One of the great techniques to achieve hyper-realistic images in 3D projects is to use of HDRI maps in our renders, thanks to the dynamic ranges of colors, lights and intensity that have this kind of maps. They can not be displayed in a screen, because they are not able to display the information they contain, but they are suitable for any 3D or visual effects software to use them. If you want to know more about HDRI I invite you to access this website.
Sites to download HDRI maps
Next I want to share with you a small list of websites where to get HDRI’s maps to use in our projects:
HDRI-SKIES – www.hdri-skies.com
Here you can find outdoor HDRI’s maps. They offer 2 versions of each HDRI, one free and one paid. The search filter is not very practical, you can select HDRI’s maps depend on the time of day they were taken. However, the catalog they have is quite extensive.
HDRI-HUB – www.hdri-hub.com
The HDRI maps offered by this website is smaller, but more varied and better organized. As in the previous case, they offer a paid version and a free version. They also have a tutorial section where they explain how to illuminate our 3D scene in different programs to help us use HDRI maps and get the most out of them. They also have sections to download 3D models and textures that could be useful.
HDRMAPS – www.hdrmaps.com
In this website we find several sections focused on HDRI maps. Most of maps which we find in the website have a fee, but they have a section of free maps too, which can be useful, although they are very untidy, so it can be a little frustrating when looking for the map whitch best suits us. The HDRI maps, which we must pay a fee, are very well tidy, on the one hand we have the outdoor scenes of open sky and on the other scenes in natural environments, urban, road or interior.
HDRIHAVEN – www.hdrihaven.com
As its own name domain says, it is the heaven of HDRI’s maps. We find a huge catalog (more than 200) and very tidy, where we can search within different categories and perform more exhaustive searches among the wide variety of results offered.
Besides they offer a section of textures prepared for 3D projects too. A wide variety of maps to create 3D materials of the highest quality. Here the catalog is short, in fact something scarce, but the possibility of downloading all the maps prepared to create our material already makes it quite interesting.
HDRLABS – www.hdrlabs.com
Finally we have this website very interesting because the resources available are amaizing and you will spend time trying the tools they offer and reading their tutorials. As for the catalog of HDRI’s maps is not very extensive, in fact it is not necessary any search field or filter to search through the maps, but it is assorted. If you want to go deeper into HDRI maps, they have published a very complete book in which they deepen in everything related to this topic, which you can purchase through Amazon.
Create your own HDRI maps
Another option to get quality HDRI maps, is to create them yourself, but for that you will need a good photographic equipment that allows you to capture all the necessary light information and then process it on the computer. Here is a video where the process is explained in detail. I hope you take advantage of it, and as always, if you know any new resource, in this case for HDRI maps, leave it in writing in the comments.
