Can you make .hdr files without Photoshop?

MimicMolly

I want most of the panorama to be usable. I don't necessarily want to use the side with the buildings, I was just trying to find the seam and found it. I'll see if I can try out Microsoft ICE, because it looks like it'll help me turn the photo into a spherical panorama.

While there are darker parts of the photo, I had planned to use primitives to light it. I do have the DAZ Multiplane Cyclorama, I'll have to look at it to see how I can fit in that too. I haven't used it since I switched to Iray.

Fishtales

I've downloaded ICE, don't know when I'll get around to try it though :)

SixDs

Another thing to bear in mind is that the spherical panoramas not only include overhead shots, but also underfoot shots. That is one of the reasons why the aspect ratios for skydomes tend to be less exagerrated laterally, because they include up and down, rather than just back and forth. This matters, since it allows the spherical panos to be used not only to create a background, but also a seamless ground beneath any content you want to include in your scene. A lateral panorama witll only contain bits of the ground visible at a distance, making it difficult to create a seamless ground plane, as there isn't enough there to work with. You will discover this when using the old Multiplane Cyclorama as well. Even though it isn't spherical, it does use images that have a significant lower portion of the image devoted to the ground.