How to export .hdr file sequence?

I’m using Unreal 5.0.3, I have a scene set up using a sky, directional light, volumetric clouds and a landscape. I want to render a movie of my sky and landscape to use as a back plate and also export a matching .hdr sequence so I can animate other elements in a different 3D animation program. I was able to export my back plate movie file just fine :slight_smile: but I’m having trouble getting the light data transferred efficiently. The best quality result for my setup is to export a .hdr file using the Scene Capture Cube with a Render Target gives me the best result, however there are a few issues with this method which I will detail below. The animation for my sunlight is done through a simple level sequence which is set to play on load.

Problems with the .hdr file export

  1. Each frame must be manually exported and it’s a multi step process - Advance to next frame > Refresh the Render Target, Export the Render Target > Rename the file > Repeat. It took me almost 30mins to export 150 frames this way. I’m limited in my knowledge of Unreal Engine and Blueprints but I think a way to automate this?

  2. The resolution of this file appears to be capped at 4096x2048. This will work but it would be great if that resolution could be increased

  3. I’m not sure if it’s possible to include cloud animations since they animate in the material using masks. So far I’ve been disabling the cloud movement for this setup

I’m able to use the “Panoramic Capture” plugin to export a 32bit .exr sequence from Unreal which does match the cloud movement, but the image doesn’t include all the light data I’m getting from the .hdr file and the file export process takes about 2min per frame which is way longer (although it is automated which is nice) than the .hdr export

Below is an example of the light quality difference I’m getting from the .hdr vs .exr files

The closest thing to a solution I can find is this 360 Panoramic Export Pipeline plugin - 360 Panoramic Export Pipeline

Unfortunately I can’t seem to recompile either the 4.25 or 4.26 version of the plugin for 5.0.3 - I keep getting errors when using the .bat file or trying to build in Visual Studio. I haven’t tried running it in the older versions of Unreal so I’m unsure if it would work

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