I have been spending some time trying to figure out the most useful radiosity settings in Pov-Ray for

indirect daylight, as the manual doesn examples. This test is an attempt of going through the process of creating simple, but very realistic radiosity lighting.

First I create a simple model, a room and a stair ell ith a light shining into the room through the indo . !verything has a solid grey color. "utside an ambient s#y sphere. $%mbient means a grey&blue sphere ith a finish set to ambient ', diffuse (.) "utside the indo I place a point light, color hite, brightness '.

The first render ith no radiosity. This loo#s very flat, not very interesting, but it renders very fast, in only '* seconds.

+ets try some radiosity. These are the basic settings to start ith, radiosity { brightness 1.0 count 100 error_bound 0.2 gray_threshold 0.0 low_error_factor 0.2 minimum_reuse 0.015 nearest_count 10 recursion_limit 1 #if (version> .1! adc_bailout 0.01 ma"_sam#le $1.0 media off normal off always_sam#le 1 #retrace_start 0.0% #retrace_end 0.01 #end & &

The ceiling is barely visible, but not much improvement. Rendering time -,... The image is still very dar# and flat. +ets try something else, ho about changing the recursion/limit to, lets say 01

Render time '-,-(, but not much has happened. The image is still too dar# and very unrealistic. I set the recursion/limit bac# to ' and change the brightness to -.( instead.

This loo#s very similar to the last one, but renders considerably faster, in only -,.*. I try to combine brightness -.( ith recursion/limit -, does that help1

2ot really. The image is brighter, but the contrast is all rong. 3oes this mean that Pov-Ray isnt capable of realistically simulating indirect light1 I open the manual once more, loo#ing for clues.

%nd here it is. The Pov-Ray manual actually reveals a secret. It says, 45ou can strongly affect things ith the ob6ects7 finishes. In fact that is important thing about radiosity. 2ormal ob6ects should have ambient finish ( hich is not default in P"8-Ray and therefore needs to be spe "b6ects ith ambient 9 ( actually emit light.4

:o ; This really helps; There are still some artifacts, but the room loo#s transformed, far more realistic. This image renders in '-,0(.

I ad6ust the settings to get rid of the artifacts, recursion/limit ., error/bound (.'., brightness '.., max/sample (.., and try again. % clean and fairly accurate render in only -*,.<.

I render this scene using ambient light only. I disable the point light, fiddle around ith the settings and come up ith the follo ing, max/sample disabled, error/bound (.(., brightness '.. and count <((. 2ice; =ut a slo render, -,.',-> as I had to raise the count and lo er error/bound to get rid of artifacts.

?o about area light1 I place a @x@ area light outside the indo . First render ith no radiosity,

and a second

ith the same settings as for the point light.

Im Auite happy. This has been orth all the trouble. 2o I 6ust have to fix some textures and maybe add some details and a fe ob6ects.

% sunny day and indo

facing south. Raytraced in -Bmin-*sec.

+ess sunny, some haCe, or indo <>min'Bsec.

facing east& est. Raytraced in

% indo facing a ay from sun or north. Raytraced in 'hour'.min<.sec. Dome artifacts evident but nice soft realistic light.

The final radiosity settings Im using,

:ith lights disabled, the ambient s#y is the only :ith point light or area light, brightness (.< in both cases, color RE= ',',(.>. radiosity { brightness 2.0 count 100 error_bound 0.15 gray_threshold 0.0 low_error_factor 0.2 minimum_reuse 0.015 nearest_count 10 recursion_limit 5 #if (version> .1! adc_bailout 0.01 ma"_sam#le 0.5 media off normal off always_sam#le 1 #retrace_start 0.0% #retrace_end 0.01 #end & & radiosity { brightness 2.2 count 00 error_bound 0.15 gray_threshold 0.0 low_error_factor 0.2 minimum_reuse 0.015 nearest_count 10 recursion_limit 5 #if (version> .1! adc_bailout 0.01 ma"_sam#le $1.0 media off normal off always_sam#le 1 #retrace_start 0.0% #retrace_end 0.01 #end & &

The settings I had to fine tune during those tests ere, error/bound $lo er values more accurate), count $higher values better) these t o ar get rid of many artifacts $li#e hite strea#s and&or 4dirt4 on surfaces). "ther settings I had to balance are brightness, max/sample, and perh recursion/limit. "ther settings should be ".F. as they are. The radiosity settings can be fine tuned but this ill slo almost al ays give better results.

do n rendering times considerably so this has to be of a personal choice. ?igher c

=e careful ith the lo /error/factor as this setting tends to use lots of memory and can spend lot of time s apping your hard drive rays, hich results in litterally aeons of rendering times but great accuracy.

hile ca

%nd finally, Gust to demonstrate the importance of the ambient sphere. This is ho the room loo#s li#e raytraced ith the ambient s#y off, using the area light only. 8eird artifacts, and strange, there is no ay to determine here the light is coming from.