Architectural_Design_with_SketchUp

Architectural Design with SketchUp
Figure 5.39: The same scene illuminated with different HDR
environments (you can see them in the sphere’s reflection)
It is often a good idea to combine image-based general lighting with in-scene lighting
such as spotlights or even the sun. Experiment with your scene to find the best combination
of lighting approaches.
You can find a large number of reasonably good quality HDR skies on the Internet. Follow
some of the links that were presented in the “Environments” section to download some,
and try this method for yourself.
TIP
If you are rendering an interior scene where all the ambient light is entering the scene from
the outside through a window, one feature you want to look for in your rendering application
is sky portals. A sky portal is a material that you apply to a window, where it basically
functions as a light collector for the ambient light that exists outside of your model.
Using a light portal can yield a more even interior light and lead to better rendering times.
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