Free tool: Open Light generates procedural HDR light textures
Skydance Animation Senior Lighting Artist Borja Rama has released Open Light, a handy free procedural tool for generating HDR light textures like gobos and softboxes.
The software, which is aimed at lighting TDs and compositors as well as generalist CG artists, generates 32-bit 4K light textures, and supports ACEScg workflow.
A professional tool for generating light textures for VFX, animation and virtual production
According to Rama, he created Open Light because “I kept needing custom light textures and got tired of hunting for them, so I built my own tool.”
As well as Rama’s own work as a lighting artist for animated features, Open Light is aimed at professional VFX, motion graphics and virtual production, or just general CG work.
It includes 10 core modifiers geared towards recreating real-world studio light types, including softboxes, LED panels, reflectors, ring and strip lights, and fluorescent tube banks.
Users can modify the results using simple slider controls, previewing the result in real time.
The output can be post-processed to set color temperature, apply barn doors, grid overlays or vignetting, and even apply simulated color gels from the real-world Lee and Rosco libraries.
Completed light textures can be exported as 32-bit EXR or HDR files at up to 4,096 x 4,096px resolution using sRGB Linear or ACEScg color space.
Price and system requirements
Open Light is available for Windows 10+. Rama is working on a macOS version. To use it, you will also need any modern web browser: Rama recommends Chrome, Firefox or Edge.
The textures themselves can be used in any DCC software that supports HDR lighting, including 3ds Max, Blender, Houdini, Maya, Unity and Unreal Engine.
Open Light is free in beta, but if you use it, consider making a donation through Gumroad to help fund future development.
Read more about Open Light on Borja Rama’s website
Download Open Light from GitHub
(Enter a figure of $0 to download it free, or make a voluntary donation to support development)
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