Iray - Dome, Sun, Scene - Help needed
Ralf1958
Posts: 688
I was searching through all the postings but I wasn't able to find an answer for my question.
If I set up a Scene, Iray it gives me 4 ways to render: Dome & Scene, Dome only, Sun & Sky, Scene only.
So far so good.
My question is, if I render in Dome & Scene, how do I control the sun? Like a bright sunshine in a desert? I can find Settings only in "Sun and Sky" but These do not affecting the "Dome and Scene" Settings. In "Dome and Scene" the shadows are washed out and pale.
I tryed to set a Sky Dome prop in the Scene an then render in "Sun & sky" mode but of course it didn't work out because of the Dome itself blocking the light and the Scene turned out black.
I also tryed to set a Spot to simulate a "Sun" but with no luck.
Then I used an Image as backdrop and used the "Sun and Sky" Option. It was ok, but I really would like to use the Iray dome.
Does anyone have an idea?
Thank you!
Daz 3D is part of 
Connect
DAZ Productions, Inc.
7533 S Center View Ct #4664
West Jordan, UT 84084
Licensing Agreement | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | EULA
© 2025 Daz Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Comments
If you are using "Dome and Scene", you need to load a HDR type image into the dome. The "sun position" will then depend on the brightest spot in the image (which if you use a sky image would be the location of the sun). You can move/rotate the image to adjust the direction of the light source. You can load a tiff or jpg image into the dome, but you get better lighting accuracy with .hdr type images. Several of the environment light packs offered here at DAZ come with the needed files. For example the Yosemite packs. For those packs, do not use the included dome, just load the images directly in the iray environment tab.
Ciao
TD
Thank you! I'll try that! :-)
Are the BWC Skies Images ok to use for this purpose?
Yes, the images that come with those packs should work.
TD
Greetings,
I've used those (BWC Skies) for a lot of my tests so far, and they work rather nicely.
-- Morgan
Somehow I am doing something wrong. When I appy by example a nice deep blue sky with Clouds and sun, in Iray the dome appears very pale. When I pull down the Environment intensity, the Scene gets to dark. Basically no matter what Image I load, it always brightens up and looses all its natural Color. Is that normal?
Here is what I mean.
In my experience it is best to leave the sky dome intensity near its default value and instead adjust the tone mapping. So if the scene is too bright, reduce the exposure by shortening the exposure time or lowering the aperture (in the tone mapping tab). I am not at my work station right now, but I can show you an example in an hour or so.
Ciao
TD
I'll give a try on this one :-) I'll let you know how it worked out. Thanks for your help.
Nope..... still not what I am looking for :-(
I'm not absolutely sure what you're going for here but I made some assumptions. In any case, what I did is for someone who has a background image they want to have behind the scene and also get their light from it.
Starting from a blank slate...meaning no prior changes in settings to mess me up...I opened Studio and
(1)Called up the render settings and only dealt will the environment category in the editor tab.
(2)Environment = Dome and Scene (including Scene means if you add Photometric point or spot lights they will function)
(3)Dome Mode = Finite Sphere (because the image I'm using is relatively small)
(4)Draw Dome = On
(5)Visualize Finite Dome = Off (The background I'm loading doesn't really fit a sphere so this would look bad. I basically just want the colors and am using the actual image as the background.)
(6)Environment Intensity = 1.00 (default)
(7)Environment Map = I loaded a painted sky from my backgrounds folder. The default setting is 2.00. I'll change that later.
(didn't touch anything else in this panel until the final entry where I told it not to Draw a Ground. But you probably want to because you'll put something in the scene and want ground shadows. In my case I want no ground so I turned this off.)
(8)Now I went to the Environment Tab and loaded the same background image -- it was already in the list so I just selected that. Be sure Visible in Render is ON.
A problem might arise, however, if the aspect ratio of the image doesn't match yours. In my case it doesn't but I don't care. You can change the aspect of your scene to match the image if you wish. I did that the other night. But for the life of me I can't remember how. :(
Okay for a test render. And I think HERE is your problem. If your environment is Dome and Scene (or Scene Only) the headlamp will be on in the camera.
If your camera isn't in the scene list, create a new camera and when the dialog comes up, choose to reveal the advanced settings, and then select the 2nd option which is 'Copy Active View'.
Now select this camera in the scene pane and also choose this camera to view through. In parameters the 'headlamp' entry is at the bottom of the list. Turn it off.
If you have anything in the scene it will turn black. Don't panic and just hit render.
If the light level is not right (mine was a little too bright) you can go back to the render settings/editor environment. I left 'intensity' the same, and reduced the setting with the environment map from 2.00 to about 1.4.
Test render again. Then do whatever else you were planning to do. (I tried making the tiny windows and lamps light emitters and no success yet.
Oh, you can go back and turn the headlamp back on so you can see what you're doing. Just be sure to turn it off before doing a render.
When your viewport turns black because of your lighting/environment settings, just hit CNTRL+L to toggle preview lighting off. It will let you see and manipulate your items in the viewport, but won't affect the render at all.
Greetings,
Holy crud, thank you for this! I've been going nuts...creating distant lights that I turn on and off, and such like that...-- Morgan
-- Morgan
:) Gee, I'm thrilled to have helped the man who provided me with the fabulous Wishlist browser thingy!
@spit What environment texture is that? Its pretty!
@spit I guess I understood what I was doing wrong the whole time. I misunderstood the whole Thing. I thought the Environment Map was for lightning as well as for Background. But as I understand now, it's just the Map for the light and I always Need to set an extra Background in the Environment Tab. Is this correct?
By the way, is there a complete Tutorial for how to use all those Iray settings anywhere online? I could just find a few short tutorials but not one that explains evrything.
I also get stuck with Skydomes and iray.
Whatever I try (Emission Shader, Maps, change of intensity, and so on) nothing works. The final Render always is completly black or brown or some other Color (see Sample Pictures) or it is nearly white like the whole Scene is watched trough thick fog.
@ R25S - Normal Skydomes are not working. They wont let the light get through. So far I understood, you Need to set a Background Image instead of a skydome. That's it.
If you wanto to have the Iray dome to light the Scene through a map, then you Need to set also an Environment map for that.
Correct me please if I am wrong. :-)
This is an advice I didn`t get, till now - I will try this and check back report.
It only works for a handfull; it doen`t works for Skies of Economy and Essential Lights and Skies, RenderSphere for DAZ and FM Night Builder.
For the start I would suggest to Forget everything about the old Skydomes. The only useable parts are some of their Images, using them as Environment Map for the Iray Dome. In this case another Image for the Background is still needed.
I tryed a few things this afternoon and had pretty good results. My personal choice for now is to render mostly in "Sun & sky" mode (which gives nice bright sun and shadows) or, for night Scenes with lights, the "Scene only" mode. In any case Background Images are still needed instead of those old Skydomes. Renderings turned out pretty neat.
Yes, I know that iray do a very great render job without adding a skydome - but I always had the same sky in all Pictures wich is not what I desire.
I have to try with Background Pictures...
It's not an environment map, it's a background...from a set by Ferguson and Scarlett Woman called Painted Worlds II
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/?ViewProduct=34908
Lots of questions....
You can still use skydomes and have them visible. You need to apply the emissive preset and set it as double sided otherwise the light only radiates from the outside of the dome out to nowhere. Not doing that will give no light on your scene. You can determine the dimensions of the skydome as well.
What I was doing in my little tute was showing how to have a map light the scene and have it as a background without the use of a visible skydome. The specific background I used is not an environment map and would look horrid wrapped around a sphere so I didn't have a visible sphere in the scene though still lighting the scene. In that case I put the image in both the environment slot in render settings AND the backdrop slot in environment pane.
I'm sorry you came to a specific conclusion that you can't use a skydome unless you also have a background picture from my tute. I thought you had loaded a background and wanted to use it to light the scene (which I showed you how to do). I probably misunderstood you.
There's interesting info all over these forums. Just the links I've gathered in one spot..I'm sure there are more....
studio forums iray
sickleyields getting started tute
http://sickleyield.deviantart.com/journal/Tutorial-Getting-Started-With-Iray-519725115
Here is the tutorial on YouTube. - http://www.deviantart.com/users/outgoing?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5FZ5gS9v50
Here is a .pdf version. - http://www.deviantart.com/users/outgoing?https://www.dropbox.com/s/g0uw45y3znwl3pa/SYGettingStartedWithIray.pdf?dl=0
Sickleyield on Iray shaders and what they do
this post - http://sickleyield.deviantart.com/journal/Iray-Surfaces-And-What-They-Mean-519346747
JackieBlue's tips n tricks for beginners thread
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/53695/
Original beta thread:
DAZ Studio Pro BETA [Project Iradium] - version 4.8.0.4! - http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/53671/
Show Us Your Iray Renders - http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/53690/
@ spit - You are the MAN! You just made my day! I had no idea about that emissive possibillity applied to the dome! I will try that asap and I think that's exactly what I was looking for. And thanks for all those links. I will have to read and learn a lot now! :-)
unfortunately it doesn`t work for me...
when I follow the steps it turns out (completly brown) like this...
You mean the steps from the previous page? I did not add a skydome to the scene. It looks like the color is from a light from the skydome that's selected, which doesn't make sense because that would be a light for 3delight not for iray.
I haven't tried it myself yet. I learned it from reading most of those links. :) btw, I'm a girl. Well, an old lady actually.
I am beginning to enter into this Iray thing and after doing some render tests, I have a couple of questions:
1. When using a HDRI map as a background, is it possible to see somehow the dome to position the figures in the environment ?
2. Also when I try to use the HDRI for the dome, the environment is rather blurry. I post an example for that (sorry for the unimaginative spehre scene). I guess tha the problem is due to a parameter linked with the exposure biut as I do not have a photographic background, I do not know which parameter modify. Have you any tips to get a less blurry background ?