How is this done

sheedee3D

Hello;

Can some one please tell me how this is done...by letting the background blend seemlessly with the props and characters without noticing anything else except nice soft ground shadows like the example below.

FSMCDesigns

It's an hdri

sheedee3D

I know its an hdri...but...how to get it to look transparent like that with soft shadows on a ground that is barely noticeable...

margrave

Iray has a ground plane that will catch the shadows. It's in the Environment tab of the Render Settings.

sheedee3D

Ok folks, i really appreciate all the help...but i am not sure that you all understand my question...the whole image in the example shows the character sitting on a chair and aslo a little cute cat under chair.

Normally you would see in the back like a door  or a window or exactly a line or division from the floor and the wall etc...only in this image everything is seamless...meaning that all you see is a floor that is barely noticeable with soft shadows that are also barely noticeable...i mean how to achieve that?...all you see is one whole gradient background coming together as one...nothing else that distracts in the surroundings...just one nice seamless environment as a whole in which all you can see is the main character and nothing else...i asked this same question years ago and some one understood what i meant then and even answered me with a way of doing this...but that was years ago and i have forgottten the answer.

FenixPhoenix

sheedee3D said:

Ok folks, i really appreciate all the help...but i am not sure that you all understand my question...the whole image in the example shows the character sitting on a chair and aslo a little cute cat under chair.

Normally you would see in the back like a door  or a window or exactly a line or division from the floor and the wall etc...only in this image everything is seamless...meaning that all you see is a floor that is barely noticeable with soft shadows that are also barely noticeable...i mean how to achieve that?...all you see is one whole gradient background coming together as one...nothing else that distracts in the surroundings...just one nice seamless environment as a whole in which all you can see is the main character and nothing else...i asked this same question years ago and some one understood what i meant then and even answered me with a way of doing this...but that was years ago and i have forgottten the answer.

Like others have answered, the person may have used an HDRI map to create the lighting and rendered the figure, chair and cat only with that map showing. So you can use one of the maps, for example, these packs could work:

• https://www.daz3d.com/click-n-render--pastel-edition--ibl-set
• https://www.daz3d.com/click-n-render--pop-edition--ibl-set
• https://www.daz3d.com/iradiance--light-probe-hdr-lighting-for-iray--expansion-6
• https://www.daz3d.com/iradiance--light-probe-hdr-lighting-for-iray--expansion-5
• https://www.daz3d.com/iradiance--light-probe-hdr-lighting-for-iray--expansion-4
• https://www.daz3d.com/iradiance-light-probe-hdr-lighting-for-iray-expansion-3
• https://www.daz3d.com/iradiance-light-probe-hdr-lighting-for-iray-expansion-2
• https://www.daz3d.com/iradiance-light-probe-hdr-lighting-for-iray-expansion-1
• https://www.daz3d.com/iradiance-light-probe-hdr-lighting-for-iray

Then you load your figure on the scene, pose him/her, get your camera ready and then...:

1. Select an HDRI.
2. Then in the Render Settings tab (windows > panes > render setting) you'll want to make sure Draw Dome & Draw Ground are on.
3. Render.

Expozures

It would be the specific HDRI map used, in conjuction with some additional lighting.  I didn't spend a lot of time on this render, but just set it up with an HDRI, and a couple of key lights which softens the shadows.  You'd have to play around with the position, colour and intensity of the lights to get a similar look.

FSMCDesigns

try these freebie lights to get a similar effect http://www.valzheimer.info/2016/11/va2016-rgb-hdri-soft-lights-for-daz.html

 

sheedee3D

Thanks for all the great help guys!...

I will definetely make a render using the products that you listed and then i will post it here once its done.

once again...many thanks!

 

Have a great weekend...and...stay safe!

 

Quixotry

You can also adjust the intensity of the shadows on the ground in the render settings. You'll find the ground shadow controls down towards the bottom of the Environment tab. Have fun with your render! :)

ShelLuser

Before buying all sorts of expansions which you may or may not even need I'd recommend learning more about HDRI first, and if you want to get serious with it maybe get yourself a good HRDI editor. I'm sure there's plenty of choice but I've became quite the fan of Aurora HDR and/or Luminar (I use Aurora more than Luminar though).

You can either make a HRDI out of an existing image (suddenly having Bryce in my toolkit became a whole lot more useful to me!) or you could use it to expand on an already existing render. If you happen to use Photoshop Elements (which I consider to be an invaluable tool to help enhance & fix up your renders (the latter only if needed of course)) then you can even use Aurora as a native plugin.

Personally I'd sooner invest in proper tools which can help you set this up outside of Daz Studio (so: it can also become useful for other environments) than fully tying yourself into a speciic pre-determined workflow which may or may not suit you. But that's just my 2 cents here of course.

FSMCDesigns

ShelLuser said:

Before buying all sorts of expansions which you may or may not even need I'd recommend learning more about HDRI first, and if you want to get serious with it maybe get yourself a good HRDI editor. I'm sure there's plenty of choice but I've became quite the fan of Aurora HDR and/or Luminar (I use Aurora more than Luminar though).

You can either make a HRDI out of an existing image (suddenly having Bryce in my toolkit became a whole lot more useful to me!) or you could use it to expand on an already existing render. If you happen to use Photoshop Elements (which I consider to be an invaluable tool to help enhance & fix up your renders (the latter only if needed of course)) then you can even use Aurora as a native plugin.

Personally I'd sooner invest in proper tools which can help you set this up outside of Daz Studio (so: it can also become useful for other environments) than fully tying yourself into a speciic pre-determined workflow which may or may not suit you. But that's just my 2 cents here of course.

Interesting advice. I gather most here don't even know that HDRI editors exist, much less use one. I personally would never encourage anyone changing their workflow to going outside of the DS ecosystem. While I can see and know the benefits first hand, those new to DS and especially 3D will usually be confused and frustrated trying to make things work outside of the target app, especially DS specific tech. Just my personal experience and observations though.