What is a HDRI?
A HDRI (high dynamic range image) is a simple way of lighting computer-generated work. The image is applied to a sky sphere, and the data from the image is used to replicate a real-life lighting scenario. They can be the difference between work looking fake and looking realistic; they provide more natural shadows and create reflections in surfaces that look real. HDRIs are created by taking a lot of 360-degree photos in the same location, using different exposure levels. These are then compiled into one image which feeds the lighting data to the software and provides the natural lighting (Zaal, 2016). Creating my own HDRIs could be an option, however I don’t think they are hugely important for this project, as my pieces are being shown in an artificial environment anyway, and realism isn’t hugely important to me. I will be using free HDRIs that can be found on HDRI Haven, or the built-in ones from Cinema 4D.
HDRIs can produce fantastic lighting but it comes at a price, they use a huge amount of RAM and take significantly longer to render. (Zaal, 2016). I will have to experiment in my pieces with whether a HDRI is worth the increased render time, or whether I should continue with my current lighting set up that will be significantly quicker but possibly not as visually appealing.
Using a HDRI
I decided that I would like to experiment with HDRIs in my work, to see if they are better lighting options than the setup I have been using. It should’ve just been as simple as dragging and dropping the HDRI into the scene but I had some issues:
-When looking for the preset HDRI’s in Cinema 4D, the files were simply not there. For this reason, I had to create my own.
-When I followed the tutorial to create my own, for some reason they were not providing enough light.
I followed the tutorial below, but in the end, nothing was working so I decided to move on for the day and revisit this at a later date, as it will be easy to switch from artificial light to a HDRI in my pieces if I ever figure this out in future.
Bibliography
Lesterbanks. (2016). Create Your Own HDR Environments in C4D – Lesterbanks. [online] Available at: https://lesterbanks.com/2016/05/create-hdr-environments-c4d/ [Accessed 23 Nov. 2019].
Zaal, G. (2016). What Makes a Good HDRI and How to Use It Correctly – Adaptive Samples. [online] Adaptive Samples. Available at: http://blog.gregzaal.com/2016/02/23/what-makes-good-hdri/ [Accessed 23 Nov. 2019].
Jennie Hawkes 