Problem when lighting with HDRI

[Krisztian Gulyas]

I'm using an HDRI to light a scene, but i have a problem. The room is too bright at some places and dark at other places. If I rotate the image so no direct sunlight comes into the room, it looks dull and there are no sharp shadows.

 

I tried AO, and it doesn't look really good. What would be the best approach here in your opinion?

Using brute force, adding additional light that would light up the room or tweaking the render elements?

 

I dont know if any of the above would be good enough, so if you have any other suggestion, I would be glad to hear it.

I'm using Max and VRay 2.4

 

Thanks!

 

PS: It's a bedroom with white bedsheet and a white desk, and if there's direct sunlight, one of those are too bright.

I tried tweaking the camera/light settings, but nothing worked.

[CliveG]

Don't forget you can adjust the HDRI's gamma as well to alter light intensity and shadows. You can go down to about 0.5 before things start getting weird.

 

It's another avenue to explore anyway?

[Noise]

If you post some renders and settings that would help us give you suggestions.

Edited May 27, 2014 by Noise

[notamondayfan]

Don't just rely on a HDRI to light your scene well. I would light the scene with the HDRI so it's not over bright anywhere, then add fill lights and spots to brighten dark areas, and add contrast to others.

 

Dean