals are typically called for when the light source si more even, and when your windows are small - that doesn't sound to match your situation.

Is the issue the time taken to converge (which is what protals should help with when they do anything) or the light level in the room, which would be adderssed via Tone Mapping?

I experimented with tone mapping, but couldn't get good results. I left the exposure at default.

The technique of placing lights outside of the window in addition to a Dome & Scene produces good indoor lighting so I'm happy with it for now. 

It's crazy how much better DAZ Studio is than Poser.  Poser has definitely lost the battle to DAZ.

Usually with the indoor sets there are various modeled light fixtures scattered about the model of the room(s). Find the location of those light(s) surfaces in the model, they might be bulbs or they mix be fixtures, scroll to the Emission entry for the surface and change the color from black to white. Then change the default unity from cd/m2 to kcd/m2. If you want whitish light like from noon light in summer leave the temperature of the light at 6500K is you want sunrise or sunset light change it to 3000K (like an old fashioned incandescent bulb or camp fire too). Test Render - like it. Done. Don't light it - adjust the kcd/m2 value of 1500 higher or lower. Or turn on more lightbulbs/fixtures if available. Turn the window into an emmisive to simulate brightligh outside but it will completely blowout the view outdoors - that happens alot in real photography though so it's no surprise.