Here´s a link to one of the autodesk sample movies for Max2009,
showing viewport display for IES profiles and revamped lighting:
http://download.autodesk.com/us/3dsmax/2009demos/06%20Lighting.mov
The IES stuff is beautiful. Lights that look convincing, no way...
One could argue about the daylight/timelapse implementation,
especially since the basic functionality had already been
there (they implemented time of day, location and so on years ago)
But still, the IES stuff is great.
Personally, I would like to have a functionality similar to the
editing of Photoshop "Curves", where you can interactively model the
distribution of light (or an existing IES profile) to fit your needs
but the above is still better than anything else currently available
by default in any of the major 3D apps.
As I understand it, an IES profile maps intensities and distribution
across a hemisphere,where you look down straight from above onto the
flattened and "relaxed" spherical coordinates, creating a look-up
table for every facing angle (>normalangle) of light receiving geometry.
Which sounds alot like "realtime ZBrush MatCap" and "BRDF" Materials.
Therefore, looking into finding synergy effects in existing shader
model research as well as lighting models might finally allow
to achieve more appealing results in a user friendly way,
where realism is the basis editable as desired.
In real time. In the viewport.
Cheers
tim
Copyrights April 2nd, 2008, Tim Leydecker.
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