Blog
Thanks to a top-secret project I completed for some big Game Dev company, I could finally found the funds to invest in new photography equipment. My Nikon D800 and D810 DSLRs were becoming outdated, and I needed a pro-level, mirrorless full-frame camera capable of capturing higher-resolution shots. At first, I considered getting the Nikon Z7 […]
At HDRMAPS, we believe in giving back to the CG community, and thanks to the incredible support from our Patreon backers, we’re able to offer more free HDRI maps! In September alone, we uploaded 10 brand new, high-quality HDRI maps for free, all made possible by your generous contributions. By subscribing to our Patreon, not […]
If you are trying to export any asset using Quixel Bridge to the 3ds Max 2024, you would find it simply doesn’t work. It’s very strange as 3ds Max 2024 is considered as an industry standard. If you look into the log file you will notice: “connect ECONNREFUSED 127.0.0.1:13292”, which means that Quixel Bridge can’t […]
Autopano Giga is an older panorama stitching software that is no longer being developed. However, it is available for free and remains the only no-cost solution for stitching HDRI maps effectively (apologies to Hugin). It serves as a free alternative to the expensive PTGui Pro for creating panoramic images. In the following tutorial, I will […]
In this tutorial, you will learn how to produce high-quality HDRI maps essential for 3D projects. It is necessary to have access to a powerful PC with decent Nvidia GPU and CPU, fast drives and more than 16GB of ram and of course some basic knowledge of photography. 1. Gather all equipment: a) You will […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
If you want to create stunning panoramas with ease, you need to try AutoPano Giga. This software was developed by Kolor, a company that specialized in image stitching and virtual tours. Unfortunately, Kolor closed its doors in 2018, but they left a generous gift for their loyal customers: a free license for AutoPano Giga. AutoPano […]
All paid downloads are delivered now from a fast Backblaze cloud! After a few days of intensive testing, I have moved all paid files to Backblaze cloud storage. All links are encrypted, and generated on request. All freebies are still served from dedicated server located in France, but with a help of the Cloudflare content […]
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 […]
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 […]
1. VRay Renderer First, you need to enable V-Ray rendering engine for your project. In main, upper menu, go to the Rendering > Render Setup, or simply press F10 shortcut key. Choose V-Ray as a Renderer. If you have a decent GPU card, use V-Ray GPU. Close Render Setup window. 2. VRay Physical Camera. The […]
Most of the hdri maps downloaded from my website are OpenEXR format (. exr extension), as this format provides the best quality/file size ratio. OpenEXR also supports layers and is considered as an industry standard in Game Dev and film production, as it offers more flexibility in the post production process. Keep in mind that, when using […]
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 […]
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. […]
At May 13th 2021 when visiting CGChannel.com you coul find an article about HDRMAPS and my work. I felt delighted when appeared on frontpage of cgchannel.com which is one of the most popular and visited website dedicated to 3D community. You can read full story here
Ivy Texturize add-on for Blender comes in handy when using Ivy Generator add-on, which comes bundled with Blender. You simply create an Ivy with leaves, and with one click Ivy Texturizer does the job for you, applying all needed materials and textures. It’s as simple as that. When you select leaves and click on Texturize button, all […]
Today I have written a simple add-on for Blender allowing to hide or show all particles with one click. I was searching for something which would allow me to hide all particle systems in my scene with one click. I didn’t find it, so I have decided to write my first, very simply Blender add-on […]
Activate Sun Position add-on Sun Position add-on comes bundled with Blender 2.91. To activate the add-on go to Edit>Preferences>Add-ons and search for “Sun Position”. Enable an add-on. In its preferences, you can enable additional information labels if needed. Once activated, the add-on will be visible in World Properties of Blender. Create a test scene and HDRI lighting […]
