QuoteI am not sure if you understand the concept of Global Illumination properly...
I also work in film VFX and been using Mental Ray since before it had GI. I'm sure I understand how it works.
QuoteAdjust the sky colour and intensity to something that looks good, then simply turn down the Strength on Surface setting in the Environment light and the Apply Colour in your shader to match what you had before.
Instead of just a separate slider to adjust the surface brightness accordingly, or the sky's brightness, I have to modify two separate, unconnected values that can lead me to tweaking hell.
It would benefit from something that makes independent colour grade adjustment of the atmosphere and surfaces a breeze,
after the GI is calculated. How, I don't know.
QuoteThe reason is that, from what I see, the light in the atmosphere affects the terrain, but the light on the terrain does not affect the atmosphere.
I'm afraid it does. Change the surface and the GI will slightly change the cloud grade, most noticeably in the distance. There are *some* VFX Supers out there who would be very unhappy about the sky they loved so much changing at all.
Anyway, it was only a suggestion. I don't want to get into a ding-dong.
This is so people can see the effects of Fake Dark Power for future reference.