Make your own HDR lighting maps

[Magnus3D]

That's looking like a real good and useful software! thanks for posting, now i have to try the demo. :)

Btw, maybe it could benefit from a adjustable snap feature when you setup your reflectors, if it haven't got that already.

/ Magnus

[PiXeL_MoNKeY]

That looks pretty nice, but I do have to wonder about the output size restrictions.

-Eric

[protograph]

Hi Pixel Monkey, Out of interest what pixels size would you like to go up to?
It's currently a max of 5,000 x 2,500 on the current release.
Thanks
Mark

[PiXeL_MoNKeY]

I personally think it should be user definable (but locked 2:1 ratio) so the user could output exactly what they need. If I am using this as reflections for a large print piece (stuff that ranges in the 9,000+ pixel area), 5,000 pixels will show artifacting without using bitmap filtering, which can cause problems with HDR imagery.

-Eric

[MrHooper]

I personally think it should be user definable (but locked 2:1 ratio) so the user could output exactly what they need. If I am using this as reflections for a large print piece (stuff that ranges in the 9,000+ pixel area), 5,000 pixels will show artifacting without using bitmap filtering, which can cause problems with HDR imagery.

-Eric

I do a lot of print, and yes, well over 9k might be useful for larger print work, however one should give some credit to the fact that most of the images it generates are gradient-like. So interpolation should be fine. In addition, most reflective surfaces have some level of glossy blur that would make these even overkill in some instances. I would be comfortable using them, given the image isn't going to be enormous... even if it would be enormous, softening the reflections would work great. Not to mention, over 5k may give certain raytracing engines a bit of a fit. Ive used lower res reflection maps without much trouble. Perfectly clear refractives or mirror surfaces may be a problem, but these could still be useful.

I just wish they would sell me the individual light hdr's so I could map them to area lights in Maya.

Andrew

[PiXeL_MoNKeY]

No I am talking that the rendered output is 9k. Using the example versions in a 640x480 will show artifacting without using bitmap filtering, which again has its own issues when dealing with HDR imagery.

-Eric

[LeeGriggs]

Looks like a very useful piece of software Mark.

I would like to see this integrated into something like Bunkspeed for realtime feedback within the render itself.

cheers,
Lee

[gruhn]

If you want the user to be able to specify just what they need, then you don't lock the aspect ratio either.

Remember something from some years back, it had sliders that covered the range of values that they could physically code a behaviour for and marked them for what they figured was sane. THAT is how to write software.

"But shadow are always darker than the rest of the world." Yeah, and we'd have one less useful technique if somebody didn't allow the spinner to go to -1. "This software is limited only the manufacturers' imagination."

[protograph]

Hi Lee, thanks for your feedback, good to hear from you! I think that the workflow with HyperShot and HDR Light Studio is pretty neat already - you design a HDR, render it and reload it into hyper shot within seconds. It's only a few mouse clicks.

By having this as a stand alone tool you can generate HDRs for any renderer in your tool kit, and get the same look and lighting but utilising the strengths of each renderer.

[protograph]

hi gruhn

We have developed something to be really simple to use. HDR maps to be used on spheres are ratio 2:1, that's how it works defined by the proportion of longitude and latitude. All HDR real world captures are in this ratio. So I am unsure of your issue with this?

But I agree that software is limited by imagination. But at this point we have a fine tuned tool that we use ourselves as a studio, designed to make useful lighting quick. It's a very commercial product to save people time and help them be more productive and creative.

It's also designed to be based in some kind of physical reality rather than an abstract concpet... so you make lights of different brightness and colour and move them around and our software works out in real-time all the distortion needed to map it onto a sphere and maintain the lights shapes - so non 3d gurus can use it, a photographer would understand it right away.

I think we have done a good job, but all our ideas are not yet in this tool. But I am definitely open to specific requests you have to improve it's function. Can you be more specific?

Many thanks!

[mushroomgod]

looks very cool, i could certanly use somthing like this at work.....but...


i think it to pricy - its about £200 more than i would ever spend

Also....once you have spent the £499 on the app most users would generate 5 - 10 shots and probably never use the software again. And with that in mind theres already a semi nice set of studio based HDRIs that (I think) cost alot less than £499.

And whats your policy of users selling on there produced HDR maps to 3rd partys?

But although all that sounds pretty nagative, I dont mean it to be I genuinely think its pretty cool....just to expensive

[protograph]

Hi mushroomgod, thanks for you feedback. :)

We find every job needs lighting very specifically to get highlights and reflections in the right position for each object you are rendering. If only a 3d business or photographer could survive on 10 lighting setups. Each job in unique. Although I understand your point that many users don't need level of flexibility and would be happy with 10 images. They are not our customers for this software.

The license for HDR Light Studio clearly states the image outputs are not for re-sale and only to be used the the licensee... plus we have methods to identify our HDR images and which license made them.

Regarding pricing - then there are places you can buy HDR lighting setups with a variety of soft box arrangements - each of these at hi-res are $75 - a bundle of 38 costs $999. Compared to this, our unlimited HDR creation does start to look good value, you can also produce effects not available in other HDRs.

Plus add to this the time to find the right HDR. Often the tail is wagging the dog - picking your shot to make the most of the HDR you have just bought, rather than with our method pick your shot and then design the lights exactly as you want them.

[hotknife]

I kinda agree on the price-range you are pitching this at..initially I was keen to look at this but quickly dismissed it due to cost.

As a comparative it costs more than Zbrush - we (I) spend thousands on software/hardware so I'd like not to be called cheapskate.

It does look an interesting product though, perhaps reconsider your costing structure. :)
On another note what would be the difference between setting up a studio light rig in Max and rendering it out as a fish-eye dynamic image.

[protograph]

The main difference between creating this in 3D and HDR Light Studio, is HDR Light Studio is a much much faster process.

[protograph]

We have have an overwhelming response so far and thank you for all your feedback. We have had a large amount of demo downloads and I think we may have underestimated the appetite for this tool. This has led to us now releasing the product in 3 versions for different types of users.


HDR Light Studio - Basic
Max 3 lights, Max Res 3,000 x 1,500 - £149

HDR Light Studio - Standard
Unlimited lights, Max Res 5,000 x 2,500 - £299

HDR Light Studio - Pro
Unlimited lights, Unlimited res - £499


Take a look at the web site for more details.

Thank you all again for your participation and interest!

Happy rendering from Mark & Simon - The HDR Light Studio team

[sacslacker]

It's great that you guys are listening to the users with the packages but even that price for studio is pretty darn high. You're talking $600 for something that can be be done already in other, cheaper software. I mean VUE generates very nice HDRs and you get a full on landscape program with all sorts of options and the price is very close to your standard edition and less than the "pro". Granted, it's not fast but I don't know man. I'd gladly pay $200-$300 for something like Standard. $600 is not going to happen. That's more than the upgrade cost of the entire Adobe production bundle upgrade.

It really does look excellent but the pricing seems just too high at the moment. Just my personal opinion. Take a look at what you can get for $600 out there.

Congratulations on the product release though. It does look like some very nice work and asside from the pricing, great work!

[protograph]

Regarding pricing...

I understand the feedback on the price but this is a niche tool that will only be used by a small subset of 3D users. For demanding users the 'standard edition' is still all they'll ever need. At today's exchange rate against the UK pound that's $427 for standard.

For some, HDR Light Studio totally transforms their render experience. By this I am talking about interactive rendering products reliant 'totally' on HDR images for all lighting and reflections. We now offer a new alternative route to purchasing HDR studio lighting images or putting up with a few supplied HDRs with your interactive render software. This is a big big improvement for these users.

Compared to buying a library of 38 HDR studio images for around $999 - of which most only contain 3 light sources, then you can now make your own infinate versions with HDR Light Studio BASIC at just £149/$213 based on todays exchange rate. This makes BASIC really good value.

For other 3d professionals using full blown 3D software like maya, 3ds max, modo, cinema 4d, etc etc, then yes we are competing with a wide range of other ways of acheiveing the same goal, and our solution can seem less necessary for these 3D pros.

For many of our core customers they have no way to make these images without investing in full blown complex 3D software and taking time out to learn it. Many try to make these kind of images in a photo editor but come unstuck with the lack of spherical distortion.
For these customers our software fills a big gap and is simple, fast yet powerful.

I hope this helps.

[Kabab]

Any plans to make it out put diffuse and specular convolution HDR's along with the normal image?

[protograph]

Maybe... if I knew what that all meant?
I'll need to look that up before I can get back to you!
;-)

[Kabab]

Maybe... if I knew what that all meant?
I'll need to look that up before I can get back to you!
;-)
Basically when you use HDR IBL lighting in a real-time application you feed it 3 hdr maps, reflections (what you guys have now), diffuse and a specular..

In HDR shop there is a process called convolution which takes the intensities from the HDR maps and blurs (probably does something far more nifty then that) them so the resulting maps diffuse / specular maps produce the right amount of light intesnity and scattering you would find in the diffuse and specular componet of a shader...

Hopefully that makes sense its kinda hard to explain.....

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