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Outdoor scenes

rnollmanrnollman Posts: 310
in The Commons

I am looking for recommendations for tutorials to understand the different kinds of products for outdoor lighting. I also am looking for recommendations for easy-to-use programs to set up scenes for outdoor lighting. I want to be able to create different types of outdoor environments, such as a cloudy day, sunny day at noon, sunny day with afternoon shadows, night and so on. I specifically want to use 3D Universe Toon characters for children's book illustrations.

I found this product: Iray Sun-Sky System: https://www.daz3d.com/iray-sun-sky-system. I would appreciate any experiences that people might have had with this product.

Are there others like it that are better?

 

 

Comments

  • FSMCDesignsFSMCDesigns Posts: 12,776
    Best bet is to use an HDRI in my experience.
  • Blando CalrissianBlando Calrissian Posts: 566

    There's a couple of sites that offer free HDRIs for download, encompassing all sorts of lighting,environmental conditions. If you're looking for a light source only (and not background to match your scene), this is the cheapest and easiest way to go.

  • rnollmanrnollman Posts: 310

    Can you recommend some actual products?

  • Blando CalrissianBlando Calrissian Posts: 566

    rnollman said:

    Can you recommend some actual products?

    In general? Poly Haven (formerly HDRI Haven) is a wonderful place to start: https://polyhaven.com

    As for products in the Daz Store, DimensionTheory has some very useful products that I would characterize as "HDRI-Plus," in that they combine the nice lighting effects one gets with a standard HDRI with presets and automatic tone-mapping. For your project, I think their "Skies of Economy" might prove especially useful: https://www.daz3d.com/skies-of-economy-redux--volume-1

  • Jason GalterioJason Galterio Posts: 2,562

    I would also suggest the Cloudscape products.

    They are a little resource intensive, but they add a diffusion to HDRIs that give the outdoor lighting a more natural look.

  • HylasHylas Posts: 5,070

    For skies not unlike the ones in those promos, try the free HDRIs of Agent Unawares on Deviant Art.

    Can't comment on the item you linked to but I have a very similar products by Sickleyield. It´s very easy to use and pretty much does what it sais on the tin.

     

  • richardandtracyrichardandtracy Posts: 5,898
    Can I suggest you learn with free resources first, like PolyHaven and what is built into DS. It'll be cheaper until you decide what you really want. Try exploring with sun-sky, you can dial in the exact time of day for the lighting. Also, you can create your own billboards of clouds from photos you take or harvest from the web to create clouds to go as backdrop billboards. HDRI images can be very good, but each is limited. You'll need to learn how to discover and spot the limitations of them too - doing that with free stuff is much less painful to the wallet!
  • tsroemitsroemi Posts: 2,871

    The sun-sky system in Iray is actually really nice and versatile, I'd follow richardandtracy's advice first and start playing around with that. If you want to, you can find a specific place's coordinates online, like, say, if you want a Brazilian sunset or a Helsinki afternoon, and then put that in along with time of day and month, and have a - in my opinion - very realistic lighting situation, without having to buy anything additionally.

    If you want to add clouds, I've got the software by Sickleyield mentioned above, and it's pretty useful. Only need to be aware that the cloud prop is not the biggest, so maybe doesn't lend itself to very large scenes. Otherwise, it's very useful. Wait till it's on sale though, SY is usually pretty generous ...

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