First thing to do to warm up the Sun and Sky

[Fletch]

Our friend, Majid, a long-time Kerkythea user and new lover of Twilight suggests some simple things for all new users to Twilight, and even suggested we make them 'permanent' default settings.

We'll share them here as a courtesy for all to ponder:

The first thing to do with Sun and Sky in Twilight to get a warmer rendering result:

1. Change the default sunlight slider to between 3-7 so that prevents noisy and speckled shadows in clay renderings and low/prelim settings.
2. Change max sun intensity , maybe to 3 or 4, to prevent over exposed renderings (you can always tone map the image later to brighten the brights and darken the darks)
3. Set Sky Turbidity to 3, and the sun color to rgb(242, 225, 218) or similar warm color, this will avoid the bit of bluish tint you sometimes see with exterior renderings (otherwise one can do a white-point level balance in their photo editor, and use a bit of soft glow and warming filter to get a more pleasant warmth)

(parenthetical comments added for clarity)

Please feel free to try these suggestions and give us your feedback below. If enough people prefer these settings, we will consider making them the "default".

[notareal]

About the Sky turbidity, in my experience it breaks down if < 2 (clear) or > 10 (haze). I would not use physical sky, if solar angle from zenith is > 85 (near sunrise/sunset). The CIE Clear Sky is best approximated
with turbidity 2.3...2.5. (Note: this is general to all renderers that use Preetham Skylight Model)

[JGA]

Any standardised settings which the experts use, has to be a good thing.

[olishea]

Change the default sunlight slider to between 3-7 so that prevents noisy and speckled shadows in clay renderings and low/prelim settings.

which is the default sunlight slider? am i being stupid?

[Fletch]

sure... added to orig. post.

[olishea]

thanks, i thought that just controlled blurriness. is there a way to increase/decrease sun strength? or is that the sky brightness?

[Solo]

Put a higher value in the Intensity option, the default is 5.000

[olishea]

thanks I get it now.

[majid]

as I have observed different sky at the same zenith-with eyes of a painter-, when the air layer is thicker (means that you are in a desert or sea shore) then sun goes more warmer than when you are in a climate with thiner sky (i.e. a mountain) where the sun goes more white. I don't know if the haziness can help? or just tweaking the sun color is enough?

[Fletch]

if you leave default sun and sky settings alone for Twilight, you will note that the sun color and shadows change with the time of day/location on earth. It is, in this way a "Physical Sky".

The subject here in this topic is that these shadows, for some people, may seem too soft, and these very soft shadows add to render times.