Is there any benefit to using standard_surface emission over a mesh light?

[Anonymous]

I notice that mesh lights need less samples than standard_surface emission to look the same in a render. Is there any reason to use standard_surface emission?

[lee_griggs]

Easier to setup?

[peter.horvath6V6K3 · Accepted solution]

Could be some cases where the emission is more efficient, for instance when the emissive surface is a big part of the scene.

[ashley.handscomb.retallack]

Caustics: https://docs.arnoldrenderer.com/x/kgFeAg

[Anonymous]

Just tested it. Both mesh lights and standard surface emission can produce caustics but it seems that mesh lights produce severely muted caustics with considerably less detail. Not sure why. Thanks for telling me about this!