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can you give me a basic definition of what a HDRI is?

ToobisToobis Posts: 992
in The Commons

I see this term on a lot of lighting products to do with Iray. What does it mean and what is it please. I am just curious what the term is referring to.

Comments

  • FishtalesFishtales Posts: 6,216

    It is, usually, a 360º image with a dynamic range from black to white that is used in the Iray Dome to give Ambient light. It can also be an image which will give a background for any scene. They are generally not used in enclosed scenes unless there is open spaces in the walls or ceiling to let the light in.

  • Matt_CastleMatt_Castle Posts: 3,034
    edited May 2019

    "High Dynamic Range Image"

    It's an image format that can store a much wider range of brightness values accurately; in standard image formats, areas will often be overexposed - if the sun or some other bright light is in the background, you want to overexpose that rather than lose contrast in the rest of the image.

    Because it can accurately and precisely store a very wide range of lighting levels between "pitch black cave" and "sun at high noon" without clipping, it contains enough information that it's possible to use  a 360 degree HDRI panorama as a dome around the scene to provide a lighting reference (which is the normal context it's used in here). 

    Post edited by Matt_Castle on
  • ToobisToobis Posts: 992

    K thanks guys I think I have an idea now.

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