I wonder if I do something wrong, as the HRDI file in the background of my renders is always blurred, no matter if I turn the DOF off or not. Even with the highest render settings it stays that way.
I used the Dosch HDRI file that came with C6. That's the outcome:

Can anybody please help me to egt a clear image in the back of my render? I even tried to load the file as a backdrop as I know that the HDRI file is just for lighting the render , but a HDRI file isn't supported.
What am I doing wrong? The C6 reference guide wasn't of any help
Your help is highly appreciated, thank you!!!!

~Sassy~

Check the scene background settings where you loaded the HDRI file from.

Sorry if I have to ask again Shonner... do you mean the Cornet HDRI scene? I tried it in that scene too and the background is still blurred :blushing:

Did you have the last C6 build? Its 6.0.3

Having a crisp image in the background using the HDRI map requires a very high resolution since it's essentially a single image being wrapped around a sphere much larger than your scene. The free HDRI maps included with Carrara aren't particularly high in resolution. 

I have a ot of free HDRI here... this one looks like "DoschHDRI-ExtremeHires.hdr" if is this file here in my C6 I can see it very well, no blur. Thats why I ask for the right buid.

Yes GKDantas, I have the last build.

I see, Mark. So it depends on the resolution of the HDRI file. Are there probably any HiRes HDRI files for free available and perhaps you know where I have to look? Already checked Evermotion, but they aren't HiRes enough, too. Hmmmm....

If you could point me to the right places, I'd be very grateful.

Google says:

http://gl.ict.usc.edu/Data/HighResProbes/

http://www.sachform.de/download_EN.html

http://hdri.3dweave.com/library/

http://www.3dattack.net/freestuff/3DAttackSixPackHDRI.zip

http://www.shonner.com/drafts/images/hdri_carrara_skin_sss_enabled.jpg doesn't have that blur.  I don't know what is happening in your situation.

hey jedi, check if this may helps you, you have to render at 2k at least; if you have to make an animation you can easily close up the image with hdrshop
cheers

http://www.sharecg.com/v/22879/texture/dosch-city-image

just to agree, it shouldn't be blurred as it is in the first image in this thread.
there must be something in the scene/camera settings that is doing it,
unless shonner's image used a curved background prop with the hdri converted
to 16-bit (extremely unlikely).

as an experiment, reduce the focal length of the camera to under 35 mm, which is beginning to be a fish-eye lens. The background image will come into focus better, but you get the usual distortion.

That image is Piazza San Marco and the photographer is hundreds of feet from the walls of the buildings. If you were standing there with a megapixel digital camera, you could get clear resolution of the walls; but a small section of the 360 view and in a fairly large RAW file.

In or to resolve detail that far away, in a 360 shot, the size of the file would have to be over 100 MB probably. Therefore, when you resolve it with a smaller file it is fuzzy.

::::: Opera :::::

Shonner, you somehow got the camera over near the flags and resolved a building that is much closer to the camera position. How'd you do that?

::::: Opera :::::

The photographer photoshopped-out the seam that was there, I think.

Well, I'm a bit lost now.....I tried the focal length 35 mm, still blurred. Deleted the standard camera, replaced it, still blurred.
I wonder what's wrong? I simply started an empty, medium scene, set HDRI for the background, skylight switched on, DOF off and everything is blurred.
Even when I load the preset HDRI Scene (with the cornet) the background's still blurred.

When I look at shonner's work, everything's crisp and clear :thumbupboth:

Shonner, which settings have you used for the background and camera? I sooo wuold like to know what I'm doing wrong :crying:

Thanks so much for all your help!

~Sassy~ 

I didn't change any camera settings.  Did you load the HDR file into an editor of some kind and re-save it at lo-res?  Check the size and date of the HDR file and the folder it is in.  Did you re-save the Cornet scene with any changes made to it?

Thanks for your reply, Shonner!
No, I didn't change the Cornet-scene nor the HDR file.
The Dosch HDR file is in the folder "Scenes-Global Illumination" and has a size of 707kb, date 28.08.2003. A little bit small imho, isn't it?

That is the right size for the DoschHDRI.hdr file in that folder.

for the brighter of the two cornet hdri presets, I'm showing 17.2 MB for hdri-25_color.hdr
the scene is showing hdri-25_color W.hdri in its settings, but I can't find that
file anywhere on any hard drive.  even the jpg versions of all the sachsform hdri files
are around 2 - 3 MB.  an hdri that's only 707 KB would be blurry IMVHO.

Quote - ...the scene is showing hdri-25_color W.hdri in its settings, but I can't find that
file anywhere on any hard drive...

That one is 865k (750 x 375 pixels). The files are in scenes/global illumination folder.
The bigger .hdr files are in different folder (Presets/TEXTURES/HDRI TEXTURES). Those range arond 3000x1500 pixels. The hi-res Dosch.hdr in the presets folder is 6250 x 3125. Even the 3000 pixel are a bit blurry, if the render size is relatively large; somewhat over 800 pixel render size or so and they start to pixellate.

So, I'm thinking that using a 750 x 375 image for a background wrapped around a whole sphere would positively be really blurry and/or pixellated.

i just did a search on all my drives and the largest .hdr called "Dosch" is the 707K, and that is fuzzy, no matter what.

On a related issue, using the famous "Pond" hdri file that comes with Poser 7 and the free "Ennis House" file, I get crystal clear backgrounds with it on a 360 degree basis....but only with focal length of around 38MM. Anything more than that and it begins to blur.

I don't find operating inside this virtual dome very comfortable. 38MM is not inducive to moving the camera on a human figure (fish eye). Also, shouldn't the light that 'falls' on a model vary according to 'where' in the 'dome' it is sittling? For instance, with the Ennis .hdr which is an interior, it is dim and cool except for one gigantic hot spot where the sun is pouring in a window. How do you actually "move and locate" V4 (for instance) in that space so she is affect by dark/light. I'd want her (in an animation) to walk from way dark to in the sun. I tried but got all queasy attempting to move in the virtual space under an .hdr.

In my opinion, all publishers of HDR/EXR files should ship large, flat stills of the scene to use as backdrop. I guess an alternative is to load your .hdr with nothing else in the scene, set focal length to the optimal (I found that to be 38MM) and render. That gives you a backdrop you can put in place with the probe as the background/lighting.

Does that make sense?

::::: Opera :::::

Ennis probe (free) 54MB
http://gl.ict.usc.edu/Data/HighResProbes/

On this page (last item) is a 22MB file of the "Doge's Palace Courtyard" which is also on Piazza San Marco; I think it is not the exact same shot as the 'dosch' probe.

:: og ::

DoschHDRI-ExtremeHires.hdr
That's the full name of the 6250 x 3125 one. 42.7MB
It should be in Presets/TEXTURES/HDRI TEXTURES folder.

Paul Debevec, from your link, is one of the leading authorities on High Dynamic Range imaging.

Here is the doge2.hdr in Carrara as background shot at 33MM

:: og ::

I guess that one could have came out of Carrara 5 then.
I can't remember.

Quote - The Dosch HDR file is in the folder "Scenes-Global Illumination" and has a size of 707kb, date 28.08.2003. A little bit small imho, isn't it?

I looked at my scene's HDRI file just now and it is the hi-res version (43MB) that came on Disc 2 of Carrara Pro 5.  Disc 2 also came with all the hi-res planet textures.

Shonner, any other cool HiRes probes in the C5 content? I'd petition DAZ to let us latecomers to Carrara have access with permision if so.

::::: Opera ::::

I did not get a reference CD, only a download.

Is the reference CD content downloadable, to your knowlege?

::::: Opera :::::

o.g., I downloaded the following on or about 2007-08-28:

ca_ap020_RenderNode.sit
ca_ap020_C6ProContent.sit
ca_ap020_C6ProApp.sit
ca_ap020_C6.Tutorials.sit

ask 'em to reset yer downloads.  the hdri are in the one ya didn't download.

Thanks Miss Nancy and may I say you have achieved a particularly noteworthy and hilarious level of insanity in your avatar tonight. It is tres cool.

::::: Opera :::::

glad ya liked it, o.g.  most folks hate it, tho.  I hope to be able to change it for
whatever the next holiday is.

Hi,

I'm sure you've solved the problem, came across this thread on a general search.

The two images shown by Miss Nancy are both needed. The one on the left is the actual lightprobe, small and blurred which produces a smoother render and take less time to analyze, and the one on the right is the background for clarity reason, I don't use Carrara but it should have a slot for both.
 
Hope this help.

Chris.

OG
Carrara comes with two, separate, quite large downloads zips.
If you do the refresh exercise in your Daz downloads. you will find the second download there.