Basic knowledge about HDR
Last updated
Last updated
You can open the Environment Editor by pressing the F6 key
The following sections must be enabled in the environment preset settings:
eye_adaptation - enabled
tone_mapping - enabled
tone_mapping - aces
The main HDR parameter is target_exposure in the eye_adaptation section.
For HDR to function properly, there must be light at varying brightness ranges, with screen brightness differing by at least 5-10 times.
The working range is from 0.001 to 10.
light.ambient_intensity
Intensity of ambient lighting that spreads evenly across the scene.
light.diffuse_intensity
Intensity of diffuse lighting that determines the brightness of surfaces facing the light source.
light.envmap_amount
Amount of light reflected from the environmental map, used for creating reflections.
light.environment_intensity
Intensity of lighting from the environment, including natural and reflected light.
haze.intensity
Intensity of haze or fog, adding an atmospheric effect and altering scene visibility.
HDR sky textures
Use of high dynamic range textures for the sky to achieve realistic light transitions.
Quadratic attenuation in light sources
A light attenuation formula that realistically distributes light as distance increases.
Speculars for all materials
Adjustment of specular properties for all materials, adding highlights and reflected light
The final color for lighting parameters containing intensity (e.g., light.ambient, light.diffuse, haze.color, and others) is calculated using the formula:
result_color = color * intensity
The final brightness depends on the brightness of the color itself and the intensity parameter
candle
10
Imitation of candle light, creating a cozy atmosphere
cloud_at_night
0.00033
Dim lighting under a cloudy night sky
cloud_at_night (lit by moon)
0.0419
Cloudy night sky illuminated by the moon
frosted_bulb_60w
1200
Light from a 60-watt frosted bulb
monitor
3
Imitation of light from a monitor
moon_surface
30
Light mimicking the luminosity of the moon's surface
sky_cloudy
20
Light on a cloudy day
sky_day
60
Bright sunlight during the day
sky_night (lit by moon)
0.00085
Night light when illuminated by the moon
sky_night_dark
4e-006
Very dim night lighting
sky_night_noon
0.00124
Night lighting without additional light sources
sky_rise_skyline
0.0019
Dawn or dusk
star
0.00196
Light from a distant star
Tonemapper settings should be the same across the entire project
If you need a specific frame appearance - use a LUT.
For understanding the operation of adaptation and HDR, it is very useful to enable the display of curves for HDR parameters using the console command v_hdrHistogramOn 1
Decoding Figure 1:
Red line - tonemapping curve (automatically calculated by the tonemapping formula and its parameters)
Yellow line - brightness value selected by auto exposure
Green lines - exposure_min, exposure_max
Blue lines - horizontal brightness readings
To test colors in game resources, there are 3 test entity located in the service folder of the Entity Editor [1]:
color_checker_gradient - for testing the display of monochrome gradients
color_checker_kodak - for testing brightness levels
color_checker - for testing the transmission of standard shades
Learn more about creating and configuring environment presets
Step-by-step guide to developing custom environment presets
Detailed instructions for fine-tuning environment presets
