Area Lights and Renderworks in Vectorworks 2011-2012

In the past we used to use area lights to replicate light coming in window, and Vectorworks 2011/2012 we don’t have to do this the other, more realistic ways of creating lights.

In previous versions of Vectorworks, we used to use area lights on Windows to replicate sunlight coming in to the window. This wasn’t perfect but it did a reasonable job in Vectorworks 2010 and before. you might notice that the area light in front of the door stop you seeing the door. So while the effect of the light is reasonable the downside is that the area light prevents you from seeing out the window, or out the door.

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In Vectorworks 2011/2012, we have a better way. in this image there are no light sources other than an environmental light called HDRI White. HDRI White is a standard Renderworks environment like that comes with Vectorworks. when you use it as an environment light, it brings in white light through every window, giving you rendering a nice glow. I have also added indirect lighting that creates the bouncing light in the room.

If you combine the environment light with a sunlight,  you can get a very nice result this view is the same as the previous view with the addition of one sunlight.  this view seems to work really well, you got the strong light coming in through the windows so you see it shining on the floor,   and you can see through the door to the outside.
I still have the same environmental lightning and I still have the same indirect lighting with one bounce.
This is my final image.

With Vectorworks 2012 you can set this up as a Renderworks style and use it on every project.  
Here are the settings I have used  for the options.
 
These are my quality settings.

These are my lighting settings.

And these are the settings  I have used for the background

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