Lightmap launches HDR Light Studio v3.0
HDR Light Studio v3.0 features: Collada support, new light blending modes, custom fall-off curves and faster render times
Leicestershire, England – 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.HDR Light Studio: What's New in Version 3Shine a light into existing HDR locations with the new Blend modes
Use synthetic light sources to make adjustments to the underlying content - be that other lights or existing HDR locations. These new blend modes provide totally interactive control over the lighting from existing HDRI environments. Blend modes can be used in conjunction with the 'Inv' button to reverse their effect.
Precise control to shape the light - Custom Fall-off
Use the powerful custom fall-off ramp to control the graduation of light precisely across its fall-off shape. This provides more subtle studio lighting effects than ever - allowing precise control of how graduations of light will appear in reflections. Custom fall-off also provides users with the ability to precisely control the areas adjusted by the new light blend modes.
Color Gradients - Synthetic and Picture Lights
Why should a light have only one color? Now you can create a ramp of color from the center to the edge of a synthetic and picture light. The effect can be subtle or outrageous. You can also use the color gradient to control the brightness across a picture light, like a fall-off ramp, ideal for fine control of Soft boxes.
Advanced Color Picker - Designed for lighting artists
We designed a new color picker focused on the the needs of a lighting artist. The color refinement grid allows artists to try subtle changes in color to see their effect in real time. The color matching tools let users match color from HDR and LDR images, plus there's a Kelvin Color Temperature picker - an essential ingredient for lighting
LiveLight - faster and full of new enhancements
LiveLight is now faster with an improved render engine.
Added support for loading Collada files into LiveLight - including multiple cameras.
Select your camera views from .mi and Collada files containing multiple cameras.
Metallic reflection mode has been added.
Floor Shadow - grounds a model giving it a more realistic feel, without the need for importing floor geometry that blocks light and reflections from the HDRI.
Choose an image (JPEG, TIF, BMP) or a solid color for the LiveLight background.
Tone-mapping has been replaced with a gamma setting.
General improvementsGeneral
It's all real-time - a far more interactive experience! Every setting in HDR Light Studio 3.0 now updates the HDR canvas in real-time. Adjust a light color, the background gradient, HDR background rotation or brightness - and instantly see the results without waiting to press OK.
HDi project files now have an icon in Windows, and can be double clicked to open them in HDR Light Studio.
Main Interface
Re-name lights - double click a light in the list to re-name it.
Picture Lights are given their Picture Light name - but can be re-named afterwards.
Click and drag lights up and down the light list to easily re-order them.
Hover over a light in the list and a cross appears on the HDR canvas showing the location of that light, making it easier to identify your lights.
The light visibility states are now saved in the HDi project files.
HDRI Background Settings
Fine tune the HDRI rotation with both Degree and Minute precision.
Colorize your HDRI background - ideal when used with studio background images to create any background color from a single grey-scale HDRI.
Flip - now you can flip the referenced HDRI horizontally.
