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    HDR (High Dynamic Range) Tutorial

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    • EdsonE Offline
      Edson
      last edited by

      very useful tut, robert. thanks.

      edson mahfuz, architect| porto alegre β€’ brasil
      http://www.mahfuz.arq.br

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      • M Offline
        Maggy
        last edited by

        There are many much cheaper HDR tools than CS2. And most of them have much more options for how to increase and use the increased dynamic range. Photomatix, ArtizenHDR, EasyHDR, Helicon Filter and FDRTools are some of them. I use Helicon for standard dynamic range improvement and Artizen for spetacular effects.

        poster-Maggy

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        • M Offline
          Masta Squidge
          last edited by

          Yeah i heard about some of those at work tonight, i was coming on here to list a couple of the ones you just mentioned. At least I got a "very nice" out of it :egrin:

          Normally im horrible at these things... as you can tell im sure. My examples are poor, but thats because i dont have much experience with SU and Kerky. But it all works, and im curious to see what some of you guys can do with this method.

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          • M Offline
            mateo soletic
            last edited by

            Thanks for Your time and a great tutorial Robert.

            [Concept Illustrations](http://concept-illustrations.com/)

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            • F Offline
              Fletch
              last edited by

              Hi Robert and all, great that you gave this tutorial Robert, but thought I could save you some time and pain... as KT already contains all 32bits of light info in the rendering if you don't save as a .jpg you won't lose it. πŸ˜„

              Instead of going thru all that trouble to export 3 different images w/ diff. exposures and merge them inside of Pshop... in KT, when you save the image, choose to save it in HDR format. πŸ˜‰

              Now, to tonemap it, in Pshop go to Image>mode>16bit, this will allow you to now Tone Map your HDR.
              %(#FF0000)[EDIT
              But there's a better way, and it retains the 32bits of info...

              After you open the .hdr file in Photoshop CS+ go to Image>Adjust>Exposure]

              see my HDR tonemapped using the Exposure control on the Beach_Probe.hdr here. using my old stand-by the "Beach_Probe.hdr"

              This is by far the quickest, most direct, simplest, perfect real-time preview way I've found to tonemap an HDR. I have tried the other programs suggested on this forum, like PictureNAUT, but I like this way far better, as I can see the result in a perfect auto-preview in real time.

              There may be better tonemapping proggies out there. My favorite WASPictureNAUT I have beta 2.11.

              Also, If you just have a .jpg and didn't save the hdr or the 3 diff. exposure, you can tonemap a .jpg in Pshop CS with Image>Shadow/Highlights and Image>Exposure tools... these are really incredibly done and easy to use tools once you get used to them.

              Fletch
              Twilight Render Cross-platform Plugin for SketchUp on PC or Mac

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              • M Offline
                Masta Squidge
                last edited by

                Hey, i just noticed you dont live far from me. I live in Racine, near the mall here.

                Thanks, i guess that puts my six billion word essay to shame. But, its better to make a mistake and learn then sit on your butt and know nothing. Im gonna go give that a shot.

                how exactly does tonemapping work? <- New to.... everything relating to this stuff.also why is it that i cant seem to copy an HDR image onto a new canvas without losing all that HDR goodness... But if i do a print screen it works and looks just the same? Thats what i did with my second example, the far right image is the HDR that i made in Photoshop and i couldnt copy an paste it so i just hit print screen and that worked fine. Is there a way to convert it to a jpg or png or whatever without losing the look of it?

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                • M Offline
                  Maggy
                  last edited by

                  Thanks Fletch, I took a look at PictureNaut before, when all there was (or all I could find) was a German beta. I CAN read German, more or less, but I really don't like it...
                  I've not yet tried the English version, still downloading, but it looks good on the site!

                  Now hoping for a camera with built in HDR...

                  poster-Maggy

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                  • F Offline
                    Fletch
                    last edited by

                    to save HDR in JPG, you must convert in Pshop image>mode>8bit
                    or in 16bit, save as png (bigger image, but more info)

                    Hi Maggy! Long time no speak! How's our hero Van Nistelrooy doing? πŸ˜„
                    I prefer PshopCS2 very very much to any free HDR workshop... but give it a shot.
                    I've been using Pshop since like v.1, so it's a bit easier for me. πŸ˜„

                    Fletch
                    Twilight Render Cross-platform Plugin for SketchUp on PC or Mac

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                    • M Offline
                      Maggy
                      last edited by

                      @fletch said:

                      Hi Maggy! Long time no speak! How's our hero Van Nistelrooy doing? πŸ˜„
                      I prefer PshopCS2 very very much to any free HDR workshop... but give it a shot.
                      I've been using Pshop since like v.1, so it's a bit easier for me. πŸ˜„

                      van Nistelrooy is just doing what he does best, scoring.
                      Photoshop never had and probably will never have a user interface I can deal with
                      Photoshop never had and probably will never have a price tag I can deal with
                      And they try to serve too big a market, HDR is specialists stuff that HDR software handles best. Just like I've never seen a decent panorama stitched using no other software than Photoshop.
                      Professional photographers that I know, most of them do use Photoshop, but none can do without external programs and/or plugins that add up to the price of Photoshop. These same external programs and plugins function exactly the same in any .8b* compatible software.

                      poster-Maggy

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                      • F Offline
                        Fletch
                        last edited by

                        I enjoy watching Madrid very much... VN is really great to watch. Unfortunately for me, I've picked Barcelona as my fav spanish team πŸ˜„

                        hmm... was confused by the panoramic stich comment. I stitch pans in Pshop all day long... no prob... but lately have enjoyed using Hugin(panotools front-end gui) for that... just cant get the auto point sift proggie to work and play nicely w/ it for some reason πŸ˜•

                        Fletch
                        Twilight Render Cross-platform Plugin for SketchUp on PC or Mac

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                        • M Offline
                          Maggy
                          last edited by

                          Full 360/180 panos from Photoshop?? Including Zenith, Nadir, HDR, Ghost removal and so on?
                          Never tried Hugin. Use Autopano Pro, Autostitch, Enblend, Smartblend, a little good old Panotools (Dersch is still my Van Nistelrooy) and a little PTGui.

                          poster-Maggy

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                          • F Offline
                            Fletch
                            last edited by

                            Autostich is what I've been looking for... if it's as good as it claims... I'm going to try it now.

                            Thanks for the tip, Maggy! and, er... don't look now, but I think a cat is sucking your face. 8O

                            edit
                            so... I tried Autostich, and I feel like a COMPLETE IDIOT! Thanks "Maggy Van Nistelrooy", you are my new hero. It did just as good of a job in 3 minutes automatically what took me more than 2.5hrs manually in Pshop. 😒

                            Fletch
                            Twilight Render Cross-platform Plugin for SketchUp on PC or Mac

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