Here’s a comparison table between 16-bit half-float and 32-bit float OpenEXR formats:

Photoshop and 32-bit OpenEXR: A Common Challenge

One notable limitation is that Adobe Photoshop does not natively support 32-bit OpenEXR files. This can be a significant hurdle for artists and professionals working with high-precision EXR files. However, there’s a free plugin called Exr-IO for Photoshop that resolves this issue. By installing this plugin, you can seamlessly open and save 32-bit OpenEXR files in Photoshop, unlocking the full potential of this format.

Limited Tool Availability: Some Photoshop tools and filters may not be compatible with 32-bit images. This is because 32-bit images contain a vast amount of data, and some tools might not be designed to handle that level of information. When editing or patching hdris you will be limited to simple Stamp tool, Content Aware fill (which works great in most scenarios), and for color correction to Adjustment layers: Hue/Saturation, Channel Mixer, Exposure, Color Lookup, Photo Filter.

Affinity Photo and 32-bit

Affinity Photo provides full 32-bit OpenEXR support, preserving the high dynamic range and color precision needed for HDRI maps and VFX work. It maintains a linear workflow, ensuring accurate blending and lighting without clipping or unwanted tone shifts. The Live Equirectangular Preview allows seamless editing of HDR environment maps, letting users paint, retouch, and adjust directly in a 360° projection without distortion. Essential corrections like white balance adjustments can be applied non-destructively, ensuring accurate color calibration. The clone stamp, patch, and inpainting tools help remove artifacts or seams in HDR panoramas, while full layer support for OpenEXR files enables complex compositing with masks and blending modes. These features make Affinity Photo a powerful tool for professional HDRI and CGI workflows.

While Affinity Photo excels in many areas, exporting or editing very large files (e.g., 30K HDRI maps) is significantly less efficient than in Photoshop, which handles massive datasets more smoothly.

How to check if my OpenEXR is float 32-bit or half float 16-bit ?

You can easily check your OpenEXR file’s bit depth using several tools:

Nuke (Non-Commercial Version): Add a Read node, load your .exr file, and check the Metadata tab for the key “input/bitsperchannel” to see whether it’s 32-bit float or 16-bit half-float.

GIMP (Free): Open the .exr file, press Alt + Return to access Image Properties, and find the “Precision” key for bit-depth details.

3ds Max: Load the .exr file into a Bitmap node, and the bit-depth will be displayed automatically.

These methods ensure quick and accurate verification of your OpenEXR file format.

The post 16-bit half float vs 32-float OpenEXR appeared first on HDRMAPS™.

There is a simply solution for this. Open in windows explorer path: C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Autodesk\3dsMax\2022 – 64bit\ENU\scripts\startup (replace USENRAME with your own username, you need to show hidden files to be able to see AppData), and copy a file named Quixel.ms.

Next go to the same folder but for 3ds Max 2024: C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Autodesk\3dsMax\2024 – 64bit\ENU\scripts\startup and paste Quixel.ms there.

Restart 3ds Max 2024 and now when you export anything from Quixel Bridge it should work correctly.

The post Fix Quixel Bridge export to 3ds Max 2024 appeared first on HDRMAPS™.

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 next thing to do is to add VRay Physical Camera.

You can skip this part, and simply add 3ds Max Physical camera, which should be compatible with Vray Physical Camera.

In the newer versions of 3ds Max and Vray, VRay Physical Camera is “hidden” and not selectable from any menu. However, you can still create it using a script.

Simply paste vrayCreateVRayPhysicalCamera() to bottom-left corner, where it says MAXScript Mini Listener and press Enter. That will create VRayPhysicalCamera() with coordinates (0,0,0).

Alternatively, you can turn any existing camera to VRay Physical Camera, and this is what I recommend you to do. Select an existing camera object at Scene Explorer, change viewport to the selected camera by pressing “C” shortcut, and finally drag and drop j2G_Convert2VrayCam.ms script into the window (To get script, you need to open the link, CTRL+S to save it to your drive, without changing an extension).

3. Creating Vray Dome Light

Change Viewport perspective to top (shortcut T).

Go to the menu Create > Lights > V-Ray > V-Ray Dome Light, or use icon to select V-Ray Dome Light.

Click at any place, where you want to create V-Ray Dome Light.

In General settings at the right side, click on “No Map button“, search for VRayBitmap, click on it.

It will open a window titled “Choose HDR image“. Load any hdri map you’d like from your drive.

If you don’t have any hdri map you can download it for free from here.

Another way of loading hdri to V-Ray Dome light is to create in Slate Material Editor a VRayBitmap, loading hdri map (don’t forget to set Mapping type to Spherical), and linking node’s output as an Instance to the map slot of VRay Dome Light.

Open Slate Material Editor, by pressing the M key. While keeping V-Ray Dome Light selected,

in the upper menu use Material > Get from Selected, to easily navigate to VRrayBitmap node.

Click on it twice, to get access to all settings.

Before starting Vray RT preview, you need to change few settings here:

– Flip horizontally must be checked

– Set Inverse Gamma somewhere around 0,8. Lowering gamma value introduces more contrast to the light.

– If you want to rotate HDRI Map, just change Horizontal Rotation

– Most of the hdri maps will be too dark, so you need to set Processing > Render multiply value to some higher value.

4. VRay RT preview and final tweaks

Press key C in the viewport, and select VRay camera view.

Start V-Ray RT and tweak hdri settings in the Slate Material Editor until it satisfies your needs.

If you are not happy with the color balance HDRI map produces, you can easily select your VRay Physical Camera, go to the Modify tab, and play with settings at Color & Exposure section.

The post HDRI Lighting Setup in 3ds Max and V-Ray 5 appeared first on HDRMAPS™.