hborre posted at 7:55 PM Tue, 25 January 2022 - #4433786

Yeah, the problem with too many HDRi's is disk space.  Those files can get pretty large depending on the resolution of the image.  Going over 5k for Poser is overkill IMHO.  You can easily cripple the software that way.  I am currently reading The HDRI Handbook 2.0 by Christian Bloch, although it's a bit dated, it does give some handy insight into dynamic range images and how to work with them.  I only have the digital version, the hardcopy with work disc is way, way overpriced.

I have 2 200 GB Google drives and an external ssd. Most of my older Poser content is still on DVDs and haven't made onto my new Runtimes yet.

Usually I use 2 environment spheres, one for lighting with the lower res hdri and an inner with the high res image for reflections/background, visible in raytracing/visible in camera alternate setup, or sometimes back cards and live model elements. Depends. Or just straight IDL no HDRI for less realistic, occlusiony stylized stuff, hell sometimes just Firefly and Preview renderer.

Alot of times a blurry background is sufficient especially with post for portrait stuff. Still haven't gotten around to reading the EZDome documentation and hoops so I just use a couple of BB's spheres. Usually with the inner image one scaled down. Sometimes scaled down a lot and with non matching lighting images on the outer sphere, like artificial studio lighting set up HDRI. I've gotten good portrait lighting that way. Not a strict realism adherent so I tend to experiment. I've grown fond of the GI look of HDRI though. In general rendering can be tiresome with the endless tweaking but its nice when you find set ups that work reliably for different situations. One of the reasons that I'm not super stoked on SuperFly, I've gotten to the point with FireFly that I can find a reasonable solution pretty readily. I'm happy with the level of realism afforded by Firefly. Superfly materials on the other hand I find very interesting because of the different PBR approach and things such as Substance/3DCoat/Marmoset that makes setting up materials for objects very streamlined and procedural. Especially generating the various maps and baking.

Anyway, blabbering now... I'll take a look around and see if I can find a cheap pdf of that book you mentioned...

Thanks