V-Ray Tip: Use Physical V-Ray Sun and Photographic Camera Exposure for Consistent Daylight

Get physically consistent daylight by pairing the V-Ray Sun’s default intensity with a photographic exposure workflow on the camera.

• Keep the Sun physical: Leave the V-Ray Sun Intensity Multiplier at its default (1.0). This preserves real-world energy for GI, reflections, and believable exterior/interior transitions.
• Drive brightness with exposure: Enable exposure on the V-Ray Physical Camera (or the host app’s physical camera) and adjust f-number, shutter speed, and ISO—don’t fight the sun with arbitrary multipliers.
• Start from real baselines:
  • Midday “Sunny 16” look: ISO 100, f/16, 1/125 s
  • Overcast: ISO 100, f/8, 1/60 s
  • Golden hour: ISO 200, f/5.6, 1/60 s
  • Bright interior with sun spill: ISO 200, f/8, 1/30–1/60 s
  Treat each full-stop change as a clean, predictable shift in exposure.
• Use white balance to define mood: Daylight 5600–6500 K for neutral sun; 4000–5000 K for warm golden hour; 7000–9000 K for blue shade. Avoid tinting the Sun’s Filter Color unless for stylized looks.
• Leverage the Sky model, not intensity: Adjust Turbidity (haze), Ozone (sky hue), and Sun Size (shadow softness) to shape the atmosphere while keeping energy stable.
• Monitor exposure in the VFB: Use the Histogram and False Color to check clipping. Aim to retain highlight detail in clouds and speculars while maintaining readable midtones. Avoid hard output clamping; save 32-bit EXRs for grading.
• Auto features for lookdev, locks for finals: Auto Exposure/Auto White Balance are great for IPR. For sequence continuity, disable them and lock camera settings before final renders.
• Don’t mix controls per shot: If you change exposure, keep Sun intensity fixed; if you must tweak the Sun for art direction, move in 0.5–1.0 stop equivalents and note the delta to maintain consistency across shots.
• Balance Sun vs Sky in post: Use LightMix to nudge Sun/Sky ratios interactively, then bake the chosen balance into lights before final renders to avoid stack-dependent surprises.
• Noise and fireflies tips: Very high sun multipliers can exacerbate hot pixels on glossy/speculars. Keep the Sun physical and raise exposure instead; if needed, increase Reflection GI quality on problem materials rather than inflating light intensity.
• Animation and time-of-day: Animate the Sun position, not intensity. Keep camera exposure constant per shot to preserve continuity; switch to a new exposure only when the narrative time-of-day changes.
• Architectural accuracy: Ensure the scene scale is correct so light falloff and exposure behave realistically, especially for interiors lit by exterior sun/sky.

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