Attached Link: test render

well ive had my first go at ibl / hrd light in in poser7...  i downloaded a handful of .hdr files from http://www.aversis.be/hdri/app_living.htm loaded in a previous render deleted all the lights...   made one new one and started fiddling ...  did i do it right? is it all wrong?...   am i suuposed to make a giant 10000 pxl sphere around the whole thing?.... well this is what ive made  ....  any advice would be appriciated.. cheers...  Mike

Attached Link: my settings

these are my settings

There is no "wrong" in Poser, unless you're talking about a realism render - then we have clear physical models to tell us right from wrong. In any case, IBL is only an approximation.

IBL can be used as an artistic tool, in which case a picture of a hamburger passed through a clouds node to make it red and blue is just as correct for use as a light source as a mirror ball of a room :)

However, are you interested in realism? If so:

Do not connect the image to the IBL_Contrast. That's a settings you're supposed to use to adjust the overall contrast. It should never be connected to the image, and for realism should not be anything but 1. Otherwise, you are deviating from the information provided by the HDR IBL image.

You have directional (depth-mapped) shadows on your IBL. Again, for artistic reasons, this is ok, but you have the "direction" of your shadows in complete disagreement with the strongest source of light (the window) in the IBL image. If you desire to generate directional shadows for your IBL, you should move the lighting widget so it is in the same corresponding position as your strongest blob of light - which is from the left, not the right in this case.

The correct type of shadow for IBL is actually Ambient Occlusion. However, Poser's implementation of light-based AO has always caused some problems. For maximum realism, you have to use material based AO, and make adjustments to it for various parts of the scene.

Some of the problems you're getting are nostril glow, armpit glow, etc. and these are because you haven't handled the shadows correctly yet.

Another thing to realize is that Poser's IBL produces no reaction from specular components of materials. So we often put what is called a "specular-only" light into the scene to compensate. It can be a spot, point light, or an infinite light. You go into that light's materials and set Diffuse_Color to black. Then that light should be positioned to come from the same direction as the strongest blob of light in your IBL.

However, this level of sophistication may be wasted in your scene until you do a better job with the skin and eye shaders. I don't mean to beat you up, but the skin has no realism at all, so worrying about realistic lighting is kind of pointless.

Of course, I didn't wait to find out if realism was your goal. If not, then COOL RENDER!
 :)

You need at least one extra light, either a spot or an infinite, since IBL/HDRI lights don't do shadows on their own. That's my two cents worth at the moment. (whistling and waiting for Acadia the link goddess to make an appearance)

Thanks for posting that HDRI link, there's some nice ones in that collection...

Quote - You need at least one extra light, either a spot or an infinite, since IBL/HDRI lights don't do shadows on their own. That's my two cents worth at the moment. (whistling and waiting for Acadia the link goddess to make an appearance)

Why did you say that?

I just got done saying that you can use shadows on IBL, and what to think about when you do.

Not trying to beat you up, just curious. I have seen more than 5 times people claiming that image based lights cannot have shadows on them. Where does this strange idea keep coming from?

Have you every tried it? This is a puzzle to me. That people keep saying absolutely incorrect things that can be disproven by a simple 20 second experiment.

Why does it keep happening?

I've written at least 5 interesting how-to threads about shadows with IBL. Am I invisible again? :)

Quote - I have seen more than 5 times people claiming that image based lights cannot have shadows on them. Where does this strange idea keep coming from?

I think I can answer your question.

A couple years ago I sat down to learn Poser 6 lights and read every tutorial and discussion on the subject. I do remember seeing in more than one thread that IBL lights do not cast shadows.

And in this tutorial, post #34, Olivier says that IBL lights do not cast shadows nicely and to not use shadows with them and instead use a key light to obtain shadows.

http://www.runtimedna.com/mod/forum/messages.php?ShowMessage=184683

I'm not great at making lights, but I do try. I never did get the hang of IBL lights. Maybe it's my technique, but I find that they tend  to make things look flat and over exposed. So I've pretty much given up on using them unless I see they are in a pre-existing light set that I am using. In which case they are usually mixed with a variety of other lights.  When I try making a light set, in order for me to obtain one that I'm happy with, I have to use between 3 and 5 Infinite lights and sometimes some point lights or a spot light. 

IBL doesn't do specular highlights, but it does do shadows.  Maybe they're mixing up some thing they read...

This animation has IBL shadows as well as an infinite Sunlight casting shadows and spec highlights.

http://www.veoh.com/videos/v6562766RwCWEZhS?c=3dArt

Quote - > Quote - You need at least one extra light, either a spot or an infinite, since IBL/HDRI lights don't do shadows on their own. That's my two cents worth at the moment. (whistling and waiting for Acadia the link goddess to make an appearance)

Why did you say that?

I just got done saying that you can use shadows on IBL, and what to think about when you do.

Not trying to beat you up, just curious. I have seen more than 5 times people claiming that image based lights cannot have shadows on them. Where does this strange idea keep coming from?

Have you every tried it? This is a puzzle to me. That people keep saying absolutely incorrect things that can be disproven by a simple 20 second experiment.

Why does it keep happening?

I've written at least 5 interesting how-to threads about shadows with IBL. Am I invisible again? :)

I'm sorry, I stand corrected. I had not been able to get IBL/HDRI to produce shadows...that is until tonight. My apologies.

No need to apologize :) Just want you to have your shadows!

Here's another Poser myth that goes around and around and I can't make it stop, no matter how many times I write about it.

In Poser, 50% gray in a displacement map means no displacement.

That is a true statement in ZBrush, not Poser.

I had seen a tutorial thread where you showed that HDRI could produce a shadow. Try as I might, I couldn't get the same result. Left me scratching my head and wondering. I tried it again last night with one HDRI light that I'd created and turned shadows on. P7 decided to produce said shadows last night, but the scene was flat and cartoonish. Brought in another spotlight, turned shadows off on it, and the scene became 3d again. I do not know why P7 wouldn't cooperate previously, maybe it was the scene that I had previously that I was testing lights in, I don't know. Now shadows are showing.