Why is my imported HDRI so pixellated?

[Delta1]

I’m using a 4k HDR imported from Hdri Haven and have been following this tutorial:
http://rag3dviz.com/tutorial/hdri-li…real-engine/2/

But my map looks like:

Material Bp:

What am I doing wrong?

I’ve tried changing skysphere scale from 1 to 3 makes no difference, no mipmaps is set within the material

[rosegoldslugs]

HDRs are imported as cubemaps, which are limited to a max res of 2048 in-game. Currently yours is only 512, so go to the resolution section in the texture settings(not LOD Bias) and set it to 2048.

Or import as EXR, but you’ll have to rebuild the material since EXRs are not read as cubemaps

[Delta1]

@rosegoldslugs

HDRs are imported as cubemaps, which are limited to a max res of 2048 in-game. Currently yours is only 512, so go to the resolution section in the texture settings(not LOD Bias) and set it to 2048.

Or import as EXR, but you’ll have to rebuild the material since EXRs are not read as cubemaps

Can you please tell me where the resolution section is in the texture settings? As all I can see is lod bias?

[rosegoldslugs]

Expand the “Compression” area by hitting the downward triangle under it. I had the name wrong, it’s called “Maximum Texture Size.”

[Delta1]

@rosegoldslugs

Expand the “Compression” area by hitting the downward triangle under it. I had the name wrong, it’s called “Maximum Texture Size.”

Ah OK Thank you

[Delta1]

@rosegoldslugs

Expand the “Compression” area by hitting the downward triangle under it. I had the name wrong, it’s called “Maximum Texture Size.”

I cant set that higher than 2048 even though I have an 8k texture in there, should this not be at 8192?

It automatically resets to 2048

[rosegoldslugs]

That’s what I meant by when I said HDRs are imported as cubemaps and limited to a max resolution. I haven’t been able to find where that hardcoded size limitation is at to change locally, but you can reimport the image as an EXR. You’ll have to recreate the UV input for your material though.

[Delta1]

@rosegoldslugs

That’s what I meant by when I said HDRs are imported as cubemaps and limited to a max resolution. I haven’t been able to find where that hardcoded size limitation is at to change locally, but you can reimport the image as an EXR. You’ll have to recreate the UV input for your material though.

I’m sorry I’m a bit of an amateur with texturing, and I’ve got a couple of questions:

Firstly, How do you recreate the UV input

Secondly, my hdri looks pretty washed out, as you can see in this thread:
https://forums.unrealengine.com/development-discussion/rendering/1520854-hdri-skysphere-looks-washed-out

How do I get the colours back to normal or at least how they’re represented in the texture, in which case I can leave the max resolution at 2048?

I massively appreciate ALL your very kind help!

[VaSSiLi]

Hey, I just thought I’d chime in, as pushing the quality of projects for Archviz is something I’ve been playing around with.

You have to remember, if you have a 2K or 4K image, that image is being spread across 360 FOV, when your camera view is probably around 90 or less, the result is not going to look crisp.

Here’s the steps I take to get really crisp HDR images in the background…

1. I start with a 16K HDRI file. I will generally chop this into 2 8K Squares, so I have 2 8192x8192 images. Save these images as a .EXR, so you still maintain the high dynamic range, but the engine doesn’t import them as a cubemap.

2. Follow this advice here to max out texture resolution to 8K: How to set in game texture resolution to 8K? - Rendering - Unreal Engine Forums

3. Make 2 standard unlit materials, with one half of the sky as a texture for each material

4. I know you said you were a little unsure about UV management but you’ll need to make a custom sphere that has 2 separate material ID’s one for each half, UV’d properly so as to accept a square image for one half of the sphere. If that’s a little cryptic, I’ve put it here: SM_2PART_SKYSPHERE.zip - Google Drive

Keep in mind this will eat a huge chunk of texture memory, as you are essentially loading a 16K texture at 32 Bit, but it really makes those still archviz renders or videos pop IMO

Cheers,

[Delta1]

@VaSSiLi

Hey, I just thought I’d chime in, as pushing the quality of projects for Archviz is something I’ve been playing around with.

You have to remember, if you have a 2K or 4K image, that image is being spread across 360 FOV, when your camera view is probably around 90 or less, the result is not going to look crisp.

Here’s the steps I take to get really crisp HDR images in the background…

1. I start with a 16K HDRI file. I will generally chop this into 2 8K Squares, so I have 2 8192x8192 images. Save these images as a .EXR, so you still maintain the high dynamic range, but the engine doesn’t import them as a cubemap.

2. Follow this advice here to max out texture resolution to 8K: How to set in game texture resolution to 8K? - Rendering - Epic Developer Community Forums

3. Make 2 standard unlit materials, with one half of the sky as a texture for each material

4. I know you said you were a little unsure about UV management but you’ll need to make a custom sphere that has 2 separate material ID’s one for each half, UV’d properly so as to accept a square image for one half of the sphere. If that’s a little cryptic, I’ve put it here: SM_2PART_SKYSPHERE.zip - Google Drive

Keep in mind this will eat a huge chunk of texture memory, as you are essentially loading a 16K texture at 32 Bit, but it really makes those still archviz renders or videos pop IMO

Cheers,

Thankyou very much for that its most informative and highly appreciated!