Please Explain this HDRI Product
Fauvist
Posts: 2,288
I don't understand what you are getting when you buy this product (or a product like it) https://www.daz3d.com/summer-light-for-iray
The description says this: "In this light package I created 6 HDRI for your Iray renders and 8 amazing light for your scenes so you will have many combinations"
6 HDRI and 8 lights? I thought the HDRI were lights. Or are the images and the lights two different things? Is it 6 photographic images and 8 lights? If so, can the lights be used with any/all of the images? Is it actually 8 lights, or 8 sets of lights?
Are the things in the exaple images, such as the swimming pool and pool stuff, or the volleyball net - part of the HDRI?
Thanks!
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I would say the "lights" are to be used as fill lights for close-up renders in combination with the HDRIs. You can see the problem with this on the main product image with her left upper arm lit from more than one direction. Much like in lots of films where people cast two ground shadows. It kind of defeats the idea of HDRI lighting. The props aren't inclided in the product, just the lights.
Sort of.... The HDRI's are like light domes in 3Delight; they maily produse a diffuse light with more intense light at different angles. The lights are more conventionl iRay lights perfect for brightning the face, a glancing light, etc. The HDRI's load transparent. I believe the artist normally uses a backdrop, environment color etc...; if you render the HDRI, it tends to be some diffuse abstract. I wanted to compare it to Painter's Lights with render settings for different environments and highlight lights. None of the products in back are included. Her lights definitely have a unique and bright look are are well worth having a few in your content library. They are often used in promos.
I think your confusion comes from the lack of adequate description, and the growing number of HDRI products that provide for both a full lighting environment AND a reproducible image -- look at MEC4D's HDRI's for example. It's hard to say what you're getting in this package, as all the HDRI lighting examples are shown with a background. (Obviously the pool isn't included, but the skyline and other imagry?) The purpose of the separate light fixtures is probably for fill, as HDRIs for bright outdoor scenes can have hard shadows.
Rather than guessing, or buying it and returning if it's not suitable, you might try contacting the PA in the Commercial Products forum, where there may already be a posting about it.
Is the HDRI the lights? Or is it the background image? Is this product like a skydome with a photograph pasted inside?
HDRIs can light and can be used with or without it showing as background.
From what I understand it's kind of both. It's a background that is it's own light source.
If you want to experement with some HDRIs before comitting to buying a product there are a few sites that have free HDRIs. Just Google "Free High Res HDRI" or "Free 8K HDRI" etc.
This is from a similar set (HDRI maps for ambient light and separate lights) by the same PA. I chose the first and last maps and first and last lights. The background is transparent though it is black in my illustration. The Top image is the ambient glow of the first HDRI with out any lights and the others are combinations of HDRI's and lights. The first question is why would you want to render a transparent background? First, you may want to render a scene that is inside so the skydome makes no contribution. Second, you make want to composite with either the Enviroment Pane, a billboard (an example) or Photoshop. The HDRI in this case is a bland set of geometric figures but can be rendered.
I thought I give you an idea of what the combination looks like when everything is visualized. I rendered only for two minutes.
Thank you. These explainations and examples are very helpful. When you buy a product like this - are the lights that add the fill lighting in a set place, already set up? Or do you have to arrange the lights yourself? And - are the render settings set automatically by the product?
Thanks!
The lights are already set up and the render settings are set. Think of Painter's Lights if you opt not to show the background. The environmental HDRI's (like MEC4D's) where there is some background scene are useful in a different way; you want a specific background with a very specific light though i even use fill lights for these like:
While it's true the lights may already be positioned and adjusted, they are set for scenes, characters, and cameras facing a certain way. As you might expect, as you move objects around the scene the effects of the lighting will change. Front fill becomes back light, for example, if the camera is facing the other way.
The usual way to deal with this is to parent the lights and cameras, so you can move them as a unit around your scene. But this won't work with HDRIs, as the Iray Environment Dome is not a scene element. It's part of the Iray render engine, and doesn't show up in the Scene list.
While you can rotate the dome (there's a setting for that in the Environment tab) you might find it easier to place all your characters and scene pieces into a new Group, and then rotate that group. Everything in the gorup will move together. Keep the camera, light(s), and dome where they are.