Global illumination

Render, parameters + Record Movie/Sun Study, parameters

The Global Illumination rendering method displays not only direct light sources but also indirect lighting that results from refraction and reflection. Using this method, you can give lighting a realistic look, in particular, when it comes to lighting interiors. Compared with ray tracing, the global illumination method optimizes the nuances of brightness and produces softer shadows. The image is calculated as a 'high dynamic range image'. You can save it in HDR format and in any standard bitmap format.

Surface properties for global illumination, special features

Note: As global illumination calculations require much disk space, we recommend a 64-bit version of Allplan.

Note: If sunlight is switched off, the program automatically uses ambient occlusion to calculate the scene. This improves the realistic representation of smooth shadows.

You can define the quality of the rendered images in the GI Renderer Settings dialog box. The better the quality, the longer the whole process will take.

Settings

Medium (default setting)

You can select one of the predefined settings: Low, Medium, High or Very high. You can save your own settings by clicking on the right. deletes settings you have saved.

Picture quality

You can specify the degree of anti-aliasing. Small values produce jagged edges and coarse textures. Large values result in smooth edges and detailed textures.

Irradiance cache quality

You can control the density and accuracy of results for the interpolation of indirect lighting. Large values produce more accurate results, in particular in conjunction with indirect lighting changing quickly (e.g., in corners or below objects). Small values lead to unrealistic results.

Indirect illumination quality

You can control the accuracy when it comes to calculating indirect lighting. Small values produce great differences when surfaces are illuminated indirectly. Large values lead to smooth results.

Shadow quality

You can control the quality of shadows. Large values produce smooth shadows whereas small values lead to coarse shadows. The larger the relevant area, the higher the required quality of shadows. You are advised to combine Picture quality and Shadow quality in a reasonable way. To obtain smooth shadows, you do not need to increase the Picture quality setting considerably as calculating shadows does not take very long. So you can produce satisfying results by increasing the value for Shadow quality while reducing that for Picture quality.

Photon map quality

You can control the number of photons created globally, the accuracy of lighting and other settings relating to Photon map quality. Large values lead to more accurate results whereas small values produce great differences when surfaces are illuminated indirectly. Setting Photon map quality to a larger value can replace a lot of time-consuming calculations of indirect lighting. Consequently, you can reduce the value for Indirect illumination quality considerably. This is very useful when it comes to rendering complex models or complicated light situations.

Tip: For scenes with few light sources but much indirect lighting, you are advised to set Irradiance cache quality and Indirect illumination quality to the maximum.

Optimization

Optimize rendering for: Exterior visualization / Interior visualization

You can optimize the rendering process for exteriors or interiors.

The image is calculated as a 'high dynamic range image'. After the calculation, you can interactively adjust the result in the Tone Mapping dialog box. In conjunction with Record Sun Study and Record Movie, the Tone Mapping dialog box opens after the first image has been calculated. The settings you define in this dialog box then apply to all subsequent images. The changes are displayed immediately.

Tone Mapping, Optimization

Brightness

You can correct the exposure of the image.

Gamma correction

You can correct the tonal values of the image.

Color saturation correction

You can correct the color saturation of the image.

Click HDR to save the image as a High Dynamic Range Image in any folder.

OK

Click OK to finish correcting the image.