ref BB's note: closing the scene one way or another is essential to good IDL lighting. When the scene is meant to be a room with a wall left out in a sunny world, my suggestion is to bring back the wall (AND have the dome), perhaps an "invisible to camera" might be helpful for good shots. When the secen is meant to be an outside porch, don't do the wall as it's not there in real life either.

Actually, looking at an outside porch just didn't occur to me. That's not the scene, that's me :-)

For an outdoor IDL scene, all you need is a dome acting for cyan sky with enough clouds, and a white infinite direct light acting for sun, and supplying the specularity (as IDL will give diffuse light only). The best dome image is the one that is the best representation of the outdoor environment, it's that simple. For great skies, look into Richardfotos gallery. He's the best (IMHO).

About render settings: sometimes 5 sec for adjusted settings plus 30 min extra rendertime pay off against 2 hours elaborating on a shortcut. The max values are not the best, but just altering the settings might make the difference between mediocre and good enough. Then use small images to find out where it pays off to tweak on the large high quality results. Is my opinion.

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Usually I'm wrong. But to be effective and efficient, I don't need to be correct or accurate.

visit www.aRtBeeWeb.nl (works) or Missing Manuals (tutorials & reviews) - both need an update though