Studio Features
BeadMod includes professional studio features that help you create stunning product photography and videos of your bracelet designs. These tools give you complete control over lighting and presentation.
🎨 HDRI Environment System
HDRI (High Dynamic Range Imaging) provides realistic lighting and reflections based on real-world photography. This creates professional-looking renders that showcase your designs beautifully.
What is HDRI?
HDRI environments use 360-degree photographs of real lighting conditions. When applied to your design, your beads reflect and interact with this lighting just like they would in the real environment.
Benefits:
- Realistic reflections on metallic beads
- Natural shadows and highlights
- Professional product photography look
- No need for complex lighting setup
Accessing HDRI Environments
- Navigate to the design editor
- Look for the right sidebar (Properties panel)
- Click the "Environment" tab (second tab with sun icon)
- Choose from available environment presets
Available Environments
BeadMod includes carefully selected HDRI environments for different styles:
Photo Studio London Hall
Best For: Professional product photography Lighting: Bright, even lighting from large windows Mood: Clean, professional, commercial Use Case: E-commerce photos, portfolio pieces
More environments coming soon!
Adjusting Environment Settings
Lighting Intensity
Control: Slider from 0 to 2.0
Default: 1.0
- Dark (0 - 0.5): Moody, dramatic lighting
- Normal (0.8 - 1.2): Natural, realistic lighting
- Bright (1.5 - 2.0): High-key, commercial photography
When to Adjust:
- Increase for lighter colored beads
- Decrease for dramatic effect on dark designs
- Match intensity to your desired mood
Light Direction (Rotation)
Control: Slider from 0° to 360°
Default: 0°
Rotates the entire environment around your bracelet, changing where highlights and shadows fall.
Tips:
- 0° - 90°: Front lighting, minimal shadows
- 90° - 180°: Side lighting, dramatic shadows
- 180° - 270°: Backlight, rim lighting effect
- 270° - 360°: Returns to front lighting
Pro Technique:
- Rotate slowly and watch how light plays on metallic beads
- Find the angle that best shows your design's details
- Side lighting (90°) often reveals texture best
Best Practices
For Metallic Beads
- Use bright intensity (1.2 - 1.5)
- Rotate to find the best reflection angle
- Metal beads will mirror the environment
For Matte/Wood Beads
- Use normal to slightly lower intensity (0.8 - 1.1)
- Rotation matters less but still affects shadows
- Focus on shadow quality
For Glass/Translucent Beads
- Higher intensity shows transparency better
- Watch for light passing through beads
- Backlight (180°) creates beautiful glowing effects
For Mixed Material Designs
- Start with normal intensity (1.0)
- Adjust based on your focal material
- Find balance where all materials look good
🎥 Video Recording
Create stunning turntable videos of your bracelet designs to share on social media or with clients.
What is Turntable Video?
A turntable video slowly rotates your bracelet design 360 degrees, showing it from all angles. This gives viewers a complete view of your creation.
Perfect For:
- Social media posts (Instagram, TikTok)
- Portfolio presentations
- Client previews
- Product listings
Recording a Turntable Video
- Set Up Your Design:
- Adjust HDRI environment and lighting
- Choose your preferred camera angle
- Make sure your bracelet looks perfect
- Start Recording:
- Click the video camera icon in the top toolbar
- The bracelet will automatically rotate 360°
- Recording progress is shown at the bottom
- Processing:
- After rotation completes, the video is processed
- Wait for the "Video ready" notification
- Takes about 10-20 seconds
- Save or Share:
- Download: Save video to your computer
- Save to Gallery: Store in your design gallery
- Both options available after processing
Video Specifications
- Duration: ~10 seconds (360° rotation)
- Quality: High definition (HD)
- Format: MP4 video
- Frame Rate: 60 FPS (smooth motion)
- Aspect Ratio: Matches your viewport
Tips for Great Videos
Before Recording
- Perfect the Lighting:
- Adjust HDRI intensity and rotation
- Make sure highlights are visible
- Preview how shadows fall
- Choose Camera Angle:
- Slightly elevated angle works best
- Not too high (shows bottom)
- Not too low (obscures design)
- Clean Background:
- Default dark background works well
- Focuses attention on the bracelet
- Test the View:
- Manually rotate viewport to preview
- Check all angles look good
- Ensure nothing is cut off
Video Best Practices
- Lighting: Brighter lighting works better for videos
- Contrast: Good contrast makes video pop
- Focal Beads: Feature beads should be clearly visible from all angles
- Length: 10 seconds is perfect - not too long, not too short
Sharing Tips
Instagram/TikTok:
- Use square crop if needed
- Videos perform better than static images
- Add text overlay to highlight features
Portfolio:
- Download and embed in your website
- Create a gallery of all your designs
- Shows professionalism to clients
Client Presentations:
- Send video for approvals
- Much better than static images
- Clients can see the full design
📸 Screenshots vs Videos
Use Screenshots When:
- You need a single perfect angle
- Creating thumbnail images
- Quick social media posts
- Portfolio grid layouts
Use Videos When:
- Showing intricate details from all sides
- Creating engaging social content
- Client presentations
- Want to show off complex designs
Combining Both:
- Take screenshot for thumbnail
- Record video for full presentation
- Use screenshot in catalog/gallery
- Link to video for detailed view
🎬 Studio Workflow
Here's a recommended workflow for creating professional content:
1. Design Phase
- Create your bracelet design
- Refine all bead properties
- Check from multiple angles
2. Lighting Setup
- Switch to Environment tab
- Choose appropriate HDRI
- Adjust intensity for your materials
- Rotate to find best highlights
3. Preview
- Manually rotate viewport
- Check how all angles look
- Verify materials are showing correctly
- Make final tweaks
4. Capture
- Take multiple screenshots from best angles
- Record turntable video
- Save everything to gallery
5. Export
- Download screenshots for static use
- Download video for sharing
- Keep copies in BeadMod gallery
💡 Creative Ideas
Showcase Collections
Record videos of each piece in a collection with the same environment and lighting - creates cohesive series.
Before/After
Show design progression by taking screenshots at different stages - great for social media content.
Time-lapse Style
Create multiple designs and record each one - compile into a longer showcase video.
Lighting Moods
Same design, different environments/lighting - show versatility of the piece.
Feature Highlights
Record close-up rotations focusing on specific sections with interesting beads.
🎯 Common Questions
Why use HDRI instead of simple lights?
HDRI provides realistic, complex lighting that would take hours to set up manually. It includes ambient light, reflections, and natural shadows automatically.
Can I use my own HDRI?
Not yet, but we're working on allowing custom HDRI uploads in a future update!
How large are video files?
Videos are typically 2-5 MB depending on design complexity - perfect for sharing online.
Can I edit the video after recording?
The video is exported as standard MP4, so you can edit it with any video editing software.
Why does my video take time to process?
We render high-quality frames and compile them into smooth video - this ensures the best possible result.
🚀 Coming Soon
Planned studio features:
- Multiple camera angle presets
- Custom rotation speeds
- Different video durations
- More HDRI environments
- Custom background colors
- Depth of field effects
- Slow-motion rendering
- Multiple rotation styles (pendulum, zoom)
Need More Help?
Check out our other guides:
Create stunning visuals! 📸✨