sIBL Loader for Cinema 4D
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Release notes
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Applies to version 1.5 (for C4D R12/13/14), June 18th 2013
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Thank you for downloading the Smart IBL Loader plugin for Cinema 4D. This plugin provides a graphical browser for Smart IBL presets on your system and allows you to apply them easily to a scene.

Version 1.5 adds full support for Cinema 4D R14, improves compatibility with Vray for C4D, and implements the new 'Lightsmith' addition to the sIBL format.

Since the proportion of users who use C4D R11.5 or earlier is now very small, and because the Maxon SDK for Cinema changed very significantly from R12 onwards, version 1.5 of the sIBL loader only supports C4D releases R12, R13, and R14. The earlier versions which supported C4D down to R10.111 will remain available but do not include the above changes.

I have also decided to release sIBL Loader v1.5 under the GNU General Public Licence. For details of what that allows you to do, please see http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html. Among other things, the full source code is included in the downloaded archive, and you may change and recompile the plugin as desired.

If you do make any changes to the plugin, I would be very happy to see them!

Changes since version 1.15 (for C4D R10/10.5) and 1.2 (for C4D R11/11.5/12)
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The following changes have been made:
 sIBL files in which the sun light has been incorrectly implemented are now scanned to load a proper sun light (an infinite light) rather than a spotlight as in previous versions
 the ability to remove an sIBL set from a scene has been added
 in Vray the reflection HDRI is now added to the Vray environment refraction tab as well as the reflection tab (this can be disabled if desired)
 in Advanced Render, if spheres are used to hold the HDRIs and background, rather than Sky objects, a phong tag is added to the background sphere to prevent a facetted appearance in the editor (this never affected the render, only the viewport appearance)
 in Advanced Render, if spheres are used to hold the HDRIs and background, rather than Sky objects, the Render Perfect option is disabled on the sphere holding the reflection HDRI, to prevent large black artefacts appearing on rendering (this was never seen if Sky objects were used)
 if you have multiple folders with sIBL files in them (i.e. if you have multiple collections) there is now the ability to set one of the collections as the default one to be loaded when the plugin is run
 in Advanced Render and Vray, you can now choose to implement non-sun lights either as omnis or spotlights (in earlier versions they were always spots)
 there are also several other interface enhancements and minor bug fixes

Changes since version 1.0
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Considerable extra functionality has been added since the original release. New features include:

* compatibility with Vray for C4D R11/11.5/12 (requires version 1.2 or later of Vray - may not work correctly with earlier versions)
* ability to add an editor background when using Vray
* ability to filter sIBL sets to find the set you want
* the loader can now use multiple collection folders rather than using one large folder to hold your sIBL sets
* an option to apply an sIBL set with linear workflow

In addition there are a number of bug fixes and interface tweaks, and more of the parameters in the .ibl file are now implemented. The manual has been fully updated. Please read the section on using the plugin with Vray, if you are intending to do that, and the section on setting up linear workflow with Vray or Advanced Render.

You will see from the above list that the loader does not support Vray in C4D R10 and R10.5. There are two reasons for this: Vray is no longer supported for R10 anyway, and I am unable to compile a separate version for R10.5. Therefore, Vray support is only included for R11 and higher. At the time of writing (September 2010) Vray for C4D is not available for C4D R12, and it will probably be some weeks before it is. I have not been able to test Vray support for R12, but since there are no changes to the code, it should work without problems. It will, of course, be tested as soon as Vray is available for R12.

Important: please be aware that the sIBL Loader for C4D R11/11.5/12 now includes a new channel shader called Bitmap Transform which you will see in your material editor. It has been added specifically for use with Vray, and can be ignored if you arent using the loader with Vray, although it will still work in ordinary materials (but the layer shader is preferred).

Introduction
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Image-based lighting (IBL) is a highly realistic way of lighting a computer graphic scene. However, it can be tedious and time-consuming to set up a scene with good IBL. The Smart IBL system (sIBL), developed by the folks at HDRlabs.com, is a method for making it very easy to apply IBL lighting rigs to a scene.

For full details of sIBL, please refer to the HDRlabs website (http://www.hdrlabs.com/sibl/index.html). In brief, the system provides for:

 image files for background, lighting, and reflection
 creation of the necessary skydomes to hold these images
 creation of sun objects for outside scenes, including alignment, colour, and brightness
 creation of multiple lights for interior scenes, again including alignment, colour, and brightness
 inclusion of GPS data so the user can see exactly where an image set was shot
 easy (often one-click) insertion of all images, lights, and objects into a scene

These parameters are controlled by a text file with the extension IBL. This file, plus the associated image
files, makes up an sIBL set. A user may have multiple sets and from the loader choose which one to apply to the
scene.

Loader scripts or plugins exist as freeware for several high-end 3D graphics applications (Max, Maya, XSI, Modo and
Lightwave), but until now, not for Cinema 4D. The purpose of this plugin is to add C4D to that list.

System requirements
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For this version of the plugin you need:

 Cinema 4D release 12 or later
 Windows XP, Vista, or Windows 7, 32- or 64-bit, or Mac OSX 10.4 or later (10.7 or later for R14)
 optionally, Vray for C4D version 1.2.6.2 or later (earlier versions will not work correctly  please use the latest version, which is a free upgrade from the developers for registered users)

And, of course, you need some sIBL sets to try it out! Head over to the sIBL archive (http://www.hdrlabs.com/sibl/archive.html) and you will find numerous sIBL sets with high-quality HDR images. Download a few of these.

The latest addition to the smart IBL standard is the introduction of a new technique called 'Lightsmith'. Version 1.5 of the loader now supports the use of Lightsmith sets in both the C4D inbuilt renderer and Vray for C4D.

You can also find excellent HDRI images, already arranged into Smart IBL sets, at Bob Groothuis web site,
http://www.bobgroothuis.com/. I recommend taking a look at Bobs site and what he has to offer.

Installation
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Unzip the archive into your cinema 4d plugins folder, or better, into the user data folder for Cinema 4D. Either will work.

Usage
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Full details on using the plugin are contained in the PDF manual in the archive.

**** NOTE: the manual is the original version from 2013 and may appear to be a little out-of-date in 2021. The plugin functionality is uchanged, however. ****

Contact
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If you want to contact me, please use the contact form on my site at https://www.microbion.co.uk/contact.htm. Thanks!

Steve Pedler
June 2021
