XDEPTH for LW - FREE

[RedBull]

It seems they have released a free plugin for Lightwave...

http://www.xdepth.com/

[Phil]

Windows only

[mikadit]

It's quite interesting. Thank you for the news.

-
Seems that the website is messed up, I'll try a check later.

[RedBull]

It's quite interesting. Thank you for the news.

-
Seems that the website is messed up, I'll try a check later.

No worries, the website was down yesterday....
But you can again download the Photoshop and LW plugins for free.

http://www.xdepth.com/download.php

[mikadit]

Thank you, downloaded right now.

[JohnMarchant]

I assume as its not mentioned thats its 32 bit only ??.

Regards, John

[Mitja]

Sorry for this question but: what does xdepth exactly do? I mean, what I would use it for? I read on the site but's not so clear to me. Thanks!

[RedBull]

Sorry for this question but: what does xdepth exactly do? I mean, what I would use it for? I read on the site but's not so clear to me. Thanks!

Basically it just means you can have much smaller HDR images now.
Xdepth uses Jpeg compression on HDR images, but also keep backwards compatibility, so you can see them in webbrowsers or explorer as you would a Jpeg. But the file itself actually contains the full 32bit HDR information, in a file size similar to the normal 8bit jpeg.

There were technically two competing technologies trying to make this happen (one by Microsoft) JPEG-HDR and HDPhoto, and both of them are inferior to this new format.

I'm not sure if this will allow faster renders, (haven't tried comparisons yet)
LW used to use the resolution of the image equaled the memory amount, and not the file size itself, but other applications at least like Photoshop will like the smaller sizes. Anyway nice to see LW developed for, before the other major packages for a change. LW was the first major application to support 96bit HDR FP pipeline, so it's nice to see the tradition continue.

[Mitja]

Aha, I see... thanks for the explanation!

[mikadit]

Had tested within LW, didn't notice much difference in bites with the classic JPG compression. :thumbsup:
I had installed only the LW plugin so I can not say much, expect that opening an XDP image will be read as a 96 bit image (of course) and it is impressive how is possible to modify the white points value without loss! ... Comaprison of same render saved in differents formats:
HDR 753 KB
JPG 132 KB
XDP 153 kb
XDP (lossless) 176 KB

Most of the time if LW (9.3.1) has already loaded one or more image in the image editor, it load the XDP with JPG extention in 24 bit format, not the expected 96 bit, maybe just becouse the defoult jpeg.p is overriding and in conflict with the XDepth.p. If the XDP with JPG extension is the first loaded image then it will be read as a 96 bit image and the white points will be editable.
Some time it crush and some time, opening first an XDP image (XDP extension), LW will not allow to open more images, as it say that for exemple HDR is not a valid format.
Render time and render quality using the same surce, XDP compared with HDR format, for IBL rendering seams to not beeing different. But, if I'm not wrong, that what compression does, the XDepth plugin read and uncompress all data.

I'm wondering the reason I don't need the IExplorer plugin to see the XDP saved from LW, to see the XDP output image, just changed the extension in JPG and opened in Windows' Image Viewer. Tested in Firefox and work too.

Anyway, I'm impressed to see such big HDR compression in JPEG format. :thumbsup:

[xdepth]

Most of the time if LW (9.3.1) has already loaded one or more image in the image editor, it load the XDP with JPG extention in 24 bit format, not the expected 96 bit, maybe just becouse the defoult jpeg.p is overriding and in conflict with the XDepth.p. If the XDP with JPG extension is the first loaded image then it will be read as a 96 bit image and the white points will be editable.
Some time it crush and some time, opening first an XDP image (XDP extension), LW will not allow to open more images, as it say that for exemple HDR is not a valid format.


Hi mikadit,
thank you for testing XDepth HDR.
We reproduced the issue you described...and we're working on a fix right now.

Should you find any other issue, please let me know and I will report to our engineers.


Best,
Carl Spencer - XDepth.com

[xdepth]

I'm wondering the reason I don't need the IExplorer plugin to see the XDP saved from LW, to see the XDP output image, just changed the extension in JPG and opened in Windows' Image Viewer. Tested in Firefox and work too.

Anyway, I'm impressed to see such big HDR compression in JPEG format. :thumbsup:

The IE ocx component download is only needed to web developers if they want to implement realtime exposure on their own websites. (and to view our web HDR gallery using IE)
Otherwise, as you correctly noted, xdp images are already compatible with web browsers and anything that reads jpeg.

Thanks to you and everyone in the thread for your positive appreciations and comments.

[xdepth]

I just wanted to let you know that the crash issue has been fixed.

The loading "conflict" has been tracked down too, so we should be able to release a fix to both issues by tomorrow.


Thanks again.

[mikadit]

Thank you for the reply xdepth!
I'm impressed for the fast reply and how fast are you going to fix the loading problem.
Thank you for the incoming fix and for the explanations.
I'll test the new fix as will be ready.

[Andrewstopheles]

Thank you! I have bookmarked and downloaded, and when I get my head wrapped around HDR in Lightwave I'll be even more thankful!
Maybe someone could explain to me a practical use of HDR in Lightwave? Is it only applicable to stills? How would one take advantage of HDR images in a video file?
I understand that you can get better quality renders, what I don't understand is where I would use a final file (especially video) that is HDR quality. I don't think my PC cares if it's reduced to a 24-bit RGB "final" file since it "can't" display HDR image quality...? Am I dead wrong?

[Mitja]

Thank you! I have bookmarked and downloaded, and when I get my head wrapped around HDR in Lightwave I'll be even more thankful!
Maybe someone could explain to me a practical use of HDR in Lightwave? Is it only applicable to stills? How would one take advantage of HDR images in a video file?
I understand that you can get better quality renders, what I don't understand is where I would use a final file (especially video) that is HDR quality. I don't think my PC cares if it's reduced to a 24-bit RGB "final" file since it "can't" display HDR image quality...? Am I dead wrong?

-There are several tutorials on use of HDR in a 3d software, just search (this is a thing that goes beyond a simple forum post, sorry).
-There's no better quality using HDR. HDR is like JPEG but: (in few words)HDRI-32 bit ---> JPEG 8-bit
HDR images require a higher number of bits per color channel than traditional images, both because of the linear encoding and because they need to represent values from 10−4 to 108 (the range of visible luminance values) or more.
So ,roughly, what you see as white (overexposed) in a JPEG, in an HDRI has still more color "depth", and the same with dark areas.

Anyway, HDR images are used in 3d packages to light the scene because of the 32bit depth: you can brighten the image without losing details on that image... it's more complicated to explain than experiment...:thumbsup:

[xdepth]

Ok, here we go, build 130 is now available at www.xdepth.com .

We tested it as much as possible but since we're not 3D artists we couldn't test with complex scenes, so you might want to make a test first by loading a complex scene you know it worked before installing XDepth.

Here's some relevant information about this build:

- Fixed the crash bug, when attempting to load some kind of jpegs.
- LightWave's jpeg loader has been bypassed - even because it looks a bit outdated. So now all the jpeg loading is handled by XDepth.
- Thanks to the jpeg bypassing, loading should be faster and LightWave now properly loads 32bit/pixel CMYK jpegs, a quite rare standard jpeg format but that yelds a higher quality compared to RGB 24bit jpegs.

About CMYK jpegs, consider that LightWave does not handle color profiles - which are needed to correctly "convert" CMYK to RGB. So you should expect a different "color" scheme compared to, say, Photoshop's CMYK.
Although, with LightWave's native jpeg support, CMYK jpegs were completely unsupported, and LightWave tried to load those images as 8bit grayscale...which resulted in wrong "scanlines" and ultimately in a corrupted image.

Please let me know your thoughts and first "test drive" results.

Thank you.

[mikadit]

Great, I had tested the new version and made few test similar to those I made before, everything work fine now. I can open any image without conflicts with those in XDP and JPG (XDP) formats. As soon as I can I'll make some more test.

As the jpeg loader is now bypassed, in the same way, is it possible to add a save option like: HDR_XDepth(.jpg) and HDR_XDepth_lossless(.jpg)?

[xdepth]

Thank you for testing mikadit, glad to hear everything's fixed.

About the saving options, would you add those options in order to save XDepth HDR with the ".jpg" extension (so, just a file extension option), or you meant saving 24bit jpegs ?

[xdepth]

Who said "64bit" ?! :)

XDepth HDR is now available for the 64bit version of Lightwave3D - Windows XP 64 and Vista 64.

As usual, being - very stable now - beta software, testing is appreciated.

Enjoy!

[mikadit]

About the saving options, would you add those options in order to save XDepth HDR with the ".jpg" extension (so, just a file extension option), or you meant saving 24bit jpegs ?
Yes, just for the extension, to have XDepth HDR with the JPG extension. Not important but would be useful to not change the exstension manually. More, the plugin, al least at my eyes, would appear more complete.

Good news the 64bit version. :thumbsup:

A classic question, any plan for a Mac version?

[3dworks]

...a mac version is on the way? ;)

the usual suspect asking this... :)

markus

[xdepth]

Yes, just for the extension, to have XDepth HDR with the JPG extension. Not important but would be useful to not change the exstension manually. More, the plugin, al least at my eyes, would appear more complete.

Good news the 64bit version. :thumbsup:

A classic question, any plan for a Mac version?

Right, adding the ".jpg" extension shouldn't be too hard. I've already forwarded the request to our software dept. Let's see what they come out with. :)

About a Mac version, we already thought about it but it looks like there's been some important changes with the LW plugins architecture for Mac lately.
So our engineers will probably want to wait for LW 9.5 to be released first.

[Exception]

I think I asked this somewhere but I can't remember where... will this support the new metadata function and save those details out for the JPG savers at least?

[xdepth]

I think I asked this somewhere but I can't remember where... will this support the new metadata function and save those details out for the JPG savers at least?

Hi,
can you please give more info on this matter ?


Thank you.

[RedBull]

Hi,
can you please give more info on this matter ?


Thank you.

I think he is referring to the EXIF and MetaData options that LW9.5 has added to the Real Camera. Basically when using certain Camera's LW will import with the relevant EXIF information. And automatically setup ISO/ FStop, Focal distance etc.... Images saved out of LW should also be able to be loaded in with the correct EXIF info already setup.

[Exception]

I think he is referring to the EXIF and MetaData options that LW9.5 has added to the Real Camera. Basically when using certain Camera's LW will import with the relevant EXIF information. And automatically setup ISO/ FStop, Focal distance etc.... Images saved out of LW should also be able to be loaded in with the correct EXIF info already setup.

No not quite.

Le now outputs EXIF metadata regarding render time and lots of scene settings when saving JPG, TiFF or PNG.

[xdepth]

Thanks for the info.
Actually XDepth does not replace LightWave's jpeg saving operations - but loading only.
Thus you should be ok with the new functions embedding EXIF when saving 24bit/pixel jpegs - as you'd normally do, if you were to use 24bit jpeg as the output format of choice.

Moreover, EXIF support is planned for the whole XDepth format, it might just take some more time.
For other LightWave-specific metadata, I'm sure we can work something out when 9.5 will be officially out.