We have very importantly noted that one essential tool any serious lighter would do well to make available to himself/herself is a set (preferably an extensive one) of IES light profile files along with at least one IES viewer application. Certainly, the speed up these tools can give us in terms of lighting realism makes the time and effort given to getting them organized worthwhile.

Of course, the IES profiles by themselves would be of little use if we didn't know how to create and then work with the V-Ray IES Light type itself. Even though it is very similar in nature to other V-Ray light sources, we still explored a number of properties that make the IES light type quite unique. Not least of these was the ability to attach the aforementioned IES light profile to it, letting that control both the energy output and distribution pattern of our light source. This all of course adds up to an increased level of realism in our renders with very little (if any) extra cost in terms of the...