HDRI Editor for Blender released

Press release 2016-09-14 09:06 article > Software

This Blender addon will allow you to make professional looking environment lighting.

It’s perfectly suited for character renders, product renders, studio renders and motion graphics regardless of your software of your choice.

Use PROMO CODE: “cool3dartist” for more than 15% discount (first 100 sales only). Gumroad product page: https://gum.co/TZkTq

Features:

Full 32bit editing support for both OpenEXR and Radiance HDR
Real time updates in preview render(Cycles Render)
Procedural Ellipse and polygon variable shapes (triangles, squares, pentagons etc)
Mix any images with procedural lights for ultimate realism.
Flat, Gradient and image content.
Gradient content with color interpolations, and linear,radial and conical falloff. with advanced controls for each.
Use the painting tools in Blender to paint light where you wish on the HDR environment, allowing you much flexibility.
Light linking for single object (Including/Excluding Lists coming soon)
Independent light bulb settings with brightness curve editing.
Unlimited light layers.
Multiple Blend Modes supported to mix lights(Mix, Add, Multiply etc.)
Save the 32bit image as HDR or OpenEXR and use it in your software of your choice (C4D, Maya, 3ds Max, Lightwave, MODO, Rhino)

Author: Press release

Tags:

Chaos releases Corona 16 for 3ds Max and Cinema 4D with Gaussian Splat relighting and Parallax Interiors

Corona 16 adds GPU-accelerated Gaussian Splat relighting and a new Parallax Interiors system that renders furnished rooms behind windows using flat geometry, cutting memory overhead for multifamily and tower facades. New AI Assistant beta helps with mood matching and scattering.

Oruva brings 3ds Max scenes to Blender, Cinema 4D and others - with materials converted for each renderer

A new Windows tool reads native .max files and rebuilds V-Ray and Corona materials for target renderers, letting multi-software studios skip re-setup work.

Quixel Megascans is free again - and this time it's permanent

Epic Games has made the full 23,000-asset Megascans library free on Fab indefinitely as of November 5, 2026, with refunds for 2025 purchases and new AI training rights. The Fab Standard License covers any game engine or tool without renderer lock-in.

Claude Opus 5.5 cuts AI-assisted Blender workflows 40% cheaper and 30% faster

Claude Opus 5.5, released September 22, cuts API costs by 40% and speeds output by 30%, making AI-driven scene assembly in Blender more practical for solo artists. The model excels at staging, lighting and rig fixes but not production mesh generation.

V-Ray 7 Update 5 embeds AI guidance, asset generation, and MCP agents across the V-Ray Collection

Chaos shipped V-Ray 7 Update 5 on November 5-6 with 30+ features including an embedded AI Assistant, Cosmos AI asset generation, and MCP server connections to ChatGPT and Claude. 3ds Max users face delays while Rhino and SketchUp gain immediate native AI access.

Arnold 7.5.4: Render Pausing, Faster Viewport, and Shader Compositing

Arnold 7.5.4 adds true render pausing, expands viewport acceleration to 3ds Max and Cinema 4D, and introduces a Shader Imager for pixel-level compositing without full rerenders. GPU instance performance jumps 3x for large scene updates.

V-Ray 7, Update 5: AI Scene Building and AMD GPUs Meet Real-Time Ray Tracing

Chaos embeds AI assistants, MCP server integration with Claude and ChatGPT, 2D-to-3D asset generation, and AMD GPU support into V-Ray 7, Update 5. The update also bundles Vantage real-time ray tracing access for Collection license holders, targeting faster workflows without compromising offline render quality.