Overview
The 3Delight Environment Shape is used to define an environment and to position and orient it in the scene. The environment color is defined by an Hypershade shading network. When a Render Pass is set to use a specific Environment Shape, the environment can be used as an image background and as a source of light for indirect illumination. See Scene Elements and Quality: Indirect Illumination for details.
The 3Delight Environment Shape
The Environment Shape Attributes
Intensity
This attribute modulates the intensity of the environment; it acts as a multiplier. The default intensity is 1.0.
Texture
This attribute controls the appearance of the environment by an Hypershade shading network. Any color output of Hypershade nodes can be connected to this attribute. A simple File 2D Texture texture node allows usage of an environment map or HDR image. Complex procedural networks can also be used.
Tint
The color of this attribute is used as a multiplier on the environment color. It has en effect similar to the Color Gain attribute in Maya surface shaders. The default color is white.
Mapping
This attribute controls how the 2D texture specified by the Texture attribute is mapped on a sphere. The available values are:
Spherical | This specifies a spherical mapping, generally used with regular environment maps. This is the default. |
Angular | This specifies an angular mapping, generally used with light probe images. |
Radius
This attribute controls the size of the sphere used to display the Environment Shape in the scene viewport only. It does not affect the actual rendered environment map.
Creating and Selecting an Environment Shape
To create a 3Delight Environment Shape, do any of the following:
- left-click on the Environment Shape button in the 3Delight Shelf - see The 3Delight Menu and Shelf;
- click on the small checker button on the right of the 'Environment Light' option menu in the render pass, inside the 'Scene Elements' section - see Scene Elements;
- in the 3Delight menu, choose the 'Create 3Delight Environment' item - see The 3Delight Menu and Shelf.
To select a 3Delight Environment Shape, the options are:
- right-click on the Environment Shape button in the 3Delight Shelf - see The 3Delight Menu and Shelf.
- pick the environment shape in the outliner, as any other node.
Note that the environment shape is not pickable in the scene viewport.