OTOY Forums

PMC 10000 samples.
45min
gtx 480
I've used a hdri to do the lighting but changed the bkg post.
Vegetation also post add.

how did you get the hdri to cast relatively sharp shadows?

The Shadows sharpness depend on the size of the light source. Usually hdri files have a big bright sky that cast soft shadows, but they also have one specific side that is brighter. Try to rotate the hdri texture in a way that this brighter side be positioned like this scheme. The good thing is that you are using octane render and you can rotate the image real time until you find the best position for the hdri texture.
The camera set up can help you too. If you decrease the power of the hdri map and increase the exposure, fstop and ISO of the camera you might get better results.
That's the camera set up I've used for this scene.

nice work...and thx for sharing the info !!

Thanks for sharing!

I'm gonna have to try this out, currently I don't like how many fireflies the sun can add to a scene. Plus you don't have total control because it will start to change the sky color based on the angle of the sun. Sometimes, I want that angle, but not the red light that comes with it (Whether it's realistic or not).


Will this only work with an HDRI that has a small light source? If so, would it be possible to attach the HDRI you used, if it's free to share of course.

Thanks again

You can download this hdri file in http://www.hdri-hub.com/hdrishop/freesa ... sky-cloudy
I prefer to use hdri files to light my scenes because of the reflections on windows, but you can also use the sun, split the backgroud, and add a different one after render on Photophot or Gimp.