I could not find anything in this area on HDRI so after learning it for myself I wanted to post this for other newbies and explain how simple it is and that it is possible in Blender Internal (I kept reading that it wasn’t).
- Click on World, turn on True Sky, Environment Lighting, and select Sky Texture in that drop down. Set the Env. Lighting energy based on the perceived brightness of the scene/HDR image you use.
- At the bottom of world turn samples up above 15 for cleaner results. Make sure it’s on Raytrace.
- Click on Textures, open an image (go to HDRlabs.com and download some .hdr images, they work better than .jpgs).
- Under mapping>coordinates select Equirectangular if that is how your image is formatted.
- Under influences check Horizon and leave Blend checked IF you want your environmental hdr to come out at the background in your final render.
That’s what I’ve learned so far, and I know I’m not an expert. There are disadvantages in using Internal vs Cycles. It may be a good discussion, and what tweaks can make this setup (using Internal) better.
A question I have already is why do most tutorials say to use angmap for the env image when it looks terrible and warped?
Here are my first tests using 20 samples adaptive. And incase you are wondering - this technique does produce cast shadows.
Should have had the energy up on this one.
Turned the energy up too high.
I found turning up the contrast on the image makes the environmental lighting change accordingly which is nice to be able to control.