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Query: how well do HDRI packs sell?

Oso3DOso3D Posts: 15,095
in The Commons

I was debating getting Terragen, since it can output EXRs with good lighting information... buuuuut I discovered that only the more expensive Professional version can.

So I realize I'm asking a question that vendors have a good reason to not want to divulge, but ... anyone know how well HDRI packs would sell?

Ish?

Comments

  • vwranglervwrangler Posts: 4,987

    You might want to send a PM to Dimension Theory to ask. I think, at the moment, he may be the only vendor making HDRI for Studio, and that way he wouldn't have to talk about his sales in public if he doesn't want to. A couple of others sell for Bryce and/or Carrara -- Horo and Brinnen, I think? -- but that's probably a more restricted market.

  • ToborTobor Posts: 2,300

    Spherical projection HDRi's are  a dime a dozen, with many of them free or low cost. You'd be competing against people who do this for a living and have thousands in camera gear and software to produce well-balanced images. What you see for sale in the Daz store is a puddle in a much larger sea of available CG assets. No matter how you approach this, you need to fully research the market and see what's already out there. Obviously HDRi's sell, because there are many sites doing so.

    I'd recommend you look to see what other vendors are NOT doing. For example, virtually no one is doing non-photographic HDRi's for toon renders, despite the popularity of toon characters and settings. People think, "why use a 'physically-based' renderer for toons," but they forget nearly every animated feature for the past decade have been made this way. The renderer is responsibily for the overall look. 

    I'm not saying this is what you need to build, but to succeed, you need to offer something others are not. What you need is software (it's not as expensive as this Terragen package) that turns flat images into spherical projections.

     

     

  • mjc1016mjc1016 Posts: 15,001
    Tobor said:

    I'd recommend you look to see what other vendors are NOT doing. For example, virtually no one is doing non-photographic HDRi's for toon renders, despite the popularity of toon characters and settings. People think, "why use a 'physically-based' renderer for toons," but they forget nearly every animated feature for the past decade have been made this way. The renderer is responsibily for the overall look. 

    Also, total seascapes, alien landscapes, extreme primordial landscapes and other 'unusual' locations are not widely represented in the wider marketplace.

  • KhoryKhory Posts: 3,854

    I'd love to see some "fantasy" but realistic HDRI's in the store. I think a certain level of realism would be key though.

  • tl155180tl155180 Posts: 994
    edited September 2015

    Yeah, Tobor and mjc1016 are right. There are a lot of HDRI out there that cover normal things like 'field', 'parking lot', 'beach' etc and many are free, so yours would have to be really high quality to stand out from the crowd. The best thing to do would be to try to hit a niche market. Seascapes and alien landscapes are good suggestions. Also HDRI skies of varying weather and time of day would be excellent (with no land involved) and would probably sell like hot-cakes in the Daz store given the faff of using skydomes with Iray. In fact, I'm surprised that no-one has released an Iray HDRI skies package yet, given the number of complaints in these forums about skydomes (I'm aware there are workarounds everyone - so lets not start that debate up again cheeky) (I'm also aware of the Skies of Economy package).

    Post edited by tl155180 on
  • cherpenbeckcherpenbeck Posts: 1,416

    What is a non-photographic HDR ? Never heard of that!

  • artd3Dartd3D Posts: 165

    You can create hdri with Vue Esprit ($200.00) with the export module ($150.00).

    It will export 360 degree hdr files of any scene you create. It will also export the atmosphere (sky)

    only as an hdri. 

  • KA1KA1 Posts: 1,012
    tl155180 said:

    Yeah, Tobor and mjc1016 are right. There are a lot of HDRI out there that cover normal things like 'field', 'parking lot', 'beach' etc and many are free, so yours would have to be really high quality to stand out from the crowd. The best thing to do would be to try to hit a niche market. Seascapes and alien landscapes are good suggestions. Also HDRI skies of varying weather and time of day would be excellent (with no land involved) and would probably sell like hot-cakes in the Daz store given the faff of using skydomes with Iray. In fact, I'm surprised that no-one has released an Iray HDRI skies package yet, given the number of complaints in these forums about skydomes (I'm aware there are workarounds everyone - so lets not start that debate up again cheeky) (I'm also aware of the Skies of Economy package).

    A HDRI sky only package would be epic!! I like the lighting for various scenes I get with DT s variety packs but only rarely use the backdrop element. If there was a pack with a range of skies with good quality light data like the DT HDRI packs I'd be all over it!!!
  • HavosHavos Posts: 5,614

    I would be interested in HRDIs that are just skys or very distant objects, like mountains, or a far away tree line. I find HRDI's with objects in the foreground or medium ground (say less than 20 metres away) just look awful. I have seen a number of iRay renders using indoor HDRI's and, to me at least, they look little better than pasting a 2D image as a background. Any near objects have to have real geometry to look good imho.

  • Oso3DOso3D Posts: 15,095

    Given how expensive Terragen is to produce HDRIs, and the cost of other options, I'm going a different way. ;)

    I finally figured out a reasonable way to turn stuff Carrara makes into good backdrops with sun, which I will be posting shortly.

  • tl155180tl155180 Posts: 994
    Havos said:

    I would be interested in HRDIs that are just skys or very distant objects, like mountains, or a far away tree line. I find HRDI's with objects in the foreground or medium ground (say less than 20 metres away) just look awful. I have seen a number of iRay renders using indoor HDRI's and, to me at least, they look little better than pasting a 2D image as a background. Any near objects have to have real geometry to look good imho.

    Yes, this idea would be great too. I also completely agree with everything you say Havos laugh.

  • mjc1016mjc1016 Posts: 15,001
    cherpenbeck said:

    What is a non-photographic HDR ? Never heard of that!

    A non-photographic HDRi is one that is a procedurally created scene in some sort of software (Terragen, for example).

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