Flag Visuals has released DomeMaker 1.0, a lightweight tool that automates complex HDRI-based dome setups for 3ds Max with V-Ray. Co-developed with lighting specialist Jonas Noell, the plugin turns his manual “custom HDRI dome” method into a single-click workflow that builds the environment, matches a floor plane, and exposes practical controls for projection, scale, rotation, and exposure, all while previewing accurately in the viewport and rendering identically on CPU and GPU. The current vendor price is $30.
DomeMaker accelerates look-development in a few key ways. First, an integrated HDRI browser thumbnails your HDR folders so you can swap domes at speed and see how assets sit under different lighting without re-wiring maps. Second, you can decouple light intensity from the visible background to brighten subjects without lifting the plate, or keep it physically locked when accuracy matters. A white-balance control acts at the HDRI level (not as a post filter), temporarily hides the floor for responsive scrubbing, and then re-matches the floor color so everything lines up again.
On the rendering side, DomeMaker flips seamlessly between V-Ray CPU and V-Ray GPU, matching reflections, bump, and shadowing either in a separate IPR window or directly in-viewport. For faster iteration, you can temporarily minimize render elements to the essentials needed for denoising and restore the full set for final frames. When you need a clean comp plate, an invisible-background mode preserves HDRI lighting and reflections while hiding the dome, with a material/background panel for quick vignettes or solid-color backdrops that won’t break the scene’s light feel.
Floor integration receives special attention. The tool auto-matches a floor plane to the HDRI but lets you nudge brightness or hue and define the transition where the floor blends into the dome. For contact and realism, you can add calibrated reflections and a projection-derived bump with quick controls to keep it subtle. A dedicated Water Effects block adds parameterized wetness and puddles (regular or fractal modes) with seed variation, edge detail, brightness/tint and bump intensity, designed to track closely between CPU and GPU so a look developed on one engine renders equivalently on the other.
For presentation, a camera hub lists scene cameras, supports create-from-view, and exposes depth-of-field with click-to-focus directly in the viewport. A turntable helper can orbit a chosen camera around your object while rotating the dome for complementary light motion, with distance and height controls to dial the orbit.
From an editorial standpoint, DomeMaker is the “don’t think; just render” version of Noell’s widely shared manual setup. If you’ve been assembling HDRI domes by hand, the parity between CPU/GPU output, the HDRI-level white balance, and the rapid floor re-match will probably be the features you notice first. For anyone doing product shots, archviz stills, or asset reels, the speedup is immediate and the results are predictable.
Requirements, installation, support
Flag Visuals lists 3D Studio Max 2024, 2025, 2026 (English) and V-Ray 7 as the current baseline. Installation runs through the FV Tools Manager: after purchase you receive access to the manager, which you drag-and-drop into a 3ds Max viewport, log in with the email and order number tied to your account, select DomeMaker from the dropdown, activate with the emailed key, and let the manager fetch the versioned module. Dropping the downloaded .mzp into the viewport completes the install and places an icon in the main UI toolbar. If you encounter errors during install, launch 3ds Max as Administrator and, if necessary, run scripts via the Scripting → Run dialog.
Learn more / developer context
DomeMaker formalizes Noell’s Custom HDRI Dome workflow for V-Ray and was announced alongside a feature walkthrough. If you want the “why” behind the tool (or to revisit the manual method it replaces) start with Noell’s Patreon announcement and the earlier Custom HDRI Dome tutorial notes.
