More HDR

Thanks to Travis for the link. This is an HDR photo by dacoach89_89 which I find pretty cool. I like the entropy that wrestles everything to dust again!

So, if I wanted to insert a 3D object or character into this background I could use the picture itself as an illuminating source, so that the 3d character would perfectly fit in that environment as if it had been actually there.

I quote from the Maya documentation: With image-based lighting, you use an environment texture (an image file) to illuminate the scene. Typically, the image is a photograph of a real environment, either a panoramic image or a photograph produced by taking pictures of a chrome ball (to capture the surrounding environment).

This is a technology developed by Paul Devebec, a USC researcher who is best known for his work in high dynamic range imaging and image-based modelling and rendering. He was awarded (along with Tim Hawkins, John Monos and Mark Sagar) a 2009 Scientific and Engineering Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the design and engineering of the Light Stage capture device .

You have seen or can see his work in some of these films: The Matrix (1999), Spider-Man 2 (2004), King Kong (2005), Superman Returns (2006), Spider-Man 3 (2007), and Avatar (2009).

Image from HDR Shop, an HDR image processing and manipulation tool that you can download HERE , unfortunately Windows only:-(

HDRI

I was exploring on flickr when I came across some interesting photos. I did a little research and found out they were done using a technique called HDRI (high dynamic range imaging) or HDR for short. Basically what you do is take multiple shots of the same image; one with a normal exposure, one underexposed, and one overexposed. Then you bring the images into some editing software (something like photomatix) and put the images on top of each other. The result is a single image that supposedly has a higher dynamic range than the human eye. I think the pictures look a lot like video game images only more realistic. You can do this with digital or film and it can be done with video. The video link is in the title. Here is a link for some HDR still images:

PHOTOSTREAM