Gaffer - A Lighting & HDRI Manager Add-on

Update: v3.1 is now out! Adding support for Blender 2.8 and some more minor features. It’s also on sale for the weekend, and now has an unlimited free trial if you want to test it out :slight_smile:


Say hello to Gaffer!

http://cgcookiemarkets.com/blender/all-products/gaffer-light-manager/

Gaffer is a Blender add-on that helps you light your scenes by presenting you with all the lamp settings you need to tweak in one simple panel.

I’ve been working on this add-on for the last few months in eager anticipation of the promising new Blender Market.

As a professional lighting artist and hobbyist coder, I created this add-on to help me with my every day work. Not only did it speed up my lighting workflow, but it meant I had more time to create better lighting.

If you’d like to see some more details about what’s it for and what it can do, take a look at the product page, or for a really detailed button-by-button walk-through, check out the documentation.

New in Gaffer v3 is a robust HDRI manager, with the ability to quickly switch between your HDR environment maps and adjust brightness, rotation, warmth, etc. all with a simple and intuitive interface. No need to fiddle with any nodes or wait for thumbnails of giant files to load.

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Check it out people, it really is a great tool to have in your Blender toolbox.

That IS neat, but FWIW the name had me confused - I thought this was regarding this Gaffer, which has received a lot of attention lately.

Unfortunately, the Gaffer you’re referring to is a misuse of the word because it incorporates far too much. At least, from the point of view of someone who’s been hanging out in the film biz for over 30 years. A gaffer does the heavy lifting for the lighting director on a film set.

Greg, on the other hand, is using the word properly… more or less. :slight_smile:

@gregzaal:

Do you plan to do a video tutorial on this or is it one of those things that, once I actually see it in operation, everything will suddenly become clear?

Mmm looks really great! will try this weekend!

@rontarrant video demo is on it’s way! Should be done with it by Sunday at the latest.

@Michael W thanks!

There was a plugin, made for the same purpose, for the old good Truespace too, having the same name:

http://www.angelfire.com/ia3/rndesign/TSX/LGaffer/tsxLGaffer.html

ron: You really don’t need a video to get started. The controls are very straightforward and intuitive.

If this were Facebook, I’d give you several thumbs up. :slight_smile:

I believe you, but in a past life, I lived in Missouri. :wink:

Great lookin’ tool, perfect name for it.

Today’s the day. :slight_smile: Can’t wait to see this in action.

Sorry, fell asleep waiting for the render :slight_smile: here it is:

Sorry, Greg, I’m having trouble following what’s going on. It looks like you’ve demoed Cycles, but is there anything for BI?

I have trouble with tutorials like this where there’s no voice-over telling me what’s going on. Call it a learning disability or I’m just stupid, I don’t know.

But thanks. It does look like you worked hard on it.

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I have to agree with rontarrant. It is hard to understand what you are doing, or what benefits comes from the addon when we only get to watch and not hear any explanations.

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Hi gregzaal,
Have you seen the post i sent you on your support Blender Market forum after buying your add-on?
I need to know how to find the magnifying glass able to find the solo mode.
Thanks for your help,
Patrick

Seen it now, thanks

Hmmm this doesn’t feel like news to me.

Many Thanks Greg for this quick reply, we continue to check the problem on your technical support.

I love how you give the Blender community a $15 plugin and people complain about it. We are so spoiled!

I’m also a professional Lighting Artist and I very much appreciate tools like this to speed up my workflow so thank you from me. I will surely purchase and play with this in the near future.