Mac and Linux is here!
You have been asking for it, and we have been listening! A huge amount of effort has gone into porting HDR Light Studio over to Mac and Linux over the last few months, and in the process we have been tweaking things here and there to give you an even better experience designing and augmenting your HDR’s. It’s faster, sleeker, and busting with new features such as SunShade Nodes, LightPaint technology, Light Node previews, and much, much more. Here’s a screenshot of the enhanced UI to get your juices flowing and we’ll go on to explain a bit more about some of the new tech here and in later posts.

SunShade Node
As the name suggests, this new node enables the precision control of very bright light sources on existing HDR’s. Sources such as the Sun (or any bright area in general) can impact the quality of your renders in unfavorable ways, such as by producing speckling artifacts or overly bright illumination from certain angles. The SunShade Node allows you to tackle these problems head-on and control these undesirable effects with a powerful and yet intuitive control system. It also provides total creative control to ‘dial down’ the brightness of any light source in an existing HDRI. Here’s a movie we had on show at CVMP 2011 (more on that later) showing it in action:

LightPaint Tech
Lightmap’s new LightPaint tech is one of our favorites. It allows user interaction from within LiveLight (or any LightPaint enabled host) to pass back into HDR Light Studio to control Light Node placement, giving the user ultimate control over their effect on the final render. This exact positioning of reflections and illumination by clicking on the 3D model in LiveLight really helps boost productivity and getting the right result in those tricky-to-light areas.

CVMP2011
In November 2011 Lightmap attended ‘CVMP 2011′, meeting 3D artists and TD’s from the VFX community. We treated them to a sneak peak at these new tech features behind closed doors as well as talking about image based lighting, HDR augmentation, and our plans to bring HDR Light Studio to Linux and Mac.

We thought we’d share with you now this short video that we had playing in our display area to form a basic introduction to the core concepts of our technology and its application for VFX lighting projects using image based lighting.

We hope you are as excited as we are about these new technologies coming to HDR Light Studio, and in the next few weeks we will be expanding on these features in the blog in the run up to its public release.

20^th February 2012 – London

Lightmap Ltd are proud to announce the launch of HDR Light Studio live for SprayTrace.

Users of SprayTrace for Maya and HDR Light Studio Pro version 3 can now enjoy interactive image based lighting design and augmentation sessions, all in real-time on their Maya MentalRay scenes. Move a light in HDR Light Studio live and see the results update instantly in the SprayTrace viewport.

This has been made possible due to a large number of improvements in SprayTrace, adding support for emulating the native image based lighting found hidden in MentalRay for Maya, which gives far superior results than emit light, and due to further optimizations of the final gathering system. For the first time Maya users can use image based lighting in a totally interactive way through the combination of these tools. It’s a lighting artists dream come true!

SprayTrace version 1.2 is available now to all SprayTrace users by downloading your software again from the SprayTrace web site. Plus the new HDR Light Studio Live plugin for SprayTrace is also available now to all HDR Light Studio Pro version 3 customers if they download their installers again from the Lightmap store.

SprayTrace and HDR Light Studio are currently for Windows OS only – but they are both coming very soon to the Mac and Linux platforms.

You’ll notice that the Environment settings tab now has a ‘Contrast’ setting which has replaced the old Gamma slider found in KeyShot v2. If you create a new scene in KeyShot 3 this Contrast setting is set to 2.5. I changed this back to 1 straight away to ensure the HDRI lighting information was going to be used accurately, without any contrast adjustments being made which would alter the relative brightness of each light. But I quickly found out that my lighting was just not working as expected and looked terrible. It turns out the setting of 2.5 was in fact correct and is the equivalent to the old environment gamma setting of 1.

I found this out by opening the scene above created in KeyShot 2, which has an environment gamma setting of 1.0. This is the correct setting to use when using HDR Light Studio with KeyShot 2.

I then opened the same file in KeyShot v3 and in here the Contrast is set to 2.5 and real-time renders looked exactly the same. So I now know that the correct setting for the Contrast when using HDR Light Studio is 2.5. But I wanted to understand how this Contrast value relates to the old Gamma setting… where does this number come from and what does it mean?

I tried a range of environment gamma settings in KeyShot 2, and then opened these files in KeyShot 3 – to find a pattern. It turns out that in KeyShot 3 the Contrast value = 3.5 minus the old gamma value. So for example: 3.5 – 1 = 2.5.

I hope this little sum will save you some time when setting up KeyShot 3 scenes. Simple small changes like this can really trip you up and cause quite a lot of head scratching when changing over. It’s not a problem when opening up KeyShot version 2 scenes… this conversion is done for you. But when starting a new project – simply leave this Constrast setting at 2.5 when working with HDR Light Studio… and adjust the gamma of the final image in the image settings to get the look you want.

Additionally when you are not using HDR Light Studio but using HDRI content from 3rd parties, often for some bizarre reason, the HDRI gets a gamma of 2.2 applied to it to make it look nice. This leaves the image data useless for accurate lighting and reflections, as the real world brightness values have been altered. A light of 500w is no longer half the brightness of a 1000W light when you apply a gamma adjustment like this to a HDRI. To correct this and make the lighting information valid again, you would normally apply a 1/2.2 = 0.4545 gamma setting – the inverse of 2.2. So in KeyShot 3 to apply a gamma of 0.4545 you would need to set the environment Contrast value to 3.5 – 0.4545 = 3.0455… in this case I would say a Contrast setting of 3 would be near enough and happens to be the max limit on the slider also.

Happy lighting in KeyShot version 3!

Lightmap launches HDR Light Studio version 3.0

HDR Light Studio v3.0 features: Collada support, new light blending modes, custom fall-off curves and faster render times

Click here to see full list of new feature and demo videos

1st January 2012 – Lightmap today announced immediate availability of HDR Light Studio v3.0 – the most incredible version yet of their groundbreaking real-time lighting software. Packed with new features including; localized exposure, color and saturation tools using new light blending modes, custom fall-off curves, a new color system for lighting artists and Collada support.

None of these new additions are at the expense of performance; HDR Light Studio v3.0 features even faster render times with all parameters now supporting instant feedback.

“The new blending modes for lights in version 3.0 are awesome,” enthuses Bruce Bigelow, Creative Director and Partner at Electric Art, “…because you can dodge and burn huge areas of hi-res HDRI backgrounds instantly and with an incredible smoothness you can’t achieve in any other software. With the new custom fall-off curves, new light shapes are infinite. It’s a quantum leap from 2.0.”

HDR Light Studio v3.0 provides market leading, real-time non-destructive manipulation and generation of HDR environments. Significant updates to HDR Light Studio 3.0 include:

•    New Light Blending Modes: use light sources to adjust exposure, color and saturation.
•    Custom fall-off curves: fine control over synthetic light fall-off.
•    New color system: Color selection and analysis tools designed specifically for lighting artists to allow precise color matching and auditioning.
•    Collada support: LiveLight now supports Collada to allow the import of geometry and camera information from all major 3D modeling packages.
•    Increased Performance: Faster rendering times and all features now support real-time feedback.

HDR Light Studio v3.0 can slash the time needed to professionally light CG (computer generated) scenes, “Usually, when you’re updating software, you’re disappointed by a lot of features that are totally useless. But with HDR Light Studio v3.0, the team is really listening to what the users are saying,” explains Piotr Kolus, Lead 3D artist at Ars Thanea. “All the new options are boosting your lighting process. From simple changes to advanced new features – all of them are more useful than I expected.”

HDR Light Studio is a proven lighting toolkit that can be used stand-alone by importing 3D scenes into LiveLight, or used in conjunction with any number of Live plug-in partners, including KeyShot, Maxwell Studio, Deep Exploration, VRED and Patchwork3D. This helped position HDR Light Studio as a professional, world-class, image based design suite. Version 3.0 ups the ante even further, “The new blending modes in v3.0 are game changing additions to HDR Light Studio. The ability to fine tune exposure, color and saturation within the software is invaluable. It can make the difference between a nice image and an amazing one,” according to Greg Peruski, CGI artist at Mid Coast Studio. “I also appreciate the ability to place a back-plate image in the LiveLight window now. It makes the process of lighting more intuitive… Being able to see your lighting in context with the back-plate is a huge benefit.”

Typical scenarios in which HDR Light Studio v3.0 can produce incredible results whilst saving time and money include:

•    Professional Studio Lighting – design traditional studio lighting rigs using powerful Synthetic and Picture based light sources quickly, efficiently, and with a quality of output not possible in other software.
•    On Location Professional Studio Lighting -
load existing HDR environments and augment these with additional light sources to bring out the best in your subject matter.
•    Color matched lighting for back-plate images -
create lighting to bed CG objects into existing backgrounds using HDR Light Studios’ color analysis and selection tools.
•    Creative HDR location re-lighting
- artistically enhance and relight existing HDR environment maps to creatively change the feel and mood of an original HDR in a non-destructive manner.
•    Increasing the dynamic range of LDR environment maps
- extend the dynamic range of existing HDR and LDR* images using dodge and burn techniques with the new light blending modes.

*LDR images must be in exr or hdr formats.

Pricing and Availability
HDR Light Studio 3.0 is available immediately in two versions: a ‘Standard’ edition for £399 plus VAT and a ‘Pro’ edition, which includes plug-ins for KeyShot, Maxwell Studio and Deep Exploration. The ‘Pro’ edition of HDR Light Studio v3.0 is available for £599 plus VAT. Additional Live plug-ins can be purchased for VRED by PI-VR and Patchwork3D by Lumiscaphe. Purchase online, or find your local reseller, by visiting www.hdrlightstudio.com

Click here to see full list of new feature and demo videos

This is a great animation project shared with us by Robert at Visual Arts Productions (www.v-arts.ch). It’s really great to see HDR Light Studio used on animation projects… a great job and well done to the team over there.

First of all… big thanks to everyone who entered. It was great to see what our customers have been up to with HDR Light Studio.

It wasn’t easy to choose the winners from the wide range of entries and subject matter we received. The top 3 represents the selections of all the judges… but we were by no means all in agreement – this was tough… many images were really great and it is a very subjective task. This competition was all about the lighting and how the image based lighting had contributed to the final render. The top 3 images clearly demonstrate how good image based lighting, even if it is simple and subtle, can bring a 3D object to life.

Onto the results… (Fanfare!)

1st Place!

Greg Peruski, Mid Coast Studio
This image was a favorite with the majority of the judges. The car jumps out of the image and the lighting dances across the body panels which communicate the form of the vehicle.
It’s a classic automotive studio shot.

2nd Place

Ricky Chou & Lee Waters, BlueSky CGI
Another car shot – this time placing it into a photographic background. This shot is super clean and crisp and has that retouched feel. It’s not over complex and zings out of the background… a classic advertising shot that would be at home in any print ad.

3rd Place

Tsukasa Abe
This render shows great use of reflections to help read the shape of this complex model, it seems perfectly balanced and even the composition is dynamic and fresh. Yes the lighting is simple, just 3 lights… but that’s all this shot needed. Less can be more!

These additional shots caught the judges eyes and are ‘Highly Commended’… they all made it to the final selection process.

Tim Feher

Paintbox India

Peter Schamberger, Staudinger Franke

Once again thanks to all the entries and we will definitely run this competition again next year. Also big thanks go out to the judges Jeff Patton, Nigel Harniman and Jordi Bares who help me, Mark Segasby, choose the winners.

Soon we will place the best of the submissions into a new section on the gallery… so you can see more of the entries for this years competition.

Lightmap are delighted to have Stanley Black & Decker onboard as new users of HDR Light Studio software.

“The HDR Light Studio plugin for KeyShot has dramatically improved our workflow. We now have full creative freedom to experiment with different lighting schemes with dynamic results. The combination of KeyShot and HDR Light Studio is our design teams complete solution for digital 3D visualization. “
Dave Miller, Designer, Stanley Black and Decker

LIGHT UP OUR WORLD!!!

Lightmap are inviting customers to submit their images into this year’s Lighting Contest. We are looking for creative and inspiring images showcasing the power of HDR Light Studio lighting. The subject matter is not important… it can be a car or a bumble bee, a studio shot or within an environment. We are looking for images that ooze the quality required for high end advertising imagery. It doesn’t need to be new work made for this competition; past projects can be submitted… as long as HDR Light Studio has played a major role in the lighting of the final image.

For the complete competition details and rules, please read the Lighting Contest PDF document.

There’s a nice feature on Jeff Patton and his work using 3DS Max with iRay on the NVidia web site. Check it out here: http://www.nvidia.com/object/mercedes-benz.html

It does however fail to mention that Jeff has been a long time user of HDR Light Studio in his work, and in fact it’s a key component in achieving his superb results. Nearly all Jeff’s renders now utilize HDR Light Studio – in most cases representing all of the lighting for the scene. Jeff is able to take background photographs and build convincing HDR environments using HDR Light Studio to work on top of existing HDR environments from other locations and craft them using additional lighting and effects – so you’d never guess no HDR was shot on the background location.

The results are great car renders that bring out the best in the vehicle whilst bedding the car into the background. Certainly iRay and HDR Light Studio has proven to be an ideal partnership here.

One of the most amazing things about working at Lightmap is seeing the images our customers send us… we are often impressed and sometimes surprised. We were very pleased when Piotr at Ars Thanea (www.arsthanea.com) shared these images with us. Piotr has now adopted HDR Light Studio as his main lighting tool when working in 3DS Max. He creates the overall lighting as a HDRI using HDR Light Studio…sometimes adding light to an existing HDRI… and then adds maybe one CG directional light mainly for controlling more distinct shadows.

Check out more content on these amazing images at Ars Thanea’s Behance page:
http://www.behance.net/gallery/Call-of-Juarez-The-Cartel-II/1904201

Well it was a thrill to see and explains why more VFX houses are becoming our customers – interactive HDRI lighting can be used for any type of work – not just cars and products!

Amazing images from www.arsthanea.com… thanks for sharing guys!