Light linking for atmosphere?

[aaron_barreras]

Is there a way to get light linking to work with Atmosphere? If we use a volume object instead it works, but would prefer to use Atmosphere since it renders cleaner (less noise) than a volume object.

(this is a tangent question probable best suited for a separate post, but why does Atmosphere seem less noisy?)

[peter.horvath6V6K3]

Light linking is implemented for shapes, such as a volume, but it's not available in a shading context, such as the atmosphere. Don't think there's a way currently to link specific lights to an atmosphere.

Differences and limitations are based on the nature of the two methods (shader vs shape). We are planning to unify the two approaches for some time now, but it's probably not gonna happen in the short term.

[aaron_barreras]

Thanks for detailed response Peter! That does make sense as you've explained it, and it's good to know that it's something planned for the future.