HDR Light Studio

[w.wolf]

Hi everyone,
I was looking at HDR Light Studio's website and I noticed that there will be a plug-in for KeyShot, what can you tell us about it?
I just think that will be great, because usually I can't find a matching environment as I am still a beginner ...

[guest84672]

The 2 applications will run side by side, with live updates of your lighting inside KeyShot.

[quigley]

I've been lucky enough to be testing the plug in for a while and what I can say is that this brings keyshot rendering to a whole new level! It is a fantastic product, ideal for both studio type shots or real environments.

The product runs inside Keyshot 2 (all versions) via the Environment tab - you get a new button there which launches HDR LightStudio and from there you can interactively add or edit lights and see the update live in the Keyshot Realtime window. This brings a real precision to Keyshot rendering now that totally eliminates any guesswork or "making do" with the HDRI you happen to be using. It also means you can experiment with lighting and colour in one environment without having to continually swap HDRIs and settings - just tweak the light and colour in HDRLightStudio window and see the update in Keyshot.

I have attached some basic examples of a bath I designed recently showing this process - white product on white background is a difficult one but this product makes it simple to control highlights and shadows. On the bath shots these are all offline renders done during the same Keyshot session and the same environment being tweaked in LightStudio in realtime. Probably took about 5 mins in total for all renders to be done. I didn't even save out the HDRI out just used the realtime link so for design level rendering this is ideal. If you do settle on a perfect lighting set up, of course, you can always save out the HDRI and reuse for a more finished visual in Keyshot or Maxwell or other systems but to be honest these are plenty good enough for our needs.

If you are considering buying collections of HDRIs don't bother - get this product instead! Honestly, it will save you hours. Very highly recommended!

[w.wolf]

Thank you quigley, it's been really insightful, I am familiar with the product but didn't know exactly how it works in KeyShot ...
And thanks for the renders, the difference shows, I'll be waiting for this product ...

[gypephyhoks]

Well always use a tripod if you can. I don't think any of my published HDR work it without a tripod.

As for Photomatix and aligning, I'm juts saying try it that way. I usually do use align, but if it's causing more harm than good I turn it off.