Quote - Hey guys sorry to divert off a bit. And probably in the wrong thread most likely.

Been using your vss a bit and this image in the link has pr3 object and the latest shaders (well latest I have anyway, Havn't had a lot of free time to get on.)  Number 4 I think.

This is the first time I have used the env sphere though with an image I got from a site listed on the page with envsphere. Once I put the sphere into play and removed all bar and infinite light set to about 50%. I lost a bit from the image. Mainly on the eyes. In the reflection. Just wondering if anyone point out the obvious that I cant quite see at the moment.

Thanks

 

Images that are high in dynamic range can be packaged in HDR format, but so can crappy LDR images. The truth is that most are not truly HDR. Many HDR enthusiasts fail to understand the actual dynamic range required to accurately record and replay environment lighting in an HDR image.

Consider this. Look directly at the sun and what happens to your eyes? That's right, you permanently burn them. This is because the direct viewing of the sun requires being able to handle as much as 1000 times more light than you get from looking at objects.

So - when somebody makes an HDR image by assembling a series of LDR images they do so by shooting them at different exposures. What is the maximum you hear people using? Sometimes you hear a knowledgable individual use +/- 5 stops. That's a range of doubling 10 times, or a ratio of 1024 to 1. That is a proper outdoor HDR image. Anything less and you will either lose the heat of the sun, or you lose shadow details.

What do most people do, particularly those who are making HDR images for fun and giving them away? They shoot for the shadow details and then maybe they go 4 stops above that for sun/sky detail (or +/- 2 stops around a middle value). That's only 16 to 1. Not even close to real, when you try to use that for computer graphics lighting data.

Further, the eye shader you're using may or may not have reflection in it. I can't remember what I've released in VSS. If it doesn't have relfection, then it isn't set up to show the environment as highlights, even if they are properly recorded.

My recollection is I did not set up eye reflections - at the time I had no idea how popular my environment sphere would become, nor did I expect people would actually trouble themselves to go get good HDR images. Maybe the one you are using is actually good, but the eye shader isn't set up to take advantage.

First we'd want to see how good the HDR is before we bother.

Render a sphere with no diffuse or specular on it - just a Reflect node with the reflection value set to something low, like 10%. If there is nothing reflected in that sphere that looks white hot, then you have a crap HDR. (Assuming it is outdoor) The sun, even at 10% of its intensity, should be bright white in a reflection.

 

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