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CINEMEA 4D 2025 SUPPORT HAS NOW BEEN RELEASED
Cinema 4D Plugin
Blender Addon
3ds Max Plugin
Maya Plugin
Rhino Plugin
Houdini Plugin
MODO Plugin Kit
Omniverse Plugin
Octane Standalone Plugin
SOLIDWORKS VISUALIZE Plugin
VRED Plugin
Unreal Engine Plugin
Patchwork 3D Plugin
DELTAGEN Plugin

CINEMA 4D LIGHTING PLUGIN

HDRI Maps made with HDR Light Studio
Diesel Watch by Farid Arajpour and lit with HDR Light Studio
Credit: Farid Arajpour
Nissan Kicks by Duncan Dix and lit with HDR Light Studio
Credit: Duncan Dix
Jimi Hendrix by Declan McGurry
Credit: Declan McGurry

HDR Light Studio adds real-time HDR lighting tools for Cinema 4D
HDRI map authoring and HDR Area Lights

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Cinema 4D Lighting Plugin

Cinema 4D
Lighting Plugin

Established in 2009

Lighting pixels
since 2009

Industry Standard

Industry standard
HDRI editor

Used in over 80 countries

Used in over
80 countries

Over 12,500 licenses sold

Over 12.5 thousand
licenses sold

Over 1.5 million renders lit

Over 1.5 million
renders lit

Cinema 4D Lighting Plugin

Cinema 4D
Lighting Plugin

Established in 2009

Lighting pixels
since 2009

Industry Standard

Industry standard
HDRI editor

Used in over 80 countries

Used in over
80 countries

Over 12,500 licenses sold

Over 12.5 thousand
licenses sold

Over 1.5 million renders lit

Over 1.5 million
renders lit

Cinema 4D Lighting Plugin

Cinema 4D
Lighting Plugin

Established in 2009

Lighting pixels
since 2009

Industry Standard

Industry standard
HDRI editor

Used in over 80 countries

Used in over
80 countries

Over 12,500 licenses sold

Over 12.5 thousand
licenses sold

Over 1.5 million renders lit

Over 1.5 million
renders lit

HDR Light Studio User Interface

HDR Light Studio for Cinema 4D

Live HDRI Map Authoring

HDRI maps are an amazing way to light your renders. Image-based lighting produces photo-real results and is easy to use. HDR Light Studio allows you to easily create and edit HDRI maps whilst you see the lighting result live in Cinema 4D. To move a light, simply click on the 3D model where you want the lighting effect to be and the new light position is automatically calculated and moved for you - we call this LightPaint.

"It's a really powerful lighting program. I like that you can create really professional lighting and make your work even better."

"HDR Light Studio helps me control the light in a very intuitive way. I don’t need to put the light on the object and see how it looks, I can plainly just draw light on top of the object."

"With HDR Light Studio I'm able to light accurately and in a very creative way. It's definitely simple to use, fast and user-friendly."

Testimonial by Michael Sapryhin

Michael Sapryhin
See Behance

Testimonial by Alex Trochut

Alex Trochut
See Website

Testimonial by Farid Arajpour

Farid Arajpour
See Behance

HDR Textured Area Lights

HDRI maps will light everything in the scene from a distance. There are times where you need to light a specific detail. With a single click, any light in HDR Light Studio is instantly converted into a HDR Textured Area Light that can be moved closer to your model. The area light and shader network is built in an instant in Cinema 4D for the chosen renderer. As you edit the Area Light in HDR Light Studio, everything is kept in sync in Cinema 4D. With a single click the light can be returned to the HDRI map and will be deleted from Cinema 4D.

Pint of Guinness by Lightfarm Studios
Faucet by Marius Wilkens-Zimmermann
Vegan Chocolate Bar by Nei Ramos & João Ramos

The easy new way to light in Cinema 4D

1. Start HDR Light Studio Plug-in


Choose between the compatible renderers: Cinema 4D native renderer, V-Ray, Octane, Arnold, Redshift or Corona. Starting the HDR Light Studio plug-in will open a dedicated lighting interface connected to your current Cinema 4D session. Whilst you light in HDR Light Studio, all the lighting will be automatically built in your Cinema 4D scene.

Cinema 4D Native Renderer V-Ray Octane Arnold Redshift Corona

2. Drag and drop Lights


HDR Light Studio comes with a huge library of realistic HDR lighting content. Quickly browse the lighting library then drag and drop lights onto the model to build your own HDRI Map and area light setups. You can try 6 of our area light map textures here for free.

3. Precisely paint the light positions


With the LightPaint feature, positioning lights exactly where needed can be done with just one click. Simply click and drag on your model!

Ambassador Watch by Nihal Omar
Cup of Coffee by Exorbit Art
ZA! Chocolate by Nei Ramos & João Ramos

The Lighting Tool for Professional Cinema 4D Artists

HDR Light Studio has been helping thousands of Cinema 4D artists since 2009. You too can join the ever-growing user base of 3D artists that benefit from the lighting solutions provided by the HDR Light Studio plug-in.

Dmitriy Glazyrin's customer story

Dmitriy Glazyrin, Mondlicht Studios

Dmitriy has been using HDR Light Studio to light quickly since 2013. With the time that the plug-in saves him, he can take on more projects. Read his story here.

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Marius Wilkens-Zimmermann's customer story

Marius Wilkens-Zimmermann, Digital Artist

Marius came across HDR Light Studio when looking for a lighting tool that would help him with lighting chrome surfaces. He finished the job and his client loved it!

Read More
Duncan Dix's customer story

Duncan Dix, Art Director

Duncan regularly heard about HDR Light Studio and how it’s a popular lighting tool for 3D illustration and digital art for print. When Duncan tried HDR Light Studio, he started questioning how he ever managed without it.

Read More
Monat Collection by Anderson Restrepo
Nissan Kicks by Duncan Dix
Dyson Supersonic by Marius Wilkens-Zimmermann

Ideal for lighting Automotive, Product, & Packaging visualizations

Studio lighting is all about clean, flawless, yet realistic reflections. It’s essential to have full lighting control over individual lights to easily create beautiful studio lighting setups for scenes containing chrome, matt or satin surfaces. In HDR Light Studio, each light is defined by a collection of editable properties that make up the appearance of the light - color, position, size, shape, opacity and much more.

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Try for free
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"When it came to lighting the objects, I could place all the lights very easily and try out many different things fast."

"The time it took to get to the desired result was much faster than previous methods, and also the experience was really fun."

"The real-time feature is a godsend while working on multiple shots of a single product, it allows you to create multiple studios set in a super easy and fast way."

Testimonial by Alex Trochut

Alex Trochut
See Website

Testimonial by Nei Ramos

Nei Ramos
See Behance

Testimonial by Matteo Rossi

Matteo Rossi
See Behance

Bose Alto Falante SoundLink by Marcelo Jeremyas
Toyota Corolla Hybrid GR Sport by Tim Taylor
Coca-Cola Can by Declan McGurry

Learn lighting in minutes and see instant results

We understand it’s difficult to add more tools to your workflow. It’s why we have engineered HDR Light Studio in a way that’s easy and most importantly quick to learn. You’ll see improvements in the speed and quality of your lighting just by following our HDR Light Studio and Cinema 4D Plug-in Quick Start videos.

HDR Light Studio - Quick Start Video

HDR Light Studio - Quick Start

Watch Now
Cinema 4D Plug-in - Quick Start Video

Cinema 4D Plug-in - Quick Start

Watch Now

Tonnes of Free tutorials

With our wide range of tutorials, you’ll be ready to create image-based lighting for any 3D project.

Free Cinema 4D lighting traning videos
Learn to Light
Mr Black Bushfire Relief Edition by Visual State
Audi A4 Avant by Maurice Jochem
Omega Speedmaster by Matteo Rossi

Widely Compatible with Regular Plug-in updates

HDR Light Studio Plug-in for Cinema 4D (Build: 2024.0918)

Operating system: Windows 10, 11 & MacOS 11.4 (Big Sur) or later
Cinema 4D: 26, 2023, 2024, 2025
Renderers: Cinema 4D native renderer, Redshift, V-Ray 5, Octane, Arnold, Corona

HDR Light Studio Plugin for Cinema 4D Compatibility

Plug-in Updates News

9th October 2024 (Plug-in Build: 2024.0918)

Support added for Cinema 4D 2025

Where Next?

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Try for free
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