Making of a Night Scene with HDRI (or A Sky Bitmap)

UPDATE:
For those who are having a hardtime with HDRI. You may substitute it with a sky bitmap.

Hi guys. I made a night scene tutorial based on my work-flow from my latest project. During my test renders, I found out that HDRI is a very powerful tool. I would like to share to you the product of my simple experiment. First we need to download an HDRI image of a sunset.

Here I used the Barcelona Rooftops

from >>> http://www.hdrlabs.com/sibl/archive.html

that was shared to us Nomeradona under free stuff section. I suggest you download it first before we start.

Next is we set up our scene. No lights yet, and just use your basic vray settings. I also found out that most of our settings for exterior will work.

Hit render and you will see something like this... A basic scene render.



Now we just add the VrayHDRI to the Environment Override on your vray settings.



Another VrayHDRI to your Background slot (type 8)



We will get something like this. Notice that the color of the scene has changed, this is due to the effect of the HDRI image to the scene. We can now feel the mood or the ambience.



Then we add lights, both fill lights and spotlights using vraylight (sphere) and IES light with web information of (ies-nice or 02).



And we have this now... almost done.



And finally, Add trees, cars, etc to complete the scene. Adjust in photoshop the colors or any mood you want to achieve.



I hope you like it! Enjoy creating your very own night scenes!

thanks po sir bokkins..laking tulong po ito...

wow ang bilis nyan sir bokks thanks for sharing.

Thanks sa pag-appreciate mga bro. I'm glad you like it.

Actually bokks, whatever image map (HDRI, plain 8 bit or 24 images, colors or 3dsmax maps) you put in the Environment slot, it will be automatically used as the GI source of illumination and reflections. That means no need to put the same in the Overrides. You only use the overrides if you want to use a different image or simply want to change the orientation or exposure of either maps separately from that of the GI image-based lighting source.

Also for Image based Lighting (use of HDRIs for GI), you don't really need them big and detailed as they will be blurred and interpolated anyways. You can always use a small (256 pix) and blurred version of the same HDRI map used as a reflection override (if there's any). By doing so, you save some memory for the other operations. Of course, if you need this to reflect - the bigger version could reside in the Reflection Overrides.

Since the topic is lighting with HDRI, it is not really beholden to GI. You can also map a vray dome light and use it to light the scene with acceptable results. Sometimes, you can get away with a non-secondary bounce look which some might think as prerequisite to photorealism work. Nay.

lab it mga sir.. just absorbing your ideas..

v_wrangler wrote:Actually bokks, whatever image map (HDRI, plain 8 bit or 24 images, colors or 3dsmax maps) you put in the Environment slot, it will be automatically used as the GI source of illumination and reflections. That means no need to put the same in the Overrides. You only use the overrides if you want to use a different image or simply want to change the orientation or exposure of either maps separately from that of the GI image-based lighting source.

Also for Image based Lighting (use of HDRIs for GI), you don't really need them big and detailed as they will be blurred and interpolated anyways. You can always use a small (256 pix) and blurred version of the same HDRI map used as a reflection override (if there's any). By doing so, you save some memory for the other operations. Of course, if you need this to reflect - the bigger version could reside in the Reflection Overrides.

Since the topic is lighting with HDRI, it is not really beholden to GI. You can also map a vray dome light and use it to light the scene with acceptable results. Sometimes, you can get away with a non-secondary bounce look which some might think as prerequisite to photorealism work. Nay.

Thanks V. I actually encountered that, but I can't get my desired result. 256(blurred) hdri on environment is ok, but that would be another slot to fill in my materials editor while I already have the hi res version that I used for my reflection that I could already use for my environment. that would save me very small time but is still a savings in theory. Also, I like to use the HDRI simply because I am able to rotate it to my desired position. I admit it's a memory eater but I'm loving the results. It's quite fast too. 10mins ++ at 720px, altho I havent tried it with a larger render. Thanks V for the insight. I'm still finding solutions and this discussion is really good.

What I would also like to add is that you can control the exposure with hdri the easy way. It just so happened that I am not able to explain that feature kasi maganda na yung exposure ng nakuha kong HDRI from the net. plus minus on the render multiplier will give different results quickly. so it's an advantages I guess.

sir bokkinbs, wat site po ba..makakuha ng free hdri??

dito bro. >>> http://www.hdrlabs.com/sibl/archive.html

nice tuts sir bokkins....

Thanks bro! Glad you like it.

brow laking 2long to, salamat!

thanks bokks galing . malaking tulong to.

thanks sir.

nice one sir,, bali pinapraktis ko dn po mag lagay ng hdri sa environment,, matanong ko lang kung panu i adjust ung brightness nung sky?

thank you sir bokkins.. dagdag kaalaman na naman to sa amin.

nice tutorial sir,,boks,,actually it is very useful and ready to use,,,diko pa kasi timplado gaano pagamit ng may dome or may concaved na bg na may maps kay hdri din gamit ko,,,mabuhay ka sir

huwaw! salamat sa pgtulong sir

penzlake21 wrote:brow laking 2long to, salamat!

Thanks bro. you can also use basic maps as alternative to hdri.

nomeradona wrote:thanks bokks galing . malaking tulong to.

Thanks bro. kaso di ko kabisado ang para sa SU. Ikaw na bahala dun ha. hehe

Zoro_Architecture wrote:thanks sir.

Thanks din bro.

archie.l wrote:nice one sir,, bali pinapraktis ko dn po mag lagay ng hdri sa environment,, matanong ko lang kung panu i adjust ung brightness nung sky?

Thanks bro. Bale increase mo lang ang Render mult sa HDRI settings para lumiwanag ang HDRI at ang scene.

remlex wrote:thank you sir bokkins.. dagdag kaalaman na naman to sa amin.

Thanks bro!

Muggz wrote:nice tutorial sir,,boks,,actually it is very useful and ready to use,,,diko pa kasi timplado gaano pagamit ng may dome or may concaved na bg na may maps kay hdri din gamit ko,,,mabuhay ka sir

Hindi ko pa natry ang dome, di ko ma-differentiate pa ang dalawa, pro aralin ko din yan at icompare ko to. thanks!

DaryL Padua wrote:huwaw! salamat sa pgtulong sir

Thanks din bro.

nice one sir bokkins.....

jefferson01 wrote:nice one sir bokkins.....

Thanks Jeff! Punta ka bukas ha.

Salamat sa pagshare sir bokks.

thanks bro! will try this now!

thanks po sir bokkins...(.n_n.)Happy valentines day... hehehe