San
Ramon, Calif. - Right Hemisphere and Lightmap Ltd. announced a new
professional lighting tool for users of Right Hemisphere’s Deep
Exploration authoring software. Lightmap has an easy-to-use,
professional lighting application called HDR Light Studio and has
developed a plug-in version of it specifically for Deep Exploration 6.0
called HDR Light Studio Live. Right Hemisphere and Lightmap are hosting
a free Webinar on Tuesday, December 15, at 10:00 a.m. Pacific time to
demonstrate what this tool can do and how straight-forward it is to
apply to models and scenes.
Available for purchase in January 2010 from the HDR Light Studio Web site, the software plug-in can create HDRI light and reflection maps for CG renderings and provide instant feedback to users on their rendered scenes. Users create lighting designs by placing light sources onto a 2D canvas representing a sphere map and interactively modify their properties. As users manipulate the lights on the canvas the shape is automatically distorted in real time so they maintain their shape when mapped onto a lighting sphere.
“As much as 80 percent of the rendering production process is spent on the creation and optimization of lighting,” says Right Hemisphere president and CTO Mark Thomas. “The real-time lighting creation and feedback loop this plug-in enables dramatically reduces the time it takes to create professional quality images that can truly replace traditional photography.”
“Deep Exploration is a fantastic product and its environment maps do a good job of lighting models,” says Lightmap CEO Mark Segasby. “But we saw an opportunity to add another layer of sophistication to it with what we do best. Our software gives Deep Exploration users more control over their lighting and reflections, and allows them to quickly test and tweak their lighting set ups. This is a classic partnership in which everyone wins, particularly the end user who craves perfection in his final renders or has a client who demands it.”
The HDR Light Studio Live plug-in for Deep Exploration 6.0 will be available in two versions: Basic for $299 U.S. and Pro for $999 U.S.
To learn more about the new lighting plug-in for Deep Exploration, register for the December 15 Webinar at http://www.righthemisphere.com/webinars/unreal-realism.