I have a sunset scene like in the link below. Not exactly the same, but the ground and objects are all black anyway. I was just wondering, do I need GI for a scene like that? And what does it affect if so?
http://www.mavrinac.com/photo/detroitriver/ambassador_sunset.png (http://www.mavrinac.com/photo/detroitriver/ambassador_sunset.png)
no GI needed
GI will significantly affect cloud shading and "quality", for one thing. It would also subtley affect the lighting of objects on the ground and the landscape itself, although the significance of this would depend on how much light there is in the sky.
- Oshyan
You might also want to download and try Oshyan's 'Fill Lights' clip file which could help you with this issue. I would not recommend you use both GI and Fill Lights together. you can be selective with the use of Fill Lights. You'll need to do a search for this.
Bob
If you use Fill Lights, remember to turn off one of the suns; two are not needed.
Alright. Thanks a lot guys.
I'm with Oshyan on this one. GI could be used to add subtle details to the silhouetted terrain/objects. You can use the enviro light settings to adjust its impact on surfaces separately from the atmosphere. With such strongly coloured light you would expect this would influence the colour of the detail added. Fill lights would allow you to show some extra detail, but GI provides subtle shading that fill lights can't.
You could also experiment with GI settings for atmosphere (and in the cloud nodes) to tweak the lighting further. Whilst possibly not technically correct it could look very nice.
Thank you bigben. Lots of good info.