What if you could download and use the same professional HDRi Maps and Backplates as giant brands like General Motors, Volkswagen, and Honda, all for free?
CGI.Backgrounds' new Free subscription plan helps you level up your 3D renderings by downloading free Hdris, HDRi Maps, and Backplates to add realistic lighting and visuals to your next rendering in Blender, Unity, the Unreal Engine, or a variety of other rendering tools.
Our library of 200,000+ HDRi Maps and Backplates provides complete freedom to add quality virtual environments to anything you're creating.
What Our Users Say
Here's what our users are saying about CGI.Backrounds' HDR collection:
"The General Motors (GM) Design Global Creative Visual (GCV) team utilizes CGI.Backgrounds' backgrounds within our varied image development pipeline. The team has produced more than 100 images over the last 3 years that have included backgrounds from CGI.Backgrounds.” - Stephen Gray, Global Manager, Creative Visualization at General Motors
"CGI.Backgrounds provides the best HDRi content for my automotive work." - David Baylis, Technical Marketing Consultant at Epic Games
What Our Free HDRi Plan Includes
Our Free HDRi plan doesn't just provide you with comps, preview images, or unusable "freebies." Rather, our plan gives you access to the same high-quality HDR imagery we supply to the world's leading agencies and brands.
With our Free plan, you can download one free HDRi map each month , using the CGI.Backgrounds website or our CGI.B Connect app. Our Free plan includes maps at a 2K resolution, allowing for quality renderings.
Our library includes extensive metadata about our HDR images, so you can easily find required images for nearly any use.
There are so many things you can do with our Free HDRi Maps. You can use them on your portfolio site, in a class, in a presentation to a prospective commercial client, on your Behance profile, and for other unpaid, non-commercial purposes.
You can also use them to evaluate the quality of our HDRi maps before you register for a higher-level plan.
If you don't use your Free HDR download in a given month, you can always save your free image to your computer to use in a future month.
What if I Want to Upgrade?
Because this is a Free Hdri plan, we do place some restrictions on the use of your HDR images.
While it's totally fine to use our Free images for private purposes, to download them to your computer, or to use them for student projects, our Free plan does not allow use of our images in commercial projects.
Don't worry, though--if you plan on completing any commercial projects with our HDRi Maps, it's simple to upgrade to a CGI.Backgrounds plan that allows use in both private and commercial projects.
Our Freelance plan , for example, costs only $48 per month, but provides a license for use in private and commercial projects, so you're covered no matter how you use our HDRi maps.
You also get the benefit of super high-resolution downloads, up to 450 megapixels! And you get far more monthly HDRi downloads.
What's a commercial project?
Any project where you're getting paid is a commercial project. Again, you're welcome to use our free HDRi maps for client pitches, work samples on a portfolio page, or student projects.
If you win a big client and starting charging for your work, though, just make sure to head over to the CGI.Backgrounds website and upgrade to one of our commercial-use plans.
There's no long-term commitment --you can always upgrade for the month you need commercial downloads, grab your HDRi Map file or Backplate file, and then downgrade the next month and go back to a Free plan.
Is This Anything Like HDRi Haven?
HDRi Haven is a great resource for free HDRi environments, and their library includes some excellent work. They're a popular choice for 3D designers, and we understand why.
There are a few key differences between our library and alternatives like HDRi Haven and Polyhaven, though.
Professional Images
Many maps on sites like HDRi Haven and Polyhaven are uploaded by amateur or hobbyist photographers. These can be useful for certain projects, but if you're embarking on a large commercial project, you want the clarity of an image license and the assurance of a professionally-shot image.
Even though we're providing access to our HDR library for free , all our HDRi environments were shot by professional photographers, and they have clear rights. You get a comprehensive, industry-standard license with every image you download from our website, both free and paid.
Library Size
Likewise, because such sites are fully free, they have limited libraries. Most have between 500 and 900 HDR images in their libraries. In contrast, we have over 5,300 HDRis in our subscription library, with 6,000+ additional HDRi environments available to purchase a la carte.
None of that is to put down other free libraries. They're a great resource for students and other users creating 3D renders. But if you want the assurance of a professionally-shot map, you need a license, or you just need more choices, we feel our library is the best bet.
Where Can I Find Free HDRIs?
Because our free plan allows you to select a monthly download from any of our premium HDRis, thousands of HDR images on our site are "free HDRIs".
Just create a CGI.Backgrounds account , sign up for our Free plan , and then search our site for the HDRi background that fits your needs.
Where Can I Download Free HDRIs?
To download free HDRIs from our collection, the first step is to create a CGI.Backgrounds account . You can then subscribe to our Free plan.
Once you're subscribed and have logged in, you can search for images, check your credit balance, and download your monthly free image.
If you want to upgrade down the line, just go to your CGI.Backgrounds account or reach out to contact@cgibackgrounds.com for help.
