Realviz, an image processing software developer, has announced the release of the Realviz HDR Imaging Studio, which partners the company's Stitcher panorama software with VTour HDR and Photomatix Pro as a single software bundle. Realviz notes that the package is designed specifically to suit the needs of content creators developing HDR (high dynamic range) environments for virtual reality, industrial design, special effects and video game applications, starting from digital snapshots and panoramas. Using Stitcher 5.6, which was first introduced in May, users can build HDR panoramas and directly export them as environment maps for use in an assortment of popular 3D software packages. In addition, the VTour 1.2 HDR now also enables digital content creators to add depth information to their HDR environment maps for Spatial Image-Based Lighting (SIBL). SIBL enables users to create realistic and spatially coherent 3D shadows and reflections, photo realistic 3D sets, allowing any camera or object motion in this space, and spatially coherent 3D lighting with HDR texture maps. The third and final software application included within the Realviz HDR Imaging Studio is HDRsoft's Photomatix Pro, a stand-alone product that “processes the blown out highlights and flat shadows, which often result even from pictures taken with the best exposure, into harmonious HDR images with crisp details in both the highlighted and shadowed areas.” According to Realviz, the company's technologies have been used to help create visual effects in a variety of recent movies, including Sin City, Children of Men, Superman Returns, and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The company's products are also used by other industries and companies as well, including Electronic Arts, Boeing, Daimler Chrysler, and Sony Pictures Imageworks.