HDRI IBL Studio Library

[giannis]

In Kerkythea there was a library with High Res Skies that was very useful. Are you considering of creating a library of HDRI IBL Skies too? For architecture it would certainly be of great interest!

Also i've noticed that the shadow catcher "material" cannot receive direct shadows, only some kind of "ambient occlusion". Is this so? I've seen the workaround but it is very time consuming and breaks workflow. Are you planning on changing this?

Best regards and thank you again!

Hi and welcome!

Surely, we are thinking of creating many resources, not just skies. We have considered some options in the past (having nice skies, means that there is a good source of photos actually) and we will likely return to this soon.

The shadow catcher catches the shadows that are coming from the IBL; it does show like ambient occlusion shadows. We will add this request (handling other sources) but to be honest we don't see it as high priority.

Best wishes

[JQL]

Giannis,

Thank you for your answers and I'm sorry I didn't reply sooner.

So, for what you are telling me, if the IBL could somehow produce higher contrast shadows on a surface, that would also be true for the shadow catcher?

I'll be looking forward for those skies and might I also say that even though it's not top priority, I'll be even more happy when more light sources can affect the shadow catcher.

For architectural photomontages it would be a precious feature. Imagine a render with a background image of the site and an IBL dusk sky, and the shadow catcher projecting interior light on the ground. One would be able to export the shadows and building on a png only whilst now there is a whole process of merging render and background that is harder...

Thanks again and congratulations on Thea!

Best regards,

JQL

[giannis]

So, for what you are telling me, if the IBL could somehow produce higher contrast shadows on a surface, that would also be true for the shadow catcher?

No, the shadow catcher would not give any crisp shadows I am afraid. The shadow catcher here does not make the typical material-light evaluation,
but rather assumes that the lighting arrives in a uniform manner.

Now that you are saying this, I guess it makes sense to extend it that way, including high contrast IBLs as well as point/area lights.

Best wishes

[JQL]

Giannis,

That sure are good news! Even if it's not priority, it will eventually be an available feature.

Thanks again and best regards,

JQL

[giannis]

Sure!

Best wishes