how do you light up an Iray preset scene to work on it?

Drekkan

When I load up an Iray preset indoors scene the scene is so dark I cannot see anything to be able to work on it. Is there a simple way to have the place fully lit up so you can do your render setups then revert back to the default preload lighting when you are finished?

Sevrin

By default, the scene has "Preview Lights" on.  If the lights are emissive or just an HDRI, then the scene won't be lit in texture shaded mode.  If you turn preview lights off, by hitting Ctrl+L, then you'll be able to see what you're doing in texture shaded.

Drekkan

oh yeh that fixed it. Thankyou :)

3Diva

I don't know if this is the "right way" or even if it's an "easier way" or not, but I usually just load a new camera and turn the headlamp ON, then use that camera to navigate around the scene. With the headlamp on it lights everything enough to be able to see what you're doing to setup the scene. Then when it's time to render, switch back to the main camera. You could also try changing the preview Draw Style to something else like Wireframe or Lit Wireframe.