HDRI

In 3D design and rendering, HDRI is a technique that uses a special 360-degree panoramic photograph to light a virtual scene. HDRI stores a massive amount of real-world light data.

Imagine taking your 3D object and placing it inside a giant, glowing sphere that is painted with a real-world environment. Wherever there is a light source painted on that sphere, actual light shines down onto your object from that exact direction.

Changing HDRI Lighting

When you are working in the platform, you have the ability to rotate this HDRI environment in three different directions (the X, Y, and Z axes).

Because the HDRI is a full 360-degree map of light and color, adjusting these rotations changes exactly where the light sources and shadows fall on your object. By simply tweaking these three rotation values, you essentially produce completely new light settings from the exact same file, without ever having to manually add or adjust artificial lamps. See the recording below.