I'm a bit confused about HDRi Images. What do they store that the typical jpeg image does not? Is it simply a higher resol…

[Boris Kachscovsky]

I’m a bit confused about HDRi Images. What do they store that the typical jpeg image does not? Is it simply a higher resolution?

Also – what kind of computer is required to have it render so quickly? I get tons of fireflies and grainy images even with multiple importance. Is it a hardware problem?

[Kent Trammell]

HDRi images aren’t about resolution – they can be saved lo-res or hi-res. They’re unique in that they store ‘high dynamic ranges’, namely various exposure levels of light. JPEG’s and other standard image formats store normalized pixel information on a 0-1 scale. HDRi’s store pixel information above 1, which is *closer* to capturing reality’s lighting levels which are in no way limited to a 0-1 scale.

See wikipedia for more info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-dynamic-range_imaging

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