Day/Night Cycle Environment Lighting with Arnold Render

[Dennis_Rosenau]

I try to achieve a Day Night Cycle for an Environment, but I don't know what would be the best way to do this.

1. I would have used the Physical Sky from Arnold to set the sun angle etc, but then I also need an HDR for reflections. But the reflections would change over time so how could i do that?
2. Also cloud movement would be kinda cool. Should I do this in Nuke (How?) or with actual dynamics in Maya?
3. And what things should I consider in Comp when doing this type of lighting? 4 Gradings for sunset, midday,afternoon and night and then blend them over each other?
4. And one Last question, how would you light the scene at night. I have a Street with houses so of course the typical things like lanterns and interior lights go on, but how can I set up the moon light correctly?

[lee_griggs]

1. The Physical Sky appears in reflections and can be animated.

2. You could use a volume ( tutorial) or Maya fluids ( tutorial).

3. You could animate the Elevation of the Physical sky to night time.

4. You could use a disk light or a directional light and change the color temperature to a cool color.

[Dennis_Rosenau]

Thank you very much vor your answer Lee:) This will help. I just wasn't sure if the physical sky would be the right choose but it seems so.