problem with light and hdri environment

[mitchino]

I'm rendering a label and I have an hdri environment which does the job nicely, but I need a little more light on the right, so I added an area light.

When I render, there's a distinct line vertically I can see in the label. I can't seem to get rid of it apart from not using the additional light.

I have tried all the options in the light tag but I can't figure out what's causing it. The label has roughness so shouldn't show the edge of anything or any sharp lines.

Can anyone help please?

[niestudio]

are you sure its not the edge of your light?
you should be able to use a technique similar to whats described here to make a softer light.

Left is a standard area light.
Right has a gradient in the texture slot.
Top has a gradient in the texture slot, but general visibility is turned down.

[mitchino]

thanks for the swift reply!

you have a reflective object in that pic and what I don't understand is it happens even if I have a completely diffuse object

[mitchino]

so I played around again, and the line went away when I turned the general visibility up to 1

the light though is blocking the light from the hdri, I need to have them both working

is there a way to do that?

[niestudio]

Smaller/brighter light further away? Think about it the same way you'd do it in the real world.
Can you post your scene, or something simplified that has the same issue?