[nappy]

Or in otherwords make shadows "darker" with a more concrete silhouette?

Is there a setting to adjust this in maxwell?

ty

[Bubbaloo]

Use a smaller emitter. Large emitters make soft light shadows.

[Mattia Sullini]

And, if it's outside, try to increase sun power and then adjust exposure. Not sharper but darker

[johann.dugge]

And, if it's outside, try to increase sun power and then adjust exposure. Not sharper but darker

If the sun is the only light source this will not hold true imho:
2x sun intensity -> 2x the amount of light everywhere -> halve exposure -> back to square one!

If the shadows are the darkest parts of the image (but not dark enough yet), adjusting gamma should work.

[Maximus3D]

Or you could enable the shadow channel so you render out a separate pass with shadows and then you fix your shadow strenth in post instead. It might be easier.. atleast i think that's possible eheh

/ Max

[Hervé]

like Johann said..just play with the gamma... 1,8.. and hop.. set..

[Mattia Sullini]

Ops, you all are right! Shame on me

[kami]

If the sun is the only light source this will not hold true imho:
2x sun intensity -> 2x the amount of light everywhere -> halve exposure -> back to square one!

I'm not so sure about that. Without testing, I would guess:
If you double the sun intensity and halve the exposure. The Faces which are exposed to the sun will have the same light and the ones in the shadow will be darker (because the sky illumination will be the scene but the exposure lower)
what you could also do to get this effect: lower the planet reflectance

[johann.dugge]

If you double the sun intensity and halve the exposure. The Faces which are exposed to the sun will have the same light and the ones in the shadow will be darker (because the sky illumination will be the scene but the exposure lower)

This would indeed require testing of exactly how the sky model is implemented (I have never really used it). But the sky illumination should be directly proportional to the sun intensity: when it's night (= zero sun), the sky is essentially pitch black (in daylight photography terms). All the sky illumination is only due to scattering and what have you of the sunlight - double the sun intensity should bring along twice the sky intensity. The sky isn't an "active" illuminator (sorry for stating the obvious there).
But can sun and sky be controlled separately in Maxwell?

[kami]

you are absolutely right ... my mistake.
I tested my propositions and they didn't affect the shadows in any kind. (except that the planet reflectance darkened the sky a little)

which leaves me a bit angry ... what's the sense in such a complicated physical sky system if you can't adjust the few necessary settings? (I am also thinking of this thread: http://www.maxwellrender.com/forum/view ... hp?t=30093)
how good is it if I can exactly adjust the background color with 10 cryptical sliders and only a few of them have an affect on the lighting (and then only on its color). In 90% of the cases, the background is done in photoshop anyway!

[RonB]

Do a multipass render, preferably with the newly implemented Open EXR, then you can make the shadows as light or as dark as you want. OK, OK, I'm being sarcastic...

[johann.dugge]

My, Ron, you had me angry there for a moment that I hadn't received the NL newsletter with such big announcements All's well now again!

As for the sun softness caused by clouds acting as diffusers, that would be indeed a nice touch. Basically it would be a slider going from clear to hazy to overcast. Hm...