Half Life 2: Lost Coast HDR Overview

HDR stands for High Dynamic Range, and is also sometimes referred to as High Dynamic Range Imagery (HDRI) or High Dynamic Range Rendering (HDRR). The Dynamic Range is the ratio of the largest value of a signal to the lowest measurable value. Current 16-bit integer-based formats use colour component values from 0 (“black”) to 1 (“white”), but don’t allow for what is known as “over-range” values, for example, a whiter-than-white highlight glinting off a piece of metal.

This is an absolute fantastic article that I highly recommend checking out. This HDR tech is much cooler than I originally thought, and the screenshots will tell you what I mean. You can check out all the details on the technology over at Bit-Tech.