HDRIs using Vray 1.5 RC3 Renderer in 3DS Max 9

Always remember, that when we take a test output in Vray, with no lights put up, always keep the "Default Lights" option in "Global Switches" rolldown ON, else the output will be completely black, as there are no lights at all!.

Now, as we saw the renders above, they look dull; which is obvious as they don't have any lighting done nor any textures put up. These renders are mainly to check the anti-aliasing in the scene.

Lets now add an HDRI in the scene. I, for this example will be using the one below. Its called "Snowfield".

For the people who would be new to HDRIs; HDRI stands for High Dynamic Range Imaging. An HDRI is a set of techniques that allows a higher range of radiances or luminances between light and dark areas of a scene than normal digital imaging. An HDR image is created from a set of photographs of the same scene taken with different exposure levels of the camera. Lets see an example of this in Adobe Photoshop CS3.

Check out the slider at the left bottom of the screen. With this we can see the different radiance values stored in the HDRI.

See how the scene naturally turns dark at one point and brighter at other point.

Well, getting back to the main point. Lets add the chosen HDRI in the scene. Here's how you do this. In the "Renderer" tab, scroll down to "Environment" section. Switch ON the "GI Environment(skylight) override". Click on "None". It'll show up a Material browser dialogue. Scroll down to find and select "VrayHDRI".