HDRI Environment Components
Been reading a lot of things about using HDRIs to light scenes and I've got a few questions.
I've downloaded a few zips from one of the old threads in here (wasn't sure if I should jump onto that thread with my questions, sorry if that's what I should have done).
Most of the zips contain a few components for the environment and I think I've worked out what most of them are for...
ibl file, think I read that it's an automation file for settings and not used in Daz.
Two small jpgs, preview and thumbnail.
A 4k/8k jpg to be used as a high res background, which would go in the 'Environment' tab as a 'backdrop'.
A low res blurry hdr file, for lighting, which goes in the 'Render Settings' tab as an 'Environment Map'.
A high res hdr file, "specular component for reflection", where do I go to put this into effect?
When I click to choose an 'Environment Map', it displays a long list of what looks like all the maps in use in the scene so far (clothes, arms, eyelashes, etc). Is there a way to set this to default to where I actually keep my 'Environment Maps'?
I'm not sure what use those other maps would be for lighting, or have I got something setup wrong that's causing all these 'in use' maps to display in the list rather than actual enviroment maps? I'm sure I watched a video where they clicked on it and it only showed a small list comprised of files that sounded like environment maps rather than all that junk.
And I keep seeing these reflective spheres on lots of the hdr downloads pages.
I know that environment maps are spherical panoramas, is this just a cool looking reverse-projection of the hdr panorama or are these another kind of environment map that I need to read up on?
Thanks
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And how on Earth do I change the background's projection? Obviously these images are equirectangular projections but as we're working in a 3D space I'd have thought it would be possible to drop my scene/character in the centre and rotate around to change the visual backdrop to use part of the sphere.
At the moment I can see the entire background image all the time, obviously with heavy distortion at the zenith and nadir.
How do I project the backdrop as a spherical panorama so I can rotate it and have different parts visible and not see it all warped at the top and bottom.
I've tried the image editor 'standard' vs 'long/lat' and it doesn't seem to do anything.
It sounds like you are looking at the sIBL packs. While they are a great resource, they are actually designed to work with biased renderers like 3Delight, where you can setup multiple Environment domes and specify the sort of lighting for each, like "Specular Only".
With Iray we currently have only a single Environment Dome, which leaves us with no choice but to use the Hi-Res HDR and compensate for the other HDRs and the 'Sun light' that we can't load.
You've got it, that's lovely, thank you!
I've just dropped the high res hdr file into the environment map slot and now the background rotates, doesn't warped top/bottom all messy, and lights things as 'real world', exactly what I was trying to do.
Is there a good tutorial that you know of so that I can learn what all the other options in the dome do?
Thank you.
Try this.
http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/software/dazstudio/4/referenceguide/interface/panes/render_settings/engine/nvidia_iray/environment/start
Ok, I've had a play with this dome + hdri and I have another question...
I bought this Ruins preset in the sales https://www.daz3d.com/ancient-ruins
It has all the props and a iray light/render preset (sun-sky only).
What I want to create (or least begin to learn how to attempt to create) is what you can see in the promo images for the Ruins product above.
I know that these were created by people that know what they're doing and I don't. At all. But I don't seem to be able to even begin getting any kind of useable background in there. So which of the options below, if any of them, should I be trying to achieve this? There must be a starting point because I'm just floundering around in the options like a blind man.
1. The light/render preset. Gives nice lighting over the scene but there's a grey nothingness as a distant background.
2. Enable 'draw dome'. I get a featureless boring blue sky with a solid grey nothingness below the horizon.
3. Equirectangular image as a backdrop in the environment tab. Then we're back to square one with a messy weird perspective warped image.
4. Change 'sun-sky only' to 'dome'. Then I can put in one of the equirectangular hdr environment maps I've downloaded in and I'll have a background. But does this then disable the lighting from sun-sky or work with it? It doesn't look like an enviroment map / backdrop came with this package. I've tried using some of the small blurry environment files but they're too blurry as a background and it looks terrible. I've tried the large hdr files too and they don't 'feel' like they're 'in the background', they seem too close and in-focus, it's very obviously not part of the scene and also looks rubbish.
Or would those promo images not have used any of these methods, are they not even using real photographs as part of the background, are they rendered backgrounds from a 'background pack' or rendered with something like Terradome3 or Skydome? I'm happy to buy some more stuff if that's what I'm missing, I just don't know what it is that I need and haven't got at the moment.
Not only am I totally lost in the background settings, I don't seem to even have one to get lost in at all.
Thanks Fishtales, I've bookmarked it now to have a read through (not sure how I missed it), there's quite a lot in there. I'm thinking that 'Environment Lighting Blur' might solve a few problems.
Can you have a quick look at the promo images on the Ruins product, linked in my previous post, and maybe suggest what method they might have used to create/implement the distant background(s)? Any basic advice is appreciated. Does it look like a high res hdr environment map in a finite sphere with an environment lighting blur applied? Or one of the terrain generators? Or does it look like it's some fancy custom thing that been done outside of Daz?
Hi friend, according to what I see in the promo images, I see sky and mountain background. I do not know exactly what was used to create, or no screenshots of what you are trying to achieve, but I can suggest ways of replicating background. .
2 ways you can create the background in 3DL or Iray. Flipmode environments works wonderful. Browse through his skydomes.
https://www.daz3d.com/high-peaks-skydome-and-hdri
Another way is Iray world
https://www.daz3d.com/iray-worlds-skydome
It looks like an HDRI in the Environment Map and Draw Dome on.
I'm really just trying to replicate the promo images to help me learn the features and options.
Thank you very much, I will look at both of these.
Thank you Fishtales, that's what I'm trying out at the moment. Lots and lots of environment maps. So many that my HDD is creaking at the moment :)
If I use the light/render preset that came with the Ruins props, which is sun-sky only (no environment map), and then I put in my own environment map in (downloaded from a free website), is there a way to have the environment map function only as the sphere's background and not influence the lighting?
It has to go onto the dome and not in as a 'backdrop' though, backdrop warps at the top and bottom when dome doesn't. I'm just wondering if there's an option to have the hdr on the dome ONLY for the background rather than the light. Because I like the light preset that came with it.
When an HDRI is put in the Environment Map it shuts off the Sun and Sky as it will then be used for the lighting. If there is an ordinary .jpg file of the HDRI, not a projection image, then it can be used as a backdrop and will allow use of Sun and Sky. Another way is to load a Skydome and put the HDRI on that but to then getting it to work takes a bit of effort as using it straight from the box blocks all outside light, like a roof.
Some of that is discussed here.
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/66483/iray-environment-map-and-environment-intensity-sliders-what-s-the-difference/p1
Another way is to use the HDRI in the Environment Map and then use a Distant Light for the sun and place it where it matches the direction of the original Sun and Sky.
I'll have a play with each of the options and see what I can do. Thank you for the info and link.