To begin this tutorial it is assumed that you have a basic understanding of what HDR images are and their importance as well as a basic understanding of how to use Tone-Mapping Operators in Artizen. If not, please read What is HDR tutorial and Using Tone-Mapping Operators

The benefits of this operator is that Lock06 gets the speed of Display but with the Local functionality of Cipher without any of the possible pitfalls of Cipher. One example of this is that when setting the Halos option in Cipher to -1.0, it can sometimes produce very flat results. Lock06 as shown below has the Halo option set to -0.5.

pre-tone mapped hdr from Sachform Technology HDRIbase vol. 3

A common and simple approach to applying the Lock06 operator usually begins with setting the Strength value to approx. 0.2. Once this has been done, there may still be some overly bright areas left. These can be reduced by using the Highlights slider, but avoid over reducing the Highlights as this could result in gray areas where white is expected. At times this could be intended when used in conjunction with Contrast, which will restore the gray areas back to white. The final step is usually working with the Saturation option, which helps boost any dull colors or helps create a more dramatic scene.

PreGamma: The majority of time this option doesn't need to be touched, but it comes in very handy when the image the weighs heavily to the light or dark. This is usually very noticeable in the histogram when the majority of blue lines lye below the bottom quarter or top quarter of the histogram. When you increase this value it de-saturates your image and the reverse when you reduce this value below 1.0.

Brightness: This option controls the overall brightness of the image and works similarly to a simple brightness color correction tool. Range (-10 to 10)

Saturation: Saturation boosts the brightness of each individual color. Range (0.0 to 1.0)

Strength: This option is the master control that determines the amount of influence Radius, Details and Halos option have on the image. If Strength is set to 0 than regardless of what Radius, Details and Halos values are they will not impact on the image produced. 0.2 seems to be a good initial value. Range (0.0 to 1.0)

Radius: This option controls how sharp/soft the Shadows in your image is with good initial values being between 0.5 - 1.0. If the value is set very low the image appears to be flat cause the shadows virtually disappear and blend into the the surrounding image. Setting this value very high helps smoothen out the Shadows and Halos so that they blend more smoothly into the image while preserving the overall contrast of the image. An important note to make here is that the higher the value the long this operator will take to process. Range (0.0 to 1.0)

Radiance: Since many tone mapping operators leave your image rather flat, Lock06 uses this option to help soften the image by distributing the Radiance. A good initial value is usually about 0.1 and then increase as needed. Range (0.0 to 1.0)

Halos: This option now allows users to take control of the halos caused by applying Lock06 to your image. Although at times halos look rather unnatural they are a common behavior of how nature disperses light and creates shadows in an area. Good initial values range from -0.5 to 0.5, and with most images. The trick to this setting is finding the balance between exposing detail and producing natural shadows. Range (-1.0 to 1.0) 

Highlights: This option allows for fine tuning of only the Highlights in an image. This is usually one of the last options to be applied and can be used for fine tuning while watching the histogram. If you need to increase or reduce this value beyond +/-0.5 you should really consider bringing this value closer to zero and then increase or decrease the Brightness value. In other situations where not just the highlights need to be adjusted the Highlights option in the Levels tool is very useful.  Range (-1.0 to 1.0)

Shadows: This option like the Highlights is for fine tuning only the Shadows in an image. This option is also one of the last functions applied to the image and is therefore very easily used in conjunction with the Histogram. Once again the Shadows option in the Levels tool is sometimes great to use instead of this option or in conjunction. Range (-1.0 to 1.0)

Midtones: This option controls the entire image as a whole to help position the majority of image detail in the most visible way. This option shouldn't even be needed 99.9% of the time and is primarily suppose to deal with either very dark or bright images when and the Luminosity, Highlights and Shadows options are unable to achieve the wanted results. Range (-1.0 to 1.0)