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Any questions, hints or suggestions

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Any questions, hints or suggestions // HDRI

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Post by noko // Sep 21, 2006, 2:36pm

noko
Total Posts: 684
Cool!

If you guys/gals have any questions, hints or suggestions on HDRI course please let me know. I am hoping to add more to it in the near future.

Post by Wigand // Oct 28, 2006, 6:37am

Wigand
Total Posts: 462
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I viewed the HDRI course. But now I looked for the option to show

a HDRI picture as a player-background. I find that you use

a 'VC HDRI Viewer'. Where do I find this viewer. Is it as standard

is it anywhere in the libraries, or only in the course sceenes?

Post by trueBlue // Oct 28, 2006, 6:43am

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Total Posts: 1761
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Most likely in the Resources
http://www.caligari.com/products/trueSpace/ts5/Courses/newHDRI_LW.asp?Cate=Training&SubCate=Master (http://www.caligari.com/products/trueSpace/ts5/Courses/newHDRI_LW.asp?Cate=Training&SubCate=Master)

Post by Wigand // Oct 28, 2006, 6:51am

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Total Posts: 462
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Thank you trueBlue. I have the resourses already. But how can I load

the viewer in my own projects, and is there an other kind of viewer (not only the vertical cross viewer)?

Post by trueBlue // Oct 28, 2006, 6:56am

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Total Posts: 1761
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I do not have the course yet, so I am not really sure. I would think that you could open the scene that has that viewer and then copy it to your library from the Link Editor.

Post by noko // Dec 17, 2006, 4:31am

noko
Total Posts: 684
Yes viewer is in course resource files and there are two of them, panoramic viewer which has many more options and the vertical cross viewer. I like using the panoramic viewer better and loading large HDRI's. Using the panoramic viewer to position objects, camera etc. in scene for modeler and using vertical cross HDRI for rendering (if same HDRI image location will give same results) works good.

Post by Nez // Sep 25, 2008, 5:54am

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Total Posts: 1102
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Noko - was it you who put this course together?

I've been watching it over my lunchbreaks the last few days and found it very clear and useful. I still don't have a fully working verison of 7.6 so I can't try everything out (no working Workspace side as yet) but am starting to tinkler with HDRI lights on the Model side.


The main things I wanted to clarify, having wacthed the course are:

I assume that the hdri 'environment' is effectively fixed in place in the 'world' and can't be rotated (in the way you could rotate an IBL for example) and therefore and dominant shadowing (say if the HDRI contains a sun) will always be cast in a certain direction relative to the world-space. Therefore if I want my shadows to appear in a certain direction, I need to orient my scene/objects/viewpoint accordingly?


Materials: it was touched on that specularity should be used carefully in the materials but could you share some 'basic' material settings (primarily reflectance!) that work well in hdri - e.g. good plastic settings, good metal setting, good glass setting, ceramic, etc. Half a dozen reasonable materials to start from would be a big help as obviously the materials don't work quite the same as in a non-hdri LW context...


Thanks a lot.

Post by noko // Sep 28, 2008, 2:41pm

noko
Total Posts: 684
Yes, back in the 7.0 era so the modeler toolbars look different compared to now but everything important is still the same. Great hearing you are finding it useful. The good thing with 7.6 is it is very similar to tS5.2 from the modeler standpoint but with the added benefit of Lightworks 7.4 engine.


Reflections with HDRI are controlled by two main factors, the objects surrounding the rendered object and the HDRI background intensity. So HDRI reflections can be made stronger or weaker by the HDRI background intensity. You can find track guide scene in the course materials for a reference plus some scene material settings.


To get glossy type or blurry reflections from the HDRI, increase the Sampling angle. The problem with that is the HDRI image and reflections will be blurred while scene objects reflected will not be. So maybe balance between what you need. Even if HDRI background is not shown, it will still reflect, depending upon settings in the material.


A better way to get glossy type reflections on materials is to use a bumpmap or normal map. This can create some very nice tarnished or not so reflective type materials. You can see this sorta on introductory video with track guide object. Increasing the bumpiness more would even make it less shinny but glossy.


Yes, the HDRI environment is fixed in place and not moveable. Best way to understand the enviroment is to use HDRI Pano viewer hooked up to the course camera, it will duplicate how your scene will be with the HDRI position. Now this tool uses the advances in WS to show this. You will be able to take advantage of HDRI lighting and reflections since you will see better how to position things hopefully.


As for material settings? This is a hard one, each environment can make the same material look stunningly different. For me it was more experimentation then anything else.


I hope this helps a little. Any other questions please let me know. Especially if you run across problems which maybe caused by version 7.0 objects to version 7.6.
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