Version: 5.0
Build Date: 2015.0424
Release Date: 12 May 2015
Requirements:
Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10
Mac OS X 10.7 or later
Linux Fedora 13 and above
Cinema 4D connection, build 2015.0324
LightWave 3D connection, build 2015.0408
Maya connection, build 2015.0422
MODO connection, build 2015.0423
3ds Max 2013, 2014, 2015 connection, build 2015.0422
3ds Max 2016 connection, build 2015.0520
Headline New Features
New full screen interface with panels that can be moved, resized, tabbed and docked.
Preset lights can be dragged from a library and dropped onto the canvas, model or light list.
You can load your own LDR and HDR images as picture lights to illuminate your model. LUT, flip image, desaturate, invert alpha and unpremultiply options included.
There is a new light type - Uber Light. This allows you to dynamically switch between light shapes and mappings rather than deleting the light and picking another light type.
Different color channels can be shown on the Canvas - HSV, Alpha, Red, etc. Transparency is shown using a checkerboard pattern.
The canvas and render view can now be viewed through a LUT.
A pixel probe has been added to the Canvas, so you can view HSVA and RGB values under the cursor.
Click and Drag buttons to scale, rotate and change light brightness. Enables the uniform scaling of lights with one control.
Render Settings have parameters for fresnel, samples and ray depth.
Light List - new preview thumbnail of the light is shown in the list.
Light List - right mouse click on a light in the list to duplicate, deselect or delete.
Light List - lights can be locked so their properties cannot be changed.
Light List - lights can be set as non-pickable on the canvas. This is handy for background lights that cover the whole canvas.
Light List - new solo functionality for one or more lights.
A background image generator that renders realistic skies is included.
A new Gradient light type has been added with linear and radial gradients.
New mapping types have been added - planar and spherical.
New secondary alpha multiply option available.
New content type - flat color provided.
Support for OpenColorIO has been added.
Load Alembic models with parameter to set the time in seconds.
Load FBX models (windows only).
New blend modes have been added - multiply, high-pass (using low pass with invert), hue.
The size of a light can be scaled in width and height keeping their proportions by using the Light Controls panel.
Headline Improvements
LiveLight is no longer a separate executable. It has been incorporated into HDR Light Studio.
LiveLight has been replaced by a new renderer, powered by Embree 2, that can give instant feedback when changing the following parameters: HDR lighting, view exposure, diffuse, reflection, shadow or background image adjustments.
Image import using mip-mapped images is much faster than in HDR Light Studio 4.
The way HDR Light Studio 5 is licensed has been greatly simplifed. Activation codes are bought and then converted to rlm license keys on starting the app. Customers no longer need to upload User Keys and wait for a key to be generated by hand.
The resolution of the proxy HDR images sent to your 3D app through a connection is no longer fixed at 646x323.
The directory for picture lights (presets) is no longer fixed. Customers can move these to a shared directory.
Color and value ramps are now part of the main user interface and no longer popup dialogs.
The fixed canvas resolution of HDR Light Studio 4 has been replaced with a resizable canvas.
The Canvas and Render View panels have a toolbar for common functions - move light, pan, zoom, etc.
Preset lights can be filtered using tags in the .xml file.
FreeCam mode is now a user configured camera position that retains its state. In HDR Light Studio 4, the freecam position was lost each time another camera was selected.
The following image tpes are supported: BMP, Cineon, DDS, HDR, IFF, Jpeg, OpenEXR, PNG, PSD, Targa, TIFF.
Invoking the Production Render using the last settings has been added to a button - rather than only being available on a keyboard modifier.
Faster multi-threaded final rendering of HDR maps.
In HDR Light Studio 4 the position of lights were set by longitude/latitude values. Only whole numbers of degrees were allowed. Now lights can be positioned with an accuracy of 2 decimal places.
Gradient backgrounds now have an alpha ramp.
In HDR Light Studio 4 models were loaded from the render settings dialog. In HDR Light Studio 5 models can be loaded from the Project menu.
The Light Preview thumbnail is no longer a fixed size. Exposure control, LUT and channel selection also provided.
