HDRI in Softimage XSI

*this tutorial is now rather old, I can’t say for sure whether the instructions below are still valid.

Since there appears to be a lack of current version Softimage HDRI tutorials, we have written a quick and easy to understand tutorial that will get your HDRI working in Softimage in no time.

HDRI in Softimage is super fast and very easy, here’s how to do it.

• First, delete the default light (if you wish to use the HDRI as the only light source). Go to explorer (8), open the light options and turn it off.
• Now click Render -> Pass -> Edit -> New Pass -> Image Based Lighting. Select ‘no’ to load your own HDRI. Softimage supports both .exr and .hdr formats in most projections (spherical, cross etc).
• Once you’ve selected the HDRI file, you’ll be presented with fine tuning controls for the HDRI – it’s mostly very straightforward – brightness, mapping type, hue/saturation and so on.
• Go to Render Options and turn Final Gathering On, otherwise you’ll have no lighting, just a background image and reflections.That’s it, I hope that helps you get started, happy rendering.

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