VRAYforC4D PHYSICAL CAMERA - This makes it slightly easier to understand when picking and Your scene can also

understand when picking and Your scene can also be light adjusted via the lighting and GI rig if
A rough guide for architectural rendering choosing figures from established exposure tables. (A simple you prefer - camera exposure isn’t the only ‘correct’ method to
Google search will bring up standard camera lens exposure use. To this effect, in-fill lighting can still be used (ie, lights or
Architectural rendering and photography is traditionally best tables and charts). portals in window gaps, omnis in darker areas) if still deemed
displayed with little or no depth of field and motion blur. necessary. This isn’t physically correct, but again, it isn’t wrong
They’re effects (like lens flair, lens correction etc) that are different either. Sometimes these ‘extras’ are needed to get the render
to how the human eye perceives such events. They must be Part 1 - Sampling OFF completed. It’s a common practise for us at Buzzbox to regularly
used sparingly and correctly. Internals employ, and you’ll see their effects in nearly all the imagery we
Of course, there is no right or wrong in how you opt to use them. produce.
Like camera exposure settings, people have their own * Environmental GI (or physical sky if using a physical sun) - start
preferences and favourites. at 1.0 (or 100%). Remember, environmental GI emanates from Externals
outside, so it’ll only illuminate the exterior. If you have a lot of
These short tutorials are just a simple set of standards and guide glazing or intend the GI to help illuminate the interior this value * Environmental GI - advisable to raise level considerably to fill in
lines to start from. They can be fully adopted and adapted to suit will need to be increased significantly. This means the exterior or lighten shadow areas. If the GI is left at default 1 (or 100%)
your own personal style and tastes of rendering. will be un-proportionately lit to the interior, so care will be with shadows in your scene, the shadow areas will be
As Vray has an ON/OFF facility for physical camera sampling (ie, needed to get the lighting correct before rendering. extremely dark. Too dark. Higher Environmental GI brings
depth of field (DOF) and motion blur (MB)) we’ve split this tutorial * Colour mapping - suggested Reinhard, clamped to 1-1.5, burn these levels up to a more natural state. Try 15-20. LWF
into 2 sections to accommodate both states - On and OFF. value quite low, maybe 0.2 - 0.4 rendering also helps.
* Secondary GI bounces - 0.9 to 0.99. We recommend anything * Remember, because of the GI and camera differences between
The first part concentrates on the physical camera with sampling less than a value of 1.0. This just takes off any possible ‘edge’ interior and exterior you’ll have a sizeable lighting and exposure
set to OFF. Because of this, any or all of the 3 physical camera of glare. Saturation and Contrast levels can also be kept more difference to overcome. This can be advantageous for both
exposure settings can be used to increase or decrease the level in line with the default of 1.0 (non physical cameras means a lot internal and external still photography, giving that ‘bleached’
of light entering the lens. more playing around with these parameters). exterior look and darkened interior feel, but might prove tricky if
The ISO, F-Stop (FS) and Shutter Speed (SS) options each have * Sun light - physcam multiplier can be left at 1.0. Personally, I animating between the two. This is easily overcome using
the same effect, both visually and speed-wise when sampling is also like to disable the phys sky GI (tick Override GI env. box) in various lighting and camera techniques. To keep matters
off. For this reason you might want to pick a ‘standard’ you’re favour of the Environmental GI spinner. I like the alternative feel simple, you might want to use a non physical camera and
happy with that best suits the lighting conditions in hand, say - and control I get compared to GI the sky intensity option. lighting rig; this can be set up just as realistically as physical
* Background/reflection images - whether in environmental slots rendering and takes the hassle out of these dramatic lighting
ISO:200 , FS:5.6 , SS:125 or on planes, these values need to be increased to at-least the changes.
25-30 mark. * Colour mapping - as internal but burn values might need to be
then just use the ISO value to increase or decrease light into the * Environmental lights (sun, in-fills etc) - turn OFF Affect Specular. raised a few units.
camera, (as mentioned, any of the other values, on their own or * Direct lights (ceiling lamps, wall spots, IES lights etc) - turn ON * In externals (and not so much in internals) sun values can be
in conjunction, can also be used to control lighting levels, as Affect Specular. lowered a couple of notches to suit, again, upping GI to
each has the same effect if blurring is switched off). compensate. Changing GI contrasts, colour mapping or
Even though Vray lets you tweak these levels to any value you Compared to using non-physical cameras lighting values in camera settings can sometimes loose an image’s ‘zing’ or
might choose, it’s not a bad idea to keep your levels or ‘steps’ of general will be significantly higher to suit real world values. vibrancy, so material saturations and speculars can be adjusted
exposure to real world standards. Correct wattage values can also be used for direct lighting. more effectively in these situations.
Part 2 - Sampling ON Evening/night internal. Background and sunlight have been
disabled. The environmental GI has been upped to compensate
This section of the tutorial touches oh Depth Of Field (DOF) and Example 01 - ISO:400 , FS:5.6 , SS:125 for lack of direct sun light, luminance value dependant on
Motion Blur (MB). Normal ‘noon’ sunny daylight conditions, with nominal GI and atmospheric lighting required. This example uses a medium blue
As previously mentioned, if you have to use it then go easy on it. tint set at a value of 8.0.
Too many architectural renderings are ruined by strong or over The IES lamps have been slightly brightened and the Shutter
use of these camera effects. Less (if any) is most definitely more. Speed lowered (or slowed) a bit to enhance the internal/external
lighting differences.
DOF and MB are real camera attributes which, unlike the Vray Alternatively, increasing (opening) the F-Stop or upping the ISO
Physical camera, can’t be just switched on or off. This is where would also have produced the same results.
the correct combinations and ratios of ISO, F-Stop and Shutter
Speeds all come into play. Each influences the other (especially
the relationship between F-Stop and Shutter Speed). Standard Example 03 - ISO:100 , FS:8 , SS:125
camera lens exposure tables and charts (that are freely
downloadable from Google) will show you the standard stops
and intervals between the exposure settings to allow you to
achieve the various lens effects you’re after.

Basically :

More DOF = lower or wider F-Stop (and faster Shutter Speed) sunlight strength. Low light emitting internal IES lights added.
More MB = lower or slower Shutter Speed (and higher F-Stop)

Example 02 - ISO:400 , FS:5.6 , SS:80

Standard bright sunny day. Nominal sunlight, GI set at 15.

Rendered examples
Example 04 - ISO:200 , FS:8 , SS:125 Example 05 - ISO:150 , FS:8 , SS:125 Example 06 - ISO:100 , FS:1.4 , SS:4000

Dawn/dusk. Sunlight lowered and shadow softened to suit. Lower light or ‘in-shadow’ conditions. Settings as Example 03 In this example the F-Stop has been lowered to dramatically
Turbidity changed to between 5-7, GI set to a medium blue, (external sunny), except camera ISO upped to 150. enhance near DOF whilst maintaining the same scene lighting
strength 12. Colour Mapping burn value upped to 6.5 to achieve conditions.
correct contrast. For less DOF the following camera setting could be used :
ISO upped a notch to let in more light. White balance also used
- pushed off white towards a yellowish hue, giving a blue ISO:100 , FS:16 , SS:30
evening atmosphere to the scene.
In this case it would be much wiser (and faster) not to use any
DOF in the first place.

The next trick is controlling and fine tuning the DOF. What if you
want a certain point in your scene in ultra sharp focus whilst the
foreground and background are heavily out of focus?
Example 07 - ISO:200 , FS:2.8 , SS:1000 Example 08 - ISO:200 , FS:2.8 , SS:1000 (It might also be a good idea equalising your Aperture Width and
Focal Length on the onset to avoid ‘camera jump’ when using
higher focal settings)

Now when rendered we get a much better and accurate

impression of our intended focal point and again, DOF strength
can also be additionally adjusted by changing the physical
camera’s F-Stop/Shutter Speed.

Example 09 - ISO:100 , FS:16 , SS:30

Motion Blur is achieved by using a slower Shutter Speed with a

higher F-Stop value. In an animation, the distance (speed) the
camera or objects travel along a path or given time period is also
a major factor in determining what strength of Motion Blur you
This example uses a medium/strong physical camera DOF. To pin-point your desired focal point (ie, to get our middle pepper
require. And remember your parallax - the closer objects to
The focal point is the middle pepper pot. It’s distance from the pot into sharp focus) we need to significantly increase the
camera will appear to be faster and blurrier, whereas distant
camera position (290cm in this case) is entered into the camera’s camera’s Aperture View value whilst maintaining the initial Field
objects might appear to have no blur at all.
Depth Target Distance box. When rendered we get our expected Of View value (copy’n’paste will help you out here) and the
DOF. further the camera is away from the focal point the higher this
and remember, DOF and MB significantly slow down
value will need to be. The focal length will now automatically
render speeds!
change to suit.