General

Sets the general properties of the sun.

Status

Turns the sun on and off. If lighting is not enabled in the drawing, this setting has no effect.

Intensity Factor

Sets the intensity or brightness of the sun. The range is from 0 (no light) to maximum. The higher the number, the brighter the light.

Color (Standard lighting workflow only)

Controls the color of the light.

Shadows

Turns display and calculation of shadows for the sun on and off. Turning shadows off increases performance.

Sky Properties

The sky general properties are as follows:

Status

Determines if the sky illumination is computed at render time. This has no impact on the viewport illumination or the background. It simply makes the sky available as a gathered light source for rendering. Note this does not control the background. Values are Sky Off, Sky Background, Sky Background and Illumination. [Sky Off] is default.

Intensity Factor

Provides a way to magnify the effect of the skylight. Values are 0.0-MAX. [1.0] is default.

Haze

Determines the magnitude of scattering effects in the atmosphere. Values are 0.0-15.0. [0.0] is default.

Horizon

This category of properties pertains to the appearance and location of the ground plane.

Height

Determines the absolute position of the ground plane relative to world zero. This parameter represents a world-space length and should be formatted in the current length unit. Values are -10.0 to +10.0 [0.0] is default.

Blur

Determines the amount of blurring between ground plane and sky. Values are 0-10. [.1] is default.

Ground Color

Determines the color of the ground plane.

Advanced

This category of properties pertains to various artistic effects.

Night Color

Specifies the color of the night sky.

Aerial Perspective

Specifies if aerial perspective is applied. Values are On/Off.

Visibility Distance

Specifies the distance at which 10% haze occlusion results. Values are 0.0-MAX.

Sun Disk Appearance

This category of properties pertains to the background only. They control the appearance of the sun disk.

Disk Scale

Specifies the scale of the sun disk (1.0 = correct size).

Glow Intensity

Specifies the intensity of the sun glow. Values are 0.0-25.0.

Disk Intensity

Specifies the intensity of the sun disk. Values are 0.0-25.0.

Sun Angle Calculator

Sets the angle of the sun.

Date

Displays the current date setting.

Time

Displays the current time setting.

Daylight Saving

Displays the current setting for daylight saving time.

Azimuth

Displays the angle of the sun along the horizon clockwise from due north. This setting is read-only.

Altitude

Displays the angle of the sun vertically from the horizon. The maximum is 90 degrees, or directly overhead. This setting is read-only.

Source Vector

Displays the coordinates of the direction of the sun. This setting is read-only.

Rendered Shadow Details

Specifies the properties of the shadows.

Type

Displays the setting for shadow type. This setting is read-only when display of shadows is turned off. The selections are Sharp, Soft (mapped) which display the Map size option and Soft (area) which displays the Samples option. Soft (area) is the only option for the sun in photometric workflow (LIGHTINGUNITS = 1 or 2).

Map size (Standard lighting workflow only)

Displays the size of the shadow map. This setting is read-only when display of shadows is turned off. Values are 0-1000.

Samples

Specifies the number of samples to take on the solar disk. This setting is read-only when display of shadows is turned off. Values are 0-1000.

Softness

Displays the setting for the appearance of the edges of shadows. This setting is read-only when display of shadows is turned off. Values are 1-10.

Geographic Location

Displays the current geographic location settings. This information is read-only. When a city is not stored with latitude and longitude, the city does not appear in the list.

Use the Edit Geographic Location button to open the Geographic Location dialog box.