Go to your Rendering > Environment dialog and click on "None" in the map slot. This ldr image will usually be a tonemapped version of the hdr image, but with higher resolution. Instead, we can use a larger low dynamic range (ldr) image such as a. This would consume a large amount of your computer's resources, and slow down the rendering process. However, in order for the background map to look decent, you would need to use a very large hdr image. We could simply drag an instance of the HDR image from the material editor into the Environment Map slot of the Environment dialog. Now, if you do a quick test render you will see that your model is nicely lit, but that the background is still your default Max environment color. The setting of 2.2 is the typical correction used for viewing these images in monitor color space. If your image appears incorrect, then its gamma has not been pre-adjusted for viewing on monitors. Depending on the method of image capture, some images will look fine at the default 1.0 gamma setting, while others will look dark and oversaturated. The next item to address is the Gamma setting. The first thing you will need to do if using the Rectilinear/Spherical style HDRI map employed by HDR Mill is to select the Spherical environment map type. Now you will see a thumbnail of your HDRI map, as well as a number of new parameters to work with. Click on the Browse button for your new map, and navigate to the HDR image that you would like to use. Drag from one of these two map slots to an empty material slot in the material editor. Now, in order for us to be able to manipulate this map, we will need an instance of it in the Material Editor. Drag an instance of this map to the Reflection/refraction map slot beneath it. Click on None in the map slot for the GI Environment and select VRayHDRI as the map type. Turn on both the GI Environment override, and the Reflection/refraction Environment override.
The first thing we need to do is assign our HDRI to the GI Environment and Reflection/Refraction Environment Override slots: Now that the scene is prepared and the basic lighting parameters are set, we will finally start to work the the HDR image. Otherwise, the HDRI will not be able to contribute light. The key here is to make sure that you have turned on your GI. Then, change the GI settings as follows:įor test renders, you will want to set your Irrandiance Map preset to Medium and HSph. Then, under the Renderer tab in the Global Switches section, turn off "Default Lights". Next, we need to go to the Render Scene dialog and make sure that the VRay renderer is selected under the Assign Renderer rollout. In our case we used a dull grey to imitate the carrier flight deck. For this reason, it is a good idea to assign a material to the VRayPlane that is similar in color and reflectivity to the ground above which your model "appears" to sit in relation to its environment map or background plate. Although this object is invisible in your renderings, it will still reflect light. Do this if you need to, and then close the dialog. I occasionally reduce the Generate GI setting if the VRayPlane is reflecting too much light on the underside of my model. In order to make this primitive work for us, we will need to change a few settings:
Right-click on the VRay Plane and select V-Ray Properties. The plane resizes as you zoom in and out of the view, and always appears to be the same size. This visible object actually represents a plane that extends in all directions to infinity. Click near the origin in your viewport and you will see a small square plane with a vertical arrow at its center. Under the Create tab's Geometry section, choose VRay from the drop-down list. It will stretch to infinity when rendered, while only taking up a small amount of space in the viewport. The "VRayPlane" is the perfect primitive for this job. The next thing we need to do is create an invisible ground plane onto which our object's shadows can be cast, and from which our object can receive additional reflected light.
In our case we went to and downloaded a free model of an F-5E Tiger II (a model from the collection - a great resource). First, create or import the model that you would like to render. However, I will be writing tutorials in the future regarding the use of HDRIs with all the major rendering engines. Although Mental Ray, Brazil, and finalRender all support rendering with HDRIs, I have found V-Ray to be the most intuitive and manageable. For most of my rendering work, I use 3ds max 8 and V-Ray 1.5.