Luxology Environments

Environments dialog contains controls for environmental settings for Luxology rendering and
controls their visibility.

Luxology environments can now be saved and recalled at render time. The environments are similar to
render settings in that they too can be stored in a DGN library file (DGNlib). If you want to have
environment setups that can be used by any instance of MicroStation you could edit the
Luxology_render.dgnlib or create a new library file and place it in a dgnlib search path with your custom
environments.
The environment types are Sky, Light Probe, image, image cube and gradient.
All environments produce indirect light on to the scene and are controlled by a brightness slider. It is
possible to illuminate a model or scene solely by the enabled environment by choosing Override Existing
Lights.
New Setup

Creates a new environment setup file.

Save Setup

If you modify or change a setup and want the changes to be saved you must click on the floppy icon to
make the changes permanent.

Enable
If enabled the Environment is used during rendering operation.
Intensity Slider

(Environment enabled only) Luxology uses the environment as an indirect light source. The intensity
slider controls how bright (how much light) is produced by the environment at render time.

Camera
Environment is visible where the background color of the view normally would be visible.
Indirect

Controls whether or not the environment is used as an indirect light source. If you choose the
"Override Existing Lights" option then you should leave Indirect enabled, otherwise you would
not have any lights.
Reflection
Environment is visible in reflections where the background color of the view normally would be
visible.
Refraction
Environment is visible through transparent elements where the background color of the view
normally would be visible.
Environment Type

Sky A physical sky is used.

Light Probe An HDRI image is used.

Image A standard image is used.

Image Cube Six images are used, one for each face of the environment cube
surrounding the scene.

Gradient Lets you choose a two or four color gradient, and define the colors, to
simulate the environment.

Sun Size
(Environment set to Sky only) Lets you specify a size for the solar disk between 0 and 10
(default 1). You can key in values, or use the slide control.
In scenes where you are using telephoto lens, and especially sunset or sunrise scenes, you may
want to increase this to 4 or 5 for more dramatic effect.

Sun Size set to 5 (left) and 10 (right)

File
(Environment set to Light Probe or Image only) Lets you select an image for the environment.
Override Existing Lights
Environment if enabled, existing light sources in the model are ignored and the environment (only) is
used to illuminate the scene.

Rotation

(Environment set to Light Probe, Image, or Image Cube only) Lets you apply a rotation factor to
the environment images. Rotation is about the vertical axis (the Z axis).
Projection
(Environment set to Image only) Option menu that lets you set the way that the image file is
projected for the rendering.

Solid TBD

Planar Lets you choose the plane in which the image is located.

Cylindrical The image is projected as a cylinder around the scene.

Spherical The image is projected as a sphere encompassing the scene.

Cubic The image is applied to the six faces of a cube encompassing the scene.

Front The image is applied to the front plane of the scene.

Front[back]left[Right]Top[Bottom]
(Environment set to Image Cube only) Lets you select images for the 6 faces of the environment
cube.
Clear All
(Environment set to Image Cube only) Clears image files from all faces of the environment cube.
Type
(Environment set to Gradient only) Option menu that lets you set the type of gradient to be used
for the environment.

4 Color Lets you select four colors (Zenith, Sky, Ground, and Nadir) to simulate the
sky and ground.
There is a soft blend between the Zenith and Sky colors and also betwenn the Ground and
Nadir colors. The boundary between Ground and Sky is hard edged to give the illusion of
an horizon.

2 Color Lets you select colors for Zenith and Nadir.

Zenith Color

Sets the color that is directly overhead and this ramps into the Sky color. Click the color swatch to open
the color selector dialog.
Sky Color
Sets the color that starts at the horizon and ramps upward.
Ground Color
Sets the color for simulating the ground.
Nadir Color

Sets the color directly below the camera and ramps upwards into the Ground color, which
terminates at the horizon when it meets the Sky color.
Exponent Settings
(Type set to 4 Color only) Lets you control the blending of the Zenith/Sky and Ground/Nadir colors.
Higher values push the gradient transition closer to the horizon, while lower values spread the gradient
further across the available spectrum.
Background
Enable - If enabled you can set and store the color or image used as background with a named
environment setup that be recalled at render time.
Background can be Color, Image or None.
Fog
Enable Fog effects are rendered when enabled.
Density
Controls how much fog effect is used. Fog gains intensity exponentially as items become father from the
camera.
Use Environment Color
If on the fog color matches the current environment.

Bloom

Bloom: In photography, when a very bright part of an image neighbors a very dark part, the bright part
will appear to glow, this phenomenon is known as Bloom. Luxology 'Bloom' simulates this effect by
removing excess energy from a pixel and distributes it around to its neighbors. This checkbox enables
the effect.
Bloom Threshold: The 'Bloom Threshold' sets the lower threshold to which pixel are effected by 'Bloom'.
Lower values mean less bright pixels will be affected by bloom.
Bloom Radius: The 'Bloom Radius' sets the distance in pixels that energy is distributed, in effect
controlling the size of the glow. increasing this value enlarges the bloom effect.

Without bloom on left and with bloom effect on right, you can clearly see the effects of bloom on
filament which has a very high glow value applied.

Volume Light Handles

+
When using volume lighting effects you can use handles to manipulate the area of volume that will have
the effect. When the selector tool is active and you have the Highlight tool selected in the Light Manager
you will be able to use handles to dynamic manipulate the volume. This is particularly useful for
manipulation of Solar light when using volume effect.

Solar Volume Effect manipulation handles shown in Top, Camera and Front Views.

Living Room model rendered with solar volume lighting effect