That are great links I work with the format OpenEXR using Artizen HDR before export to hdr check also www.openexr.com/

Ok here is a really bad first attempt at this...LOL. Actually IMHO it's probably the best lighting attempt I've done. This is only two lights then HDRVX_pond_01 set at 50% and 0.5 contrast along with an infinite light set a 80%  all I can say it's a start cuz I still am not understanding a lot of this thread. : -|

I seem to be getting a lot of light on her chest but not enough to bring her eyes forward.

set up AO for the IBL, and zoom in on the shadowcam for the infinite lite. turn inf-lite down to 33%.

If I use the infinite light with HDR IBL I set the models diffuse color always on R: 127 G: 127 B: 127
the middle of the grey color between the white and black, this bring the surface in balance, you need to use also shadows for the infinite light to get the more natural look, Ambient Occlusion is very low in a bright sunny day, it is more effective in a cloudy day where are not direct strog shadows, if you set the surface color right the infinite light will bright up the ambient occlusion that turn out more natural...
The HDRVX_pond_01 in poser 7 is set to bright, the contrast is very high on the HDR map already, I would use another one or just set the intensity of the IBL Light down until you see the blue sky in the shader node preview.

What an incredible thread. Catherine, your work speaks volumes on the quality of your imagery. I have much to learn from you.

And I can't be the only one who noticed, but will ask... you have an album coming out? Are you a recording artist?

Thank you **Warangel
**I wish my english was much better to express myself and what I mean but I try my best!
and yes I put out my second album worldwide soon..in collaboration with other american upcoming artists in the style of pop, hip-hop and r&b, check out my myspace page at www.myspace.com/kasiamusic

:-) Cathrine is a woman of many talents Warangel.

Congratulations to you once again.

Now I just have to see if I can learn to make my own HDRI images with a SONY W35 digital camera.

Yes, shadows are being used in the image on the infinite light I think they are over powered by the HDRI IBL light.

Please do not apologize for your English Catharina it is better than those whom are suppose to have a command of the language : )

Thanks!!!  :)

The SONY W35 is a very good camera you will get good results with, however it use only JPEG format from what I know, if you have any setting that allow you to make .tiff or RAW format use it, it is much better and the images have much more information ..
how more pictures with different exposure you do how more final info your HDR will have, this is good for the rendering later so you can control the light from the material room and have night or day light just from one good HDR Light Probe.. work always with 32 bit from the beginning to the end and don't forget about tone mapping of the hdr image , the tone mapping will set the balance of the hdr image on 0.0 EV  what is in poser the Intensity 1,000000, if you do that correct changing the intensity to 2.000000 will be like take pictures with +2,0 EV and vice verse..

The final HDR images looks always darker, b/c the monitors use different gamma 1,0.. photographers working on a monitors set with gamma 2,2  so the hdr images looks fine as they should looks like, however everything else viewed on the monitor will be looking to bright.. TV and Monitors have not enough brightens that why using a gamma of 1.0 help to bright everything up but is not the reality, if you look on a painting in real world the gamma curve would be 2,2 ..the picture you take with your camera is converting to gamma display curve to 1,0 what allow you to view the pic on your monitors or TV ... HD TV get close to this reality so about 4 years expect to see the virtual world in different way.. my monitor use gamma 2,2 with a light frame with components used in  HD TV so everything looks much more beautiful and sharp and the colors are brilliant.. but still it is virtual b/c even if i print a beautiful picture or render on a paper that have gamma curve 1.0 it looks not the same and i have to change the display curve of my render or image to 1,0 so you can view it or see it printed on paper, so now we need to expect better printers and print papers with new gamma and looking on a picture in the future would be like having a window in your hand.. and that is not more a fantasy.. HDR is the future and new revolution in print and media... and everything just started from a simple mirror ball and a nerd.. ......

P.S Thanks Alex for the sugar!! ::

Yes they are over powered by the HDRI IBL light, try to set the body diffuse color to Red: 127 Green : 127 and Blue : 127  intensity to 120 , that will create the balance for the surface don't worry it will not affect the body textures colors...if this works for you then change the diffuse color of the all elements you use in this render to the above and nothing will be over exposed no more, the shadows works always perfect with the HDR IBL so you should get a great effect.

And I'm lost /sigh. I was doing so well at following the thread up until this page too.

Dziekuję ; )

Quote - And I'm lost /sigh. I was doing so well at following the thread up until this page too.

LOL so was I but it's harder for us old people..LOL! But I now understand I just have to put it to action. I also have 3 different things going on right at the moment too. LOL!

**Nie ma za co ! ;) ( and regarding the old pple, nobody is to old for anything) , I know a little bit more  just b/c I am obsessed with it and searching for new infos all day rendering a 3d grass 2.000 times to find the way...that's all lol

OK, o found for you a good simple way to how make it! follow it, but in place of the scene take the pic of the mirror ball in and follow the all steps from the tutorial what is very good.. and most simple I can find on the net...

[ backingwinds.blogspot.com/2006/10/how-to-create-professional-hdr-images.html

](http://backingwinds.blogspot.com/2006/10/how-to-create-professional-hdr-images.html)**

I will give it all a go. I have worked quite a bit with HDRI in VUE. Was never happy with HDRI in Poser until I saw your imagery, and Fabriced. Thanks for taking the time to help us understand it a little more. I can see huge potential in my Poser imagery from this.

Ok, so my little Sony W35 doesn't do RAW. It does JPG. So I have been looking around on the net, reading various reviews.

I am not a camera afficianado, but I really want to do more with HDRI. So I found this:

http://blackphotostore.com/english/proddetail.asp?sku=9040

Is that what I need? It's the highest rated, most bang for the buck camera I could find that does RAW.

Sony Cybershot DSC R1 is the best! watch out for the best price!!!
beside all great thing this camera have also Advanced Gradation Control System that in case one side of the picture have not enough light it find the balance automatic sort of tone mapping so also great for make pictures for textures etc... JPG and RAW format included
**

**

Great article suggestion Cath... danke :-)

Warangel, one of the most important parts to take away from this when making your own hdrs, is multiple exposures at different bracketed levels.  (i.e from very dark, to very bright)  When shooting jpeg, the more the better (3-6 stops above & below the correct metered level, or 7 to 13 exposures total). Those will then be merged in Photoshop CS2 or CS3, or a hdr program like Artizen

I know this seems like a lot to digest, just take you time & enjoy.  It helps to envision the finished poser picture you have in your head, where the figures &/or props will be, what mood you are trying to achieve, what the background will be etc... Describe it to yourself, sketch it out.  This helps give you a target & inspiration to work towards.  Most importantly, HAVE FUN! It doesn't matter if you do this professionally or just as a hobby... you should look forward to creating. & if something is hard to grasp conceptually, take a step back, & then dive back in.

Here are a couple of good books for looking at things thru the eyes of light :-)

Understanding Exposure

Light: Science and Magic: 

Master Lighting Guide for Portrait Photographers

NICE RESUME!!! :) now it can't get wrong!!

Hey, guys, I've made this thread a sticky thread, because I can see it being a great learning tool ;)

Thanks Jen would be a shame to see this thread get buried.

Thank you Jen, for the spot light! i will post some more stuff soon regarding this subject..**
**

Yes Thank you Jen... I'm sure we will keep it interesting :-)

Awesome work Cath!

Not a problem, guys :)  I LOVE working with HDRI.  I like to soften it a bit when working with human figures, because, I find that CG humans still creep me out if their features look to real, but I love it for scenes, both interior and exterior :D

Plus, Cath, your tutorials are awesome :D  And, like it's been said before in this thread, you've got a better grasp of the English language than do many whom were born into it ;)

Thank you Guys!!! :)) here my new nerdy stuff for you... no mirror balls, no cameras, just Poser7 and material room.. a very cool trick for everyone to make! and the effect is very good.. I am working on the other parts right now so here as first are the renders rendered on the intensity of this light from 0,0 to 1,0 it is HDR IBL AO.. one light was used.. everything from the begining to end generated using Poser7 ..with one lil jump to HDR Shop I will tell you the trick at the end when I am finished b/c still rendering the other parts..

Attached Link: DIVX video preview File size: 198 KB

Now see this one, used here the same HDRI light as above for the base but now the sun shine as well and create the shadows and specular on the scene.. you need DIVX  video codec to play it.. stop the movie and try to see the video frame by frame... looks real or not ?

Look on the image with the final set.. this is against the morning sun.. the truck is here about that you can create your own light probes using poser7 and material room all sets, moods, no mater winter summer or what ever you can only imagine without to move your 3 letters from the home ;) the problem I had that if i used always HDRI light probes and ground plane with textures the light always shine no matter what i put under the ground so i had to use shadow catcher that slow the rendering soooooooo much.. now the problem is gone , you can have your own custom scenes what ever you like and the light will come exactly even from all the objects you have in the scene, sort of real radiosity in poser.. the process is not just a click a mouse but well simple for everyone..

I am preparing the final step by step so give me some time :) I get excited!

Do we do our best work only at night?  LOL.... over here rendering away too...  I am loving where you are going Cath.

The night is always the best time to work as there are no distractions. I too am working on finding the right combinations of HDRI light. Unfortunately, I didn't like anything I've done so far..LOL!

yeah the night is the best!!!! i am a night bird as well! here i put in some props and my backardi to see how the light shine out ...

here another test everything still the same, not  SSS was used here on this hand.. everything just the light..

one more test :)

Just HDRI light & 1 light for sun/spec right? Looking really good. Excited here as well

yes HDRI Light as base and 1 light for the sun/spec/shadow  the best working for the last at 50% for the sun/spec light when the HDRI is on 1,0 and Contrast on 1,0 the model diffuse color have to be set at : R:127G: 127 B : 127 and everything else in the scene..
I created in the hand scene above a syntetic Light probe from the shader nodes and converted to hdr... tomorrow i will post step by step of it..

wishing you all goonight it is time for me to hit the pillow :)
xoxo

Based on some input from Cath:  another HDRI experiment.

Adding Color map to diffuse channel ON the model (excuse typo on pic heh), still using just HDRI IBL to light.  The light intensity was increased because of the darker base color (127,127,127)

Finally, adding light for additional sun/spec/shadow.  There is a specular artifact popping up, but I didn't remove in the interest of simply illustrating light variations. Now back to website building & off to bed myself...eventually.

Schlafen sie gute!

Yes the base is great, however you need to use blinn shader node on the Alternate_Specular
set the specular color to R: 223 G:242 B: 255, usual the Ambient Occlusion have to get down automatic while you add the intensity of the light, AO show most only on a very poor light scenes and is set to minimum on a sunny day and show not up on a surfaces with direct sun besid the deep bump maps that create the wrincles etc......

and goodmorning to the world!!! :)we are back on the track to the reality

I really can't wait for the detailed step by step. I have a feeling the galleries are suddenly going to get filled with a lot better images soon!

I hope so! poser7 can render with the same quality as Max we just need to spend more time in the material room that's all b/c the surfaces of the models have to be change regarding to the scene we like to make and the light, however a perfect surface setting will allow you to render the same model with the same material setting in all light situation day or night scene .. to create the real look of human skin we need not ony the material setting but also correct light, if the light is not good and wrong we get wrong response on the surfaces.. I am just testing now still the HDR IBL and i get great result especially for the human skin without to use extra light ( only for the specular effect) as we know already bump maps show only in the areas where the light is against the surfaces, in the darker areas where the light is not strong the bump maps not show up also the ambient occlusion not show up that much anymore affected by the bump maps so the skin in the areas should looks softer and deeper as in the direct or against the sun areas..

I think I follow (thank goodnes for batch tape loading here at the studio hehe) Once the right texture / tone is established with the grayscale maps, how is diffuse color put back in?  Through the color or blend nodes which are fed by the grayscale "color" map?

Sorry I'm not at Poser so I can't show what I'm describing in the Material Room...but I'm sure you have more details coming Cath.

This was exapmle regarding greyscale rendering.. if you use the Color texture map in place of the greyscaled the color will show correct... the diffuse color is always R:127 G: 127: 127, into that are pulg in the color texture, of you use the gryscaled texture map and only one skin color it will create the perfect skin effect what's good for lil babies or for skin that have very regular pigment it would be enough for the realitic effect and I am going to do that... right now I am recording the screen regarding the LIGHT PROBES in poser7 i mean how to make the perfect light with a radiosity in poser... without mirror balls and cameras what works perfect.... i will upload the movie after i am done today..so you can follow the screen , it would be much more simple to understand for everyone.. :)

I've been following this thread and here's what I came up with.. I'm using P6 so no hdri but it does do ldri fairly well.  I took a photo taken with a powershot a520 and set it up in lightwave as whats similiar to a skydome. Setup a reflective sphere in font of the camera to get the mirrored ball effect. Lightwave has settings for hdr exposure as well as full precision gamma settings. You can save directly to hdr format.  This is just the ibl with ao.. ibl contrast set to 1.0 and intensity at 1.0  Notice the blue tint from the ldri.. I was having to set the diffuse at 127,127,127 also, but kept messing with the settings of the hdri and finally found a happy medium where I dont need to do so.

 I save as .tga format instead of jpeg.. Much better quality.

Yes that is really great work for LDRI and Poser6, the colors ( light) from LDRI coming always to much to light and washed out and need more work on , the HDRI in Poser7 have more acurate light and is much more simple..
and yes every scene need own individual attention , changing  the diffuse at 127,127,127 make the work faster too and the colors show more natural and briliant out.. including natural shades as in the nature where everything is grey too and our brains in this case poser7 give the image the right color..

Thanks for sharing!! luv it!

ah I am not still done with my step-by-step but look in this situation the ground box should reflect also some way a little bit light too to make it even more real as it looks like ..
you can now hide the props in your poser6 scene, put in a reflection ball take a shot ( render) export to photoshop, crop out, open HDR shop convert mirror ball to angular map and export as low range image for poser6 , plug into the ldr ibl light put back the props and render again and you will see how more realitic it will look like .. :)

look that is the radiance effect yu can create in poser , and that are not point light here as only the HDRI IBL one light ...that handle everything

Cathy's back yeaaaaaahhh!!!!

Quote - look that is the radiance effect yu can create in poser , and that are not point light here as only the HDRI IBL one light ...that handle everything

 

ok.. how did you do that?