Skydome lighting

malcolmkarpeta_40f9af0b00

Hi team, I know there have been a lot of questionsabout this but I'm still fudged. I purchased Orestes Iray HDRI Skydomes - Angry Heavens but am having difficulties getting the lighting right (First time using Skydomes)

I am creating a zombie animation, zooming from inside a cabin to the exterior. Happy with the the interior using a mesh light but when panning to exterior I cannot get the lighting to work properly. I've tried adding spots and distance lighting and also increasing lighting intensity and resolution on the dome but it wipes out the clouds. The second image is okay but I'd rather have the cloud formations showing more. I have attached some renders as examples.

Any advice would be most appreciated, thank you

prixat

I think Spotlights are your best bet. I remember all those episodes of X-files filmed in the woods around Vancouver. The trees always had spotlights in them, operated by a team of specially trained squirrels (true story).

You should also be able to get a bit more out of the darker setups by experimenting with the tonemapping.

malcolmkarpeta_40f9af0b00

Many thanks Prixat, I've used Spotlights a lot so will play around some more.

I don't fuly understand Tonemapping, or at least what control does what but I'll look for a tutorial on it.

Agian, many thanks

Fishtales

I use my own settings for these as I sometimes find some too dark and some too light :) I also use a Distant Light with temperature set at 4500 to 6500 and lumens at 10,000 to 50,000. The low setting is good for Moonlight and the higher for summer sun. I also mix and match the settings to get the lighting that looks right. I then turn the HDRI to get the background I like and move the light to either where the light is coming from in the HDRI or in the opposite direction and lower the Lumen to get a more fill light rather than a full on light. I am a TIAS person ( Try It And See) :)

malcolmkarpeta_40f9af0b00

Hi Fishtales, I've been practicing with precisely that and it seems to be working

Many thanks

Fishtales

malcolmkarpeta_40f9af0b00 said:

Hi Fishtales, I've been practicing with precisely that and it seems to be working

Many thanks

You are welcome.