Proper Workflow for 30m Drone HDRI and Resolving Reflection Distortion in V-Ray

V-Ray for Rhino V-Ray for Rhino :: General
1

Hi everyone,

I’m currently creating custom HDRIs using a drone at an altitude of approximately 30m, stitched via PTGui. While I’ve managed to get the lighting/GI working to my satisfaction, I am struggling with reflection accuracy on my architectural models.

The Issue: When using a standard V-Ray Dome Light, the reflections of the ground and nearby landmarks appear heavily smeared or “stretched” across my glazing and reflective surfaces.

My Questions:

  1. Finite Dome vs. Infinite: Given the drone’s low altitude (30m), is the “Finite Dome” the correct solution to resolve ground-plane distortion?
  2. Manual Mapping: I’ve tried using the HDRI in the Reflection channel override, but I’m struggling to control the scale of the reflections. Is there a better way to map these HDRI so I will be able to adjust the scale of the map?
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​Alternative Workflow:
Is a drone HDRI actually the “best” way to achieve site-specific realism? I’ve heard of people using:

  • Camera Projection: Mapping drone stills onto simple “proxy” geometry of the surrounding site.
  • Backdrop Plates: Using the HDRI only for lighting/GI, but using high-res 2D drone plates for the actual reflections.

Thank you
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2

Hi sami_bashammakh,

If you can share a render showing the issue you’re trying to resolve, it would really help.

I can also recommend testing the Ground options in the Environment bitmap.
There you can change the dome radius and ground distance. Both options will change the appearance of the reflections.

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In general, if you have the ability to do it, you can generate a Gaussian Splat based on the drone footage and load it as a renderable object in V-Ray.
In V-Ray 7.3 we’ve even added the Gaussian Splat relighting feature which might help you with the lighting matching.

  • Camera Projection: Mapping drone stills onto simple “proxy” geometry of the surrounding site.

This is a viable option if you can invest the time to do it.

  • Backdrop Plates: Using the HDRI only for lighting/GI, but using high-res 2D drone plates for the actual reflections.

​
This workflow isn’t going to help as the backdrop plate is usually only used as a background and doesn’t affect reflections.

Regards,
Konstantin