Raw GI

This page gives an overview of the Raw Global Illumination render element and how it may be used in compositing.

Overview

The Raw Global Illumination Render Element stores how much indirect lighting (reflected diffuse light) is received by surfaces in the scene. This raw element is useful for fine-tuning indirect lighting in the compositing process.

The vrayRE_Raw_GI pass is untouched by the diffuse colors of the scene and represents the pure indirect lighting contribution. You can use this raw element to reconstitute the vrayRE_GI by multiplying the vrayRE_Raw_GI with the vrayRE_Diffuse .

UI Path: ||Display Render Settings button|| > Render Elements tab > Raw GI

Attributes

Enabled – When enabled, the render element appears in the V-Ray Virtual Frame Buffer.

Deep output – Specifies whether to include this render element in deep images.

Filename suffix – The text added to the end of the rendered file, when saved as a separate file (e.g. myrender.rawGI.vrimg).

Apply color mapping – Applies the color mapping options specified in the Color Management rollout of the VRay tab in the Render Settings window to this render element. This option is enabled by default.

Denoise – Enables the render element's denoising, provided the Denoiser render element is present

Common uses

Once the scene is rendered, the Raw Global Illumination Render Element is useful for changing the appearance of indirect lighting in a compositing or image editing application. Below are examples of its use.

Raw Global Illumination Render Element

Original Beauty Composite

Raised Raw Global Illumination Render Element

Raised and tinted Raw Global Illumination Render Element

Brightened GI

Tinted and Brightened GI

Underlying Compositing Equation

vrayRE_Raw_GI x vrayRE_Diffuse = vrayRE_GI

Notes

• When Raw Global Illumination is needed in composite, please make sure to also render the Global Illumination render element (vrayRE_GI) as well.
• There is initial support for Raw GI render element on V-Ray GPU.