Attached Link: http://www.guillaume3d.com/html/ressources.php?page=lienc

Some really nice one's here...

(Actually- I meant Light Probes, not MAPS! They're for lighting your scenes---)

Thanks for this - can't have too many of these things! :-)

XLT, Thanks.

What are light probes? and how do they work? Also, What is the difference between them and HDRI maps? Sorry for being lame but I just dont know and they seem important so now I am curious.

Thanks, Veritas777!

Light probe definition: "A light probe is an omni-directional (360 panoramic) high-dynamic range image. Because they 'see' in all directions and can record actual light levels, light probes are useful for providing measurements of the incident illumination. As such they can be used to provide interesting and realistic lighting environments and backgrounds for rendered graphics."

From:
Creating a light probe

_ jc...'Art Head Start' e-book
'Art Head Start.com site Digital Art skills. Free lighting chapter, tutes, Vue models, tex pix.

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/messages.ez?Form.ShowMessage=1977005&Form.sess_id=8123602&Form.sess_key=

Here's an old thread when Vue 5 first came out... HDRI Light Probes are very widely used in most 3D car renders you see- as they are highly realistic and, if done well, are so "real" that they look like professional photographs. Hollyood also extensively uses HDR Light Probes for Movie special effects scenes. What they do is go in and record the actual HDR data with special cameras- as they are shooting the empty street scene (or whatever) and then add in the racing, crashing, exploding cars, etc. in 3D so that everything matches perfectly together. Most car ads you see on TV today are all 3D creations. Location crews just go out and shoot empty roads so that producers can drop in the specific car model they want to feature- and let the client choose which exact color, trim, etc they want to show at that particular time the ads are going to run...

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/messages.ez?Form.ShowMessage=1989875

Here's another old thread with LOTS of links to HDR stuff. It was a BIG DEAL when Vue 5 first came out. When V5I came out the big thing became Eco-Systems! Hopefully E-On will have a big new "Whiz-Bang" thing when Vue 6 finally is released...