CAMBRIDGE, U.K., April 15, 2005 – ART VPS Ltd. has released a CD library of high-dynamic range imaging (HDRI) environments for use in 3D rendering. The CD contains 18 high-resolution, full spherical location shots with 26 exposures. The images are mostly of outdoor scenes, some of which have architectural elements. They depict different times of day and show natural and synthetic lighting.
Each HDRI file contains special contrast information used by ART VPS’s PURE and RenderDrive hardware to light a scene. Models used in combination with the HDRI images and rendered with the PURE card or RenderDrive system automatically adopt the lighting, shading and reflections of the environment. Users can simply drop a computer model into a scene and it will be fully integrated into the environment.
“Users no longer have to worry about manually tweaking the settings to get the look just right,” says Peter Taylor, sales manager with ART VPS. “When coupled with PURE or RenderDrive, these environments enable simple, faster and more life-like animations and still images that stand out from the crowd.”
PURE and RenderDrive hardware simulate the complex physics of the real world. The renderings they produce are identical to a high-quality photograph, but with the added value of realistic 3D effects and animation not possible with photos. Ray tracing within ART VPS’s specialized 3D graphics hardware enables images to be generated up to 35 times faster than with conventional software rendering.
ART VPS’s HDRI CD library is available immediately for ₤70, €100 or US$130. Throughout the rest of May, the CD will come free with all PURE cards purchased from ART VPS. artvps.com.
Bar none, the rendering quality of RenderDrive cannot be matched. We've gone to using it for 95 percent of our rendering work. A lot of solutions out there were ten times the cost, but still didn't come close to the performance of RenderDrive.
