Why are my IRay renders so dark?

RKane_1

I apologize, I m new to using IRay. Why are my renders so dark? What can I do to make them better?

ArtisanS

Ah, yes......

2 solutions......

1) Turn up the lights.......iRay lights need quite insane settings in order to actually light a scene......think in 6, 7 or even 8 figures for a Spotlight, and 5 to 6 figures for a Distant Light. If you use emissive surfaces the amount of light is dependant on the surface of the emitter and the brightness of the emitter. So a sall area means insane x insane emission values in order to light something.

2) Go to render settings and check the exposure value under tone mapping......longer exposure equals brighter image!

Greets, Artisan

RKane_1

Thank you MUCH!  TURNING DOWN the exposure value setting did the trick. :)

Tobor

RKane_1 said:

Thank you MUCH!  TURNING DOWN the exposure value setting did the trick. :)

Which is how it works:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exposure_value

The lower the EV, the more the light admittance.

Just be aware that simply changing the tone mapping does not increase the lighting in the scene, just the exposure of it. Iray may still be starving for "photons" to ray trace, and that's how it makes images. In general, the lower the light, the longer it can take for renders to complete. So while changing the tone mapping settings is the easiest solution, it is seldom the best when the scene is simply lacking in proper lighting.