Canyon with Vegetation

[Upon Infinity]

Is ambient occlusion better than GI for bouncing light off a specific object?

Here you go:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambient_occlusion

Thanks.  I also just did a test to prove it to myself.  This image is lit only by the panel, the panel itself it lit only by it's luminous value.  It projects light much like a panel of light would.  And this is GI.  Ambient occlusion is apparently just general ambient light. 

[Tangled-Universe]

Ehhrrrr....I don't understand your explanation. Is it AO or GI?

[Upon Infinity]

The test I provided is GI. ie. the good stuff. 

[RArcher]

Ulco, the trees are from the Xfrog Africa package:  The big one on the left is the African Mahogany and the smaller ones are the Wild Peach with the spiky plants on the ground being the African Boxwood. The scene is washed out because of the high haze values I used to get some extra light bouncing under walls.

I certainly like the daylight version better myself, but couldn't resist giving a night version a quick try.

UponInfinity, GI is generally the way to go provided that there is a lightsource in your scene.  In my night version there is no direct lightsource at all, so I used the Ambient Occlusion mode to bring light in.  I set the strength on surfaces to 0.3 and the strength in the atmosphere to 0.

[Dune]

Thanks, Ryan. Maybe a very low (-90) warmish fill light without shadows may help with some light on undersides....

[choronr]

Some much to learn with all these interesting comments. Ryan, you've got me thinking to maybe start another canyon image. This is beautiful!

[Upon Infinity]

UponInfinity, GI is generally the way to go provided that there is a lightsource in your scene.  In my night version there is no direct lightsource at all, so I used the Ambient Occlusion mode to bring light in.  I set the strength on surfaces to 0.3 and the strength in the atmosphere to 0.

Well, in this case, wouldn't the stars be the light source?  As you can see in my test, I lit the scene with nothing more than luminous value.  You might have to rachet up the strength on surfaces value, but it technically 'should' work.  I'm not guaranteeing better results, but it might be worth a try.

[TheBadger]

The conversation in this thread is giving me lots of good info. Thanks guys.

Like the day light version best Archer. But the night shot is cool.

[Tangled-Universe]

Hi Ryan, you said no direct lightource? Makes me wonder how you get that striking light on the vegetation on the right wall? Seems there's a direct lighting source to me?

[RArcher]

Hi Martin,  Just to clarify, it is the night version we are talking about the daylight version absolutely has a sun. For the night version the sunlight node is disabled and the only light is from an enviro light set to:

Ambient Occlusion
0.3 strength on surfaces
1 Colour on surfaces
0 Strength in atmosphere
1 Colour in atmosphere

I did not bother to assign any luminosity to the star field because it wasn't really needed for my quick test.