HDRI generator?

R

rcraighead

0
HDRI generator?

Is anyone familiar with HDR Light Studio?

I am struggling to customize HDRI lighting for rendering jewelry and the above product sounds interesting. Just wondered if there are other products that can streamline the process.
 
HDRI Light Studio seems to me like a brilliant idea. The math is fairly straightforward (point at a pixel on the screen and it can figure out where a light would need to be to have a reflection there).

Obviously, the application doesn't provide C3D integration which presumably makes working with C3D a little less straighforward.
 
frank beckmann said:
Did you ever consider painting one for free yourself? You can connect whatever works to the HDRI-tag - even an image painted inside Cheetah3d.. This is just a quick hack - but you might get the idea. ;)

Cheers
Frank
Click to expand...

Frank, Yes, and I've been doing that. I'm finding though, that is a tedious task, editing the HDR then re-rending to check the results. This app creates more accurate HDR files and has a built-in renderer to evaluate the results "real-time".

If I can find something to make my work easier/faster/better, I'm all for it.

I just viewed your video on painting the HDRI within C3D. Thank you. I'll give it a try.
 
Last edited:
frank beckmann said:
Did you ever consider painting one for free yourself? .... This is just a quick hack - but you might get the idea.
Click to expand...

Pretty Brilliant idea Frank - I've spent some time making my own in Photoshop, with some trial and error - but this hack is GREAT for not leaving the world of Cheetah - I'm sure with some practice a person could get pretty familiar with what works - will have to experiment - awesome tip :icon_thumbup: :icon_thumbup:
 
I've created HDRIs using Cheetah (and indeed I provide a tutorial on this topic), but there are a lot of problems with C3D's pipeline that make it more difficult than it should be and it's not very interactive (the idea of clicking on an object in a scene and having a light painted in the right spot to put a reflection there is pretty awesome.
 
I wonder what it would take to bring this capability to C3D?
Click to expand...

In essence this involves (1) HDRI editing, which is not especially complex technically, but I'm not sure how much help you get from the Core Image, and since C3D is primarily a 3d program, I'm not sure Martin is going to dedicate a bunch of effort to it, and (2) some fairly simple 3d transformations to figure out where on the HDRI to put a light based on a click in the viewport.

What might be fairly easy for Martin to add would be the ability to "mark" the loaded HDRI with the point corresponding to the place you click. You could then use an external image editor (i.e. Photoshop, since I don't think anything else out there is much use) to insert/modify the lights.

If dealing with HDRI pixels is relatively straightforward, and Martin feels it worthwhile to improve C3D's painting program for other reasons (e.g. sculpting), then it would add a lot of value to C3D to be able to do this kind of thing internally (and it would help differentiate C3D).

Another option would be to improve/fix C3D's internal lights (they do not appear correctly in reflections even with geometry switched on because they're insufficiently bright) and allow C3D to insert its own lights (or place a selected light) in the right spot (relative to the view focus) to produce a reflection on the surface you click on. That might actually be even better than what HDRI Studio does.

But here's something you've inspired — reflect-o-matic.

A more advanced version of this script could actually generate a plane, an emissive material, and so forth all in the right place to generate a reflection, and tweakable to your heart's content.
 
I was referring to the possibility that HDR Light Studio might support Cheetah3D with a plugin. I suppose C3D does not have the installed base to justify that.

I will try to understand the new script you are developing, podperson. What is "straightforward" may seem daunting for this newbee. :redface:
 
Assuming you get the latest version of my script (which actually works...) and install it , you can simply pick a mesh, go into face/polygon mode, select some polygons, fire up the tool and click the button and you will get reflections on the picked faces.

By default, area lights (pointed at the target polygons, in exactly the right spot) are created, but you can have planes instead (which if given a powerful emission map work MUCH better than lights with geometry turned on). You can adjust the size of the reflections by moving or scaling the lights (because they're pointed at the target, you can move the light along its y-axis).

I may make a short video (it really is ridiculously easy).
 
Update

Thought I'd update this thread with my experience with HDR Light Studio 4.

I finally broke down and purchased it after wasting HOURS of time, on a paying job, trying to fine-tune HDR files for illumination. HDR Light Studio (LS) was the answer for me. LS comes with several plugins for high-end 3D apps. Saddly, Cheetah3D is not one of them. However, it also has it's own rendering interface that accepts several formats. Collada (.dae) was the best choice because it retains the active camera. I can tweak the HDR in realtime. When I'm happy with it I simply save a lowres HDR or EXR and test it in Cheetah3D. Once I'm satisfied, I export the full-res HDR and I'm done. For me, it was well worth the $400.

I realize this could be done directly in Cheetah3D, but time is money and I find the investment was worth it.


Screenshot%202014-12-29%2014.59.13.png
 
rcraighead said:
Thought I'd update this thread with my experience with HDR Light Studio 4.

I finally broke down and purchased it after wasting HOURS of time, on a paying job, trying to fine-tune HDR files for illumination. HDR Light Studio (LS) was the answer for me. LS comes with several plugins for high-end 3D apps. Saddly, Cheetah3D is not one of them. However, it also has it's own rendering interface that accepts several formats. Collada (.dae) was the best choice because it retains the active camera. I can tweak the HDR in realtime. When I'm happy with it I simply save a lowres HDR or EXR and test it in Cheetah3D. Once I'm satisfied, I export the full-res HDR and I'm done. For me, it was well worth the $400.

I realize this could be done directly in Cheetah3D, but time is money and I find the investment was worth it.
Click to expand...

Hi Rcraighead.

Now, a year and a half later, are you working with HDR Light Studio 5? Do you still recommend it?

I keep coming back to this thread and contemplating that software - but its become more expensive (maybe too expensive)

Any updates?

--shift studio.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top