Setting realistic lighting in our scene

To set up realistic lighting in our scene, we’ll be using an HDRI map. HDRI maps are one of the most efficient and quickest ways to light a 3D scene and achieve realistic results in Blender. HDRI maps are typically 360-degree panoramic images of real-world lighting containing accurate lighting detail.

Let’s get started on using an HDRI map in our scene. The one shown in Figure 13.12 is what we’ll be using; it has a nice sun reflection. We can use it to emit light into our landscape scene to achieve accurate lighting, resulting in more realistic 3D renders.

Figure 13.12 – An HDRI map used to lighten the scene

You can download the HDRI map using this link: https://github.com/PacktPublishing/3D-Environment-Design-with-Blender/blob/a15652a3e7b406a7c70cd8b63837922aea6b151b/chapter-13/HDRI.zip.

You can refer to the Using a Blender Sky Texture node to light our environment section in Chapter...