HMTools – Blender add-on released

Proudly presenting newly developed Blender add-on – HMTools. It will help any CG artist working in the Blender to set up hdri and get some nice ones for free from hdrmaps.com using API Installation You can get add-on from BlenderMarket for 1$ or download for completely free from https://hdrmaps.com/hmtools. Download it to your desktop and […]

How to measure hdri’s dynamic range?

If you wonder how to measure properly dynamic of hdri map, there it is a nice solution I just found. You can measure hdri’s dynamic range with Blender addon named: “Calculate FStop Range“, which can be downloaded from Github for free. Simply download it as .zip package and install it for Blender.Last update for addon […]

Add blur to hdri in Blender

Sometimes you want blur you background hdri, so it is not distracting too much. Blender comes with no blur node. But you can create such in simple way, although it is recommend for ease of use to download and reuse premade nodes group. Please follow short tutorial to learn more: Download Blur Nodes Group Blur […]

Gobos Video Light textures – Blender Tutorial

In this tutorial you will learn how to use and setup video light textures, so they work in Cycles and Eeevee.Without further ado, let’s get started! First, you’d need to get video of swaying trees in the wind. You can record it on your own using your camera or even a smartphone, but if you […]

Realistic HDRI lighting for exterior ArchViz in Blender

In this tutorial, you will learn how to create realistic lighting for exterior visualizations in Blender. Let’s get started. First and foremost, get quallity hdri sky map. For this, head over to hdrmaps.com, and get some hdri sky map. Of course you can get some hdris for free, but when quallity matters, I recommend you […]

Compiling FLIP Fluids add-on on Windows

FLIP Fluids is a paid Blender add-on for liquid simulation which can be purchased for 76$ on Blender Market. However, you can compile it on your own for free from source code. It’s very easy and takes no longer than 10 minutes of work. Only one difference between compiled free and the paid version is […]

OctaneRender™ Prime Free Tier for Blender

Otoy – a company behind Octane Render, provides a fully working, free version of the renderer for Blender, Unreal Engine, and Daz Studio. Free Prime edition is free for use on a single GPU. License is valid for 30 days, for private and commercial work. After 30 days you’ll need to activate it using new email. […]

Rendering on 20K hdri map in Blender 2.9

I suggest you to start to work with lower resolution hdri map because loading high-resolution texture will slow down your workflow significantly, even if you have the latest GPU and fast computer. I always start with 8K hdri map in Cycles or even 2K map especially in the first stages of the project or while […]

How to Color Balance your HDRI?

For hdri map colour correction, I highly recommend you to use Photoshop. Please download and open FREE_HDR_103 hdr map from here and open it in Photoshop. For this tutorial, I am using Photoshop CS6 as it is the latest version available without subscription-based rental. 1. Open HDRI Map in Photoshop 2. Enable 32-bit Exposure preview […]

Easy HDRI Map rotation in Blender

Tired of finding Mapping node in Shader Editor just to rotate hdri map ? CTRL + ALT and drag your mouse to rotate an HDRi Map inside Blender 2.81 with the free addon. HDRI Map rotation in Blender could be easier, much easier done. I like how it works in Marmoset Toolbag or inside Substance […]

Blender 2.81 and new Intel denoiser

Quick instruction on how to use new Intel Open Image Denoise function in Blender 2.81 Blender 2.81 is not yet here, but you can download the latest build from Blender Experimental Builds and use it. It is not recommended for production work. I am using Blender 2.81 daily because it has improved Outliner and new Intel’s denoising […]

Improved shadows with HDRi Sun Aligner

Quickly add light to hdri in Blender 2.8 with Sun Aligner plugin, to improve hdri shadows. 1. Starting with a simple testing scene: cube on the plane, and basic HDRI Environment setup. I am using Blender 2.8 build from 25 May 2019. 2. Select plane and in Object > Visibility check Shadow Catcher. For Cube […]

A new way of previewing hdri skies

There is a new way of displaying hdri skies implemented on the website. As you can see now, all hdri sky domes are displayed as spherical maps using Krpano Player. All previews for HDRI Sky domes were rendered in Blender 2.8. Scene setup was very easy: huge plane mesh was added for the floor and […]

Blender HDRI setup

Last version of Blender 2.79 comes with Shadow Catcher feature. Let’s check how it works along with HDRI lighting and backplate image used for background.  You can download complete tutorial project file from here Preparing test scene 1. Remove default scene and create UV sphere. Go to tab Tools and choose Smooth. Press N key and zero […]

sIBL GUI and Blender setup

In this video tutorial, I will show you in just a few steps, how to install and use sIBL GUI with Blender 2.69.It will allow you to use your sIBL hdri sets and render in Blender with Cycles rendering engine with just one click.