free HDRI files

[Erik]

Please download these ONLY if you have a use for them and know how to use them and have a 3D app that can make use of them!

There is no use for 'em in PS!

(Stu: you'll find them on the next cd ;) )

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/10152791/
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/10036562/
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/9597501/

below the images you see an arrow pointing down. that's the dl link.

enjoy, and thank the artist one day!:

http://smashmethod.deviantart.com/gallery/

[Welles]

Strata 3D CX now supports Lightdome HDRI (though I haven't been using it yet...still in the beginner stage.) Thanks for posting those links.

[MsOz]

Please download these ONLY if you have a use for them and know how to use them and have a 3D app that can make use of them!

Erik, I am one of those "download packrats" you just saved diskspace for! I have 280 G of HD, and probably have at least a couple of those filled with apps, filters, actions, and graphic files of who knows what all that I download from threads like this one, and since I'm in the middle of other things, never install, or even get back to! I was all set to download HDRI files, even tho' I had no idea what the heck they were. If they're posted on PSG, and posted by the likes of you, Keeper, Spectre, Stroker or the like, well...gotta have it, 'cause it must be worth having!%} ;) %}

[Rantin Al]

What a nice, generous cheerleader. 8))

Thanks for the link Erik. I think I'll be hogging the bandwidth later on into the small hours. Nearly 60MB on 56k dial-up. [confused]
The wires will be glowing in the dark.

MsOz, you are just like me, a Magpie collecting totally useless shiny things.
An old Scottish saying is that if you keep something for seven years you will eventually find a use for it.
The problem is remembering where the heck you stored it.

[JoeD]

Thanks Erik, very useful ;)

[Erik]

Al: Which is why one should stay married for at least seven years and a day.

Madeline: these are images that have a far greater lightness range than normal. Indeed: sunlight is much brighter than the lightest value your monitor can show, and these images extend the normal range.
They are used in some 3D applications as reflection maps.

To know more: do a search for either hdri or Paul Debevec

[Thonk]

...They are used in some 3D applications as reflection maps.

Not entirely accurate. HDRI Radiance maps are used as a light source, not reflection maps. An HDRI image is used in place of conventional lighting to give a 3D scene a more believable light range by using "real" lights from the suroundings.

[JoeD]

Yes, you are correct Thonk.

This is actually what HDRI is all about (a quote from a web site);

High Dynamic Range Image - Traditional image formats can only represent a limited range of intensity values for each pixel (most commonly 0 to 255 for each of the red, green and blue channels). This is sufficient for representing an image to be displayed on a computer screen, but does not allow the full range of light intensity which is present in the real world to be represented. High dynamic range image formats allow a much greater range of intensity values by using floating point values. It is then possible to represent images which contain the sort of variation in intensity which is found in the real world, without loss of precision. In order to display such images on current computer screens some form of tone mapping would be used. Apart from the advantage of being able to preserve the full intensity range until the point of display, the ability to store very high intensity values in an image format also allows such images to be used for lighting purposes; this technique is known as image based lighting (IBL) and can produce extremely realistic lighting effects in rendered images.

[Erik]

Right you are!
All this channeling...I tend to mix it all up...

[Thonk]

Here's an example (very quickly done) to show how a radiance map (HDRI) can enrich a 3D environment.



I've been a 3D animator for the last 11 years and have loved the warmth and realism HDRI can bring to a scene.