HDRLabs - sIBL_GUI 3

#1

HDRLabs, Christian and me are pleased to announce that sIBL_GUI 3 is officially released !

The application has been fully rewritten, and features some cool things :

  • Component Framework : The Software is now component based, meaning you can extend the functionalities of sIBL_GUI easily and tweak or modify directly the provided components.

  • Customizable Ui Layout : Most of the Ui Components are movable, closable and resizable, meaning that you can put them wherever you want in the interface and store / restore the layouts.

  • Sqlite Database : Sets, Templates and Collections informations are stored in a database, it’s now easier to organise your Collections the way you want without having to move your files around everywhere on the hard drive. You can add Sets one by one if you want.

  • Google Map based Gps Map : The Gps Map is now Google Map based, no need for an explanation, it’s much better :slight_smile:

  • Search Database : The search engine offers new possibilities, you can now search in a range of time, to get all Sunset Ibls for example.

etc… :slight_smile:

[left]sIBL_GUI - Sets Centric Layout[/left]

[left]sIBL_GUI - Templates Centric Layout[/left]

[left]sIBL_GUI - Preferences Centric Layout[/left]

Autodesk Packages received brand new Helper Scripts to help integrating sIBL_GUI smoothly within 3dsMax, Softimage and Maya :

Autodesk Softimage And XSI - Helper Script

sIBL_GUI_For_XSI - Helper Script : sIBL_GUI_For_XSI

Autodesk Maya - Helper Script

sIBL_GUI For Maya - Helper Script : sIBL_GUI For Maya

Autodesk 3dsMax - Helper Script

sIBL_GUI For 3dsMax - Helper Script : sIBL_GUI For 3dsMax

The other good news is that I’m supporting myself 3dsMax Templates, meaning that there are now two new Templates : one for VRay and one for Mental Ray with some cool features :

  • Viewport Visual Feedback that can be oriented.
  • Support for SmartIBL 2.0 format extra lights.
  • Hierarchical scene setup.

Here are the download links :

sIBL_GUI 3 :
[ul]
[li]Windows
[/li][li]Linux
[/li][li]Mac Os X
[/li][/ul]

* * * Critical Notice : Installing sIBL_GUI 3 over a previous sIBL_GUI 2 installation will corrupt sIBL_GUI 3 Database ! * * *

Here is the related developpement thread : http://www.hdrlabs.com/cgi-bin/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1271609371/

And HDRLabs Website Url : http://www.hdrlabs.com/

Have Fun Rendering !

Thomas

#2

I also would like to thanks everybody that gave me some feedback during the developement of the application and everybody that uses it everyday ! :bounce:

To illustrate this, here are some cool work in progress renders done by Lee Perry-Smith during the beta phase :

#3

Awesome news! Thanks!

#4

i love this software! thanks so much, great update

#5

Thanks guys !

Christian is trying to get some time to update the website a bit, and we should have some screencasts uploaded on vimeo in a few ! :slight_smile:

Don’t hesitate to tell me if there are any problems, requests, etc … Well as usual :smiley:

Thomas

#6

Hi Kel,

And I thought sIBL couldn’t get any better :wink:

Awesome work on your part(s), I love version 3!!
And a server addon for 2011 as well :slight_smile:

Haven’t had much time lately, but will testdrive this puppy soon.
Thanks a ton for putting time and effort in all this :smiley:

rob

#7

Oh cool! Does this work in the 2011 releases?

#8

Christian uploaded two screencasts on HDRLabs Vimeo Channel yesterday :

sIBL GUI - In Depth : Wich is an In-Depth review of the application.

sIBL GUI - Quick Start : A Quick Start screencast showing a typical quick session under Maya.

Thanks :slight_smile:

It has been tested on 3dsMax, XSI and Maya 2011, and should be working with no issues :slight_smile:

#9

Looks great :slight_smile:

Is there a way to make it run shared disk like dropbox or network? I have installed (drag/drop, OSX) on our dropbox pipeline and made few adjustments to the maya scripts so it autostarts the command port and set the application location option var to point to the dropbox folder where it’s installed. but every machine/account has to manually add the hdr sets and “force” updating when new are added

Is there a nice way to get around that? like putting the configuration files and sqllight database in the folder where it’s installed so it’s same settings “migrates” to every machine (dropbox style :slight_smile: ) and new hdr sets automatically pops up when the software restarts and new machines has the exact settings, hdr sets and version of the export to maya script.

Great product! :wink: Thanks alot you guys!

#10

Unfortunatly preferences are now stored per User, it’s something people were asking for sIBL_GUI 1 and 2, so I did it :cry:

However and it’s something I have in the todo list, I would like to make an option that would able to specify the db location, so it can be shared beetween users. sIBL_GUI would need to be able to start in kind of a read only mode.

As for the new hdr sets, they should be automatically added to the database by default, the Sets Scanner component is doing that, let me explain :

Let say that you have added a set with the following path :

/3d/resources/sIBL_Library/SunsetSky_001/SunsetSky_001.ibl

On startup Sets Scanner component will walk recursively from the parent folder of the Ibl Set Folder, in that case, it would recurse through /3d/resources/sIBL_Library/ adding the new Ibl Sets it finds.

If you have issues with this let me know.

KS

#11

That’s an amazing application. I gave it a quick try and i have to say that it’s really fast to render. Having such an optimized lightning could take hours to get, now it’s instantaneous. Nice work !

#12

OMG that’s brilliant! i wasn’t aware of that software before but just gave it a try. it’s an amazing piece of code and dead easy to use! and it only took a minute (literately) to get it up and running with Maya! thank you so much for it! you rock! :buttrock:

#13

Thanks ! The cool thing is definitely the ability to try different lighting conditions really fastly :slight_smile:

:slight_smile: Glad you like the application !

Oh by the way :

[B]Feel free to contact Christian or me if you want us to support a new Package or Renderer, we will see what we can do.

Same apply if you want to code a Template yourself ![/B]

KS

#14

Thanks so much for this app, it seems like a real timesaver I’ll surely give it a try right away.
Best regards.
/Saftan

#15

Thanks ! :slight_smile:

I just released sIBL_GUI 3.0.6 !

I fixed most of the issues people were encountering with sIBL_GUI 3.0.5 initial release.

The features highlights of this version are :

[ul]
[li] FreeImage C/C++ imaging library bind : sIBL_GUI now support a lot more image formats.
[/li][li] Threaded Ibl Sets / Templates continous scanners.
[/li][li] sIBL_GUI layout is now stored and restored on application start and exit.
[/li][/ul]

Some of the Templates were also modified / fixed / improved :

Autodesk 3dsMax - Templates :
[ul]
[li] Renderer settings are preserved.
[/li][li] Fixed Bug with VRay Dynamic Lights function.
[/li][li] Prevented “White Sphere Syndrome” with Hardware Shading.
[/li][li] VRay has now a “Shadow Catching Ground”, though the feature is not on by default because it’s currently blocking bottom Ibl lighting.
[/li][/ul]

Autodesk Maya - Templates :
[ul]
[li] Fixed a Mental Ray template issue when a camera is parented under “sIBL” group.
[/li][/ul]

I also spotted a strange behavior on Windows 7 :
I don’t really know what I did, but the other day I installed Softimage 2011 - x64, Visual C# 2010, tweaked a few security settings on my Windows 7 ( Uac, etc ) and since then, if I don’t launch sIBL_GUI as Administrator, the application is really slow to startup.
I tried to figure out what was the change, but didn’t really managed.

KS

#16

Excellent news!
Thanks for the update! and for the new version of Lightbitch too! :thumbsup:

Gerardo

#17

Sorry for my dumb question,
but how do I instal, find and access those 3dsMax template ??

thanks in advance

#18

Amazing work !!!

Merci beaucoup :slight_smile:

#19

Renato : If you have sIBL_GUI installed, run the Online Updater ( You may need to uncheck the Ignore Non Existing Templates checkbox ).

Otherwise everything is available either on the HDRLabs Repository : http://kelsolaar.hdrlabs.com/?dir=./sIBL_GUI/Repository or on my Github page if you wanna a bit : https://github.com/KelSolaar/sIBL_GUI

Guilaume : Thanks !

Cheers,

KS

#20

Now it is working, thanks a lot for the info !