Hello,
First of all, thank you for the great work on D5 Render. It’s a fast, smooth, and very enjoyable rendering software to use.
However, I’d like to suggest several improvements that could significantly enhance the quality of the renders and offer more flexibility for users:
**1. Improvements in the Sun and Sky system
There’s currently no clear separation between lighting and visual aspects of the sky. I suggest the following improvements within the Sun and Sky settings:
- Add a control for sky intensity that directly affects lighting, in order to soften harsh shadows and lift dark areas.
- Add an independent control for the visual appearance of the sky background (without affecting scene lighting),
- Add a control for the sun’s range (falloff or influence distance), to better adjust light diffusion and smoothness of shadows.
Even with post-processing, renders often remain too contrasty or even overexposed in some areas, and it becomes nearly impossible to balance shadows properly without degrading the overall image quality.
These lighting controls, commonly found in other rendering engines, would allow for more creative and realistic lighting setups without compromising visual control.
**2. Material improvements
- Allow blending of at least two textures per channel using basic blend modes (Multiply, Overlay, etc.),
- Add an independent tiling controls per channel (diffuse, normal, roughness, etc.),
- Enable different timing per texture channel, to allow more complex animated materials.
These changes would offer much greater flexibility when building complex and dynamic materials, especially for animated scenes.
**3. Bug fix request
- Fix the scatter issue along the Y-axis when overlapping faces are used. This can cause visual errors in vegetation and natural assets and should be addressed for more reliable results.
I understand that development must balance simplicity, performance, and features, but these additions would have a huge impact on realism and workflow efficiency, especially for professional users.
Thank you for considering these suggestions.
Best regards,
Renaud