Modo plugin - Environment

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marton (Unlicensed)
Last updated: 14 May, 2013Version comment
6 min read

Environment export is a good example for how well automatic export can work together with the manual export settings. By default plugin converts modo environment settings automatically. You set the scene environment in modo and the plugin follows your settings and chooses the right Maxwell environment type with the proper parameters.

The conversion happens according to the following rules:

  • Modo environment with Constant color or 2 - 4 Color Gradient and Overcast Sky -> plugin creates the environment gradient image according to the modo settings, and set the exported image as IBL environment.
  • Modo with Physically-based Daylight -> exported as Maxwell Physical Sky
  • Modo with HDR or EXR image environment -> the result is Maxwell IBL environment with the appropriate hdr or exr image file.

Automatic conversion doesn’t forget about the virtual sun of the scene. If your scene has Directional Light item with Physical Sun turned on, it will be exported as Maxwell sun.

Maxwell allows only one sun in the scene! If you have more modo sun item, the exporter exports only the last one.

If automatic environment conversion is not enough for you (for example you want better control over the Physical Sky settings), you can add our Maxwell Environment item as a top layer on your modo environment. With Maxwell Environment item you have similar Environment options what you have in Maxwell Studio.

modo Environment item

We added extra controls to the modo Environment item to make environment conversion easier.

On the top of the Environment tab you can see the INFO line. This INFO line gives quick information about the exported environment type. Type can be None, Physical Sky, Dome Sky, IBL (image map) and IBL (gradient env.). Exported environment type is the result of the layer items under the Environment item. For example Environment Material with 2 Color Gradient type will be recognized as IBL (gradient env.). If you change 2 Color Gradient to Physically-based Daylight, or you add a Maxwell Material item with Physical Sky type, the final environment will be Physical Sky. If you add a HDR image to the top of the Environment layers, it will change the exported environment type to IBL (image map).

In case of IBL environment types, you have further controls:

Intensity

Intensity value for the IBL layers (this control changes the intensity of the modo Environment too).

Background, Illumination, Reflection, Refraction

Enable/disable the effect of the IBL environment on the various IBL layers. (These controls are not independent from the modo environment visibility switches: Background changes Visible to Camera, Illumination changes Visible to Indirect Rays, Reflection changes Visible to Reflection Rays and Refraction changes Visible to Refraction Rays.)

Gradient env.

Size (in pixels) of the exported gradient image. Use bigger number if you want better image quality, but bigger file means longer preprocessing time in Maxwell Render.

Plugin exports modo Environment Material with Environment type Constant, 2 Color Gradient, 4 Color Gradient or CIE Overcast Sky as an EXR image file. When the file is ready, it sets the new image file for the IBL background layers.

Maxwell Environment item

Maxwell Environment is a Shader Tree texture layer item. You can add Maxwell Environment layer from the Plugin window (Add Environment button), you can use modo Preset Browser (by double clicking on the sky preset thumbnail), or you can add it as a normal modo texture layer by clicking on the Add Layer drop-down button at the top of the Shader Tree (from the drop-down list select Maxwell > Maxwell Environment).

Click on the Add Layer drop-down button to add Maxwell Environment item.

Enable

Enable/disable Maxwell Environment layer.

Render in modo

Set it to ON if you want modo to display Maxwell Environment in modo preview and final render.

Type

Type of the Maxwell environment: None, Sky Dome, Physical Sky. In Maxwell Studio you can choose IBL environment too, but in modo IBL environment is automatically converted from modo environment settings (read next sub-chapter IBL).

Sun display

Switch direct sunlight on/off. (Sky Dome or Physical Sky environments)

Please read sub-chapter Constant Dome and Physical Sky in the MAXWELL RENDER 2 Manual for further information about Maxwell environment settings.

You can follow the effect of the Maxwell Environment settings in the modo preview window and you can use Maxwell Physical Sky or Sky Dome with modo render. (If you want to use Maxwell Physical Sky or Sky Dome in a modo render, please make sure Render in Modo checkbox is ON.)

IBL

If you want to light your Maxwell scene with High Dynamic Range image(s) you have to set-up the HDR environment as you normally do it in modo. You can use any HDR or EXR image to light your modo scene and with the connected Texture Locator you can position the HDR background.

In most cases the conversion works without your further assistance, but there are some limitations you have to keep in mind.

IBL conversion works only with front or spherical projected environment images.

  • In case of Front projection the only limitation is that the Projection Camera has to be the same as the render camera.
  • In case of Spherical projection it is important to keep the Texture Locator main axis parallel with the modo Up Axis, otherwise the plugin can’t find appropriate settings for the conversion. (It is OK to rotate the image around the Up Axis, and it is also valid to flip it upside down.) Further limitations: a) Environment image has to be in 0,0,0 position. b) Environment Image has to be uniformly scaled.

You can use modo Horizontal and Vertical Wrap controls to alter the look of your environment image!

Modo plugin provides live feedback about the HDR image -> IBL conversion in the Maxwell Properties viewport. You can read the exported IBL offset and scale values (these are calculated from the Texture Locator of the HDR image), and if the plugin can’t convert the Locator parameters perfectly, it displays warning messages with the conversion problem in the INFO field.

Please read sub-chapter Image Based Lighting  in the MAXWELL RENDER 2 Manual for further information about Maxwell environment settings.

IBL layers

If you want to use different images for the different Maxwell IBL layers (Background, Reflection, Refraction, Illumination), you can follow the normal modo workflow again.

Create two or more modo Environment item (on the picture you can see Environment (2) and Environment), and with the visibility flags set the scope of the Environment items.

If Visible to Camera is on, the HDR image in the Environment item will be exported as IBL Background layer.

If Visible to Indirect Rays is on, the HDR image in the Environment item will be exported as IBL Illumination layer.

If Visible to Reflection Rays is on, the HDR image in the Environment item will be exported as IBL Reflection layer.

If Visible to Refraction Rays is on, the HDR image in the Environment item will be exported as IBL Refraction layer.

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