Sky color reflections and visibility

[Jeremy Allen]

I want to have a sky in my scene that has a gradient from a very dark blue to lighter blue at the top. I also want to have an image in the luminance channel for reflections on my object. But here’s the catch, I don’t want the sky “lights” (luminance) to be visible in the scene, only in the reflections.

This is what I’ve tried so far:

2 skies, one with the gradient and the other with the luminance. The luminance sky has a compositing tag with “seen by camera” unchecked, but it doesn’t work.

I’ve also tried to use a simple background object for the gradient, but it doesn’t behave the same way a sky does. I want the gradient to stay consistent with the horizon, but the background moves in relation to the camera.

Actually I’ve tried several random setups but can’t seem to get it.. Is there any way to use a sky for the atmosphere color and reflections without seeing those “lights” in the scene?

P.S. I know I could use the environment channel for reflections, but then i have to modify all my materials, and I don’t like the way it works compared to true reflections.

Thanks for any help on this!

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8core MacPro, 3.0 GHZ, 10GB RAM, OSX 10.5.6

C4D 11.5
AE CS3
FCP 6.0.1

[Adam Trachtenberg]

Put a compositing tag on your gradient sky object and uncheck “seen by reflections”.

[Jeremy Allen]

You sir, are the man! I think that’s about the only option I didn’t try.. For some reason I just didn’t think it would make that difference, but it did.

Can I just hire you to answer all my C4D questions? Thanks for your time and sharing your knowledge. One day I hope to learn this program well enough to help others like you do.

———————————————
8core MacPro, 3.0 GHZ, 10GB RAM, OSX 10.5.6

C4D 11.5
AE CS3
FCP 6.0.1

[Adam Trachtenberg]

No worries, man. That’s how I learned this stuff myself — asking questions on forums! And I probably learn more answering them. 😉