The environment nodes (Daylight, Texture, or Planetary) can be used as an environment for lighting and background when connected to the Environment pin on a Render Target node or just the background environment when connected to the Visible Environment pin on a Render Target node. This combination allows for separating the lighting environment from the visible background environment. If one of these environment nodes is connected to the Visible Environment pin on a Render Target node, this environment can be used for the background, reflections, and refractions in the scene. 


The Visible Environment overrides the Environment node's background, reflections, and refractions when any of the following parameters are activated in the Visible Environment node. 

  • Backplate - Uses the environment specified in the Visible Environment node as the background.
  • Reflections - Uses the environment specified in the Visible Environment node as the scene object reflections.
  • Refractions - Uses the environment specified in the Visible Environment node as the scene object refractions.

NOTE

The Backplate, Reflections, and Refractions checkboxes will not have any effect in an environment node connected to the Environment pin on a Render Target node. They are only relevant in an environment node that is connected to the Visible Environment pin on a Render Target node.


In figure 1, the top image is the Daylight Environment node connected to the Environment pin on a Render Target node. The middle image is a Texture Environment node (using an HDRI) connected to the Visible Environment pin on the same Render Target node along with the Backplate checkbox activated in the Visible Environment node. The bottom image has the Reflections and Refractions checkboxes activated in the Visible Environment node. This combination provides stronger shadows generated from the Daylight Environment node while the background, reflections, and refractions are generated from the Visible Environment node. 


Visible Environment Examples

Figure 1: Visible environment examples