While you can't rotate the HDRI sky dome (something hopefully that Vue 5 Pro will allow)- you can rotate the scene by 90 degree increments and see how the HDR lighting changes the scene lighting angles. HDR files (at least the one's I've used so far) have a definite main light source in them and you can use that like a "sun" to get the best lighting.

Very nice renders! ;) Only thing I would try to change in the light settings would be to try and lower the exposure or something becase I think it's a bit to bright considering the walls on all sides. Actually I think the brightness is better in the B/W. Maybe not much you can do about the model itself and I suppose the light setup was your main interest, but it has some strange parts. It's to clean (no garbage, paper, bottles etc), the floor looks more like a wall and the catwalk(or what its called) looks strange with it's bright new wood and metal. I would have expected it to be all metal or rather rusty metal. ;)

Hi Hellborn- BTW still working on the ocean renders- trying different materials, etc. Also found- DO NOT apply texture maps to huge procedural water terrains- it totally LOCKS UP Vue 5- I guess the reason is obvious once you think about it... On these tests- I wasn't trying for a finished work- I only wanted to play with the HDRI lighting so see what would happen. I often render tests like this so that the image itself can SUGGEST to me what it wants to be ABOUT- then I go in and make the changes- rust, garbage cans- maybe a 1930's car, etc. And, yes, the floor IS the wall texture- I could not find any brick textures that matched the same quality as the rough, old walls. What I plan to do is re-work the floor in Photoshop and also a second wall texture like the first one-but flipped and a little different- so there is no "mirror" effect. For me the lighting tests come first before I try to make it a finished scene because lighting is the most interesting part of it-- being that I have a photography background.

looking real good, another nice ligtning test well the scene itself is nice looking aswell. i do believe that the b/w looks slightly better