Markus Flatischler - CGI product launches with Houdini

Hi, my name is Markus Flatischler. I'm a Marketing Consultant & Content Creator, working on a project with my client Anest Iwata. We're transitioning from traditional image and video workflows to flexible CGI-based ones to adapt quickly to Anest Iwata’s dynamic production needs.

The challenges of traditional imagery for Anest Iwata's reflective Spray Guns

Anest Iwata is a leading manufacturer in a fast-paced industry, they develop spray guns for a wide range of applications. Their diverse product line and short time-to-market demand frequent updates to product imagery, which can be time-consuming and resource-heavy using traditional methods. The compact size (25-30cm) and highly reflective machined surfaces of their products demand significant post-processing, making traditional workflows even more complex and time-consuming. This is where CGI offers a more efficient solution.

The benefits of CGI: Enhancing detail and aesthetics for Anest Iwata's products

Adding CGI content creation workflows to the pipeline allows Anest Iwata to show and describe their products in the greatest detail without sacrificing aesthetics. It allows us to adjust lighting and materials easily, maintaining consistent imagery across product updates. Lighting is crucial for Anest Iwata’s highly reflective products, like chrome finishes, which rely heavily on reflections to appear realistic.

The crucial role of lighting in 3D Visualization

One of the most important aspects of making the 3D representation of Anest Iwata's products believable is lighting. Some products come in highly reflective surface treatments like chrome or PVD coatings.

The problem with these highly reflective materials is that they show all the environment around them, while the actual material adds very little. The product or surface of the product becomes only visible and recognizable by how the reflections are bent, transformed, and distorted by the shape of the surface and how the reflected light rays then result to meet the viewers' eyes.

Without the proper level of detail and accurate lighting techniques to replicate real-world conditions, materials can appear flat and unrealistic.

Since I primarily work in Houdini with Redshift as my preferred render engine, standard Redshift lights using textures or IES lights are suitable for the task. To address any doubts upfront - yes, you can achieve impressive results using Redshift lighting alone. However, as a professional 3D artist focused on efficiency, I seek a streamlined and optimized lighting process for product shots that allows for quick adjustments and flexibility in achieving the desired look.

The game-changing effects of HDR Light Studio

With its nearly seamless integration into Houdini and Redshift, HDR Light Studio provides essential tools and options that aren't available by default in either program.

In most cases, I don't need to worry about setting up any lights in Houdini. I simply drop an RS Light Dome and connect it to the HDR Light Studio node  just two clicks. From there, HDR Light Studio is ready to go, automatically importing the scene from Houdini and displaying a visual representation directly in its viewport.

Where creativity meets efficiency: The impact of HDR Light Studio

HDR Light Studio is the most efficient lighting tool I've used, offering streamlined workflows that mimic real-world studio setups while enhancing what’s possible in 3D applications. Best of all, I can see my adjustments instantly in the Redshift render preview within Houdini.

For Anest Iwata's highly reflective materials, I typically begin with a low-intensity HDRI background. This provides realistic reflections, similar to a photo studio where elements like light fixtures and wall details are always present. These reflections are crucial for making 3D representations of reflective materials appear believable.

Once that’s set up, I shift away from traditional lighting methods and harness the flexibility of 3D. I primarily use Scrim lights and the Light Paint tool on an infinite plane, allowing me to easily add or remove light-falloffs, precisely as I want, regardless of real-life limitations. This approach enables me to art-direct lighting and reflections to accentuate specific product features, often setting my Scrim lights to additive mode for seamless blending with the HDRI background.

Once I’ve set up the Scrim lights, I enhance them since their default perfect gradients can lead to the image looking too perfect, creating the uncanny valley effect. To avoid this, I add details or replace some Scrim lights with more detailed lights. HDR Light Studio’s realistic light textures, introduce variations in intensity and light temperature, enriching the reflections.

When finished, I simply render the Production HDRI from HDR Light Studio at the desired resolution, automatically locking the file in the Houdini node, and I’m ready to go.

Effortless Art Direction: The power of CGI

Need to modify the product? No problem! Just reload the scene, replace the materials, and render the image - done.

There's no need to recreate studio lighting conditions, match perspectives, or deal with extensive post-processing and cleanup.

Anest Iwata recently began implementing this workflow, using CGI for only a few elements in their first product launch, the WS-400 Series 2. They quickly recognized its advantages over traditional methods. For the upcoming launch of the WS-Primer spray gun, all marketing materials will feature 100% CGI product shots, with about 95% of the images on their website and social media also being CGI.

All of this is made possible by a flexible and efficient workflow that relies on HDR Light Studio and its optimized lighting tools within the Houdini-Redshift pipeline.

For me, HDR Light Studio has been a game-changer, turning the often challenging task of lighting complex product, light, and material combinations into an enjoyable opportunity for creativity and precision. And that’s not even factoring in the time savings - I wouldn't want to return to the old way.

HDR Light Studio has significantly enhanced the quality and efficiency of my lighting setups, transforming complex projects into enjoyable experiences. I’m eager to leverage this powerful tool in my workflow to elevate my future projects even further.

We’d like to extend our thanks to Markus for sharing his valuable insights on using HDR Light Studio. Understanding our customers' needs is crucial, as we aim to consistently add value by making their work more photorealistic and time efficient. If you're looking for Markus's expertise in Product Visualization, Branding, and Promotion, be sure to visit his website—he’s a true multi-talented professional.

Markus Flatischler, Marketing Manager for Anest Iwata Strategic Center S.r.l. (Freelance) www.flatischler.at

Currently, HDR Light Studio integrates seamlessly with the traditional Houdini/Redshift workflow. However, we're excited to announce that we’re adding support for Solaris, with a new plug-in coming soon. This will bring HDR Light Studio into the Solaris USD workflow.

Sign up for our newsletter to stay updated on the release: www.lightmap.co.uk/email-signup