Hi guys!. By now im sure you've seen this HDRI megapack

http://market.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/index.php?ViewProduct=71068

Im looking for some more realism on my lights but my question is do you think this pack is worth the price.. ??/... i mean i find it a little too much for 2 lights set you have to get by separate...

I have some IBL on my PoserPro7... but these seems attractive.. i just want your opinion

Thanks

Artist @ajmarti.com

you always need to change your IBL depending on your enviorment. a HDRI IBL can make a render more realistic. but it needs to fit in the scene.
so i dont understand where i could use HDRI IBl's that are different then my scene.

I don't have the pack.

I usually make my own lights from scratch, or sometimes I will see a set of lights that are essentially what I'm looking for and will tweak them to fit my needs.

The light set you point out is by Mec4D and she really does know her lighting, so I have no doubt that the lights would be excellent.

However, keep in mind that there is no such thing as "generic" lighting that will fit all scenes and moods. IMHO it's best to spend the time learning how to create your own lighting, that way you can personalize and individualize the lights for each scene that you are doing.

Here is a thread about lighting. It contains all kinds of links to tutorials, discussions and help threads where good advice and information is given.

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?thread_id=2734086

Lighting isn't something you can sit down and master, if that's even possible, in one sitting. It takes time. I think it was December 2006 when i decided that I seriously needed to learn lighting and I spent 3 months fiddling around in Poser just with lighting. I would open lights and see what the person had done, I would tweak what they had done to see how things changed in the scene with various settings, and I would try creating my own from scratch. Was it boring? You bet! But while there is still a whole lot I need to learn about it, I have the basics down enough that now I can make my own lighting for each of my scenes and when in doubt I post and ask for more information.

So far as buying those lights, it's entirely up to you. It might be a good starting point for you to open them up in Poser and examine how she went about creating them etc. It might get you on the right track to making your own.

"It is good to see ourselves as others see us. Try as we may, we are never
able to know ourselves fully as we are, especially the evil side of us.
This we can do only if we are not angry with our critics but will take in good
heart whatever they might have to say." - Ghandi

i think if you will buy those lights and if you dotn know how lighting works then the renders will not be the best. and so you spend money and didnt get the best results.

IMO learn as much as possible about lighting. the link that acadia posted is great.

hi Acadia!
Thanks you so much for your help... you're absolutely right..... Definitely is way more valuable for me to learn to deal with my own lights; learn how it works...So ... thanks so much for the links; i will check them right now.... as always i appreciate your help AND take your advice!
Thanks so much!. Take good care

AJ

Artist @ajmarti.com

Thank you Ice-Boy!... i promise you i will
Thanks so much!

Artist @ajmarti.com

I've had them for a while, purchased from her site when that was the only place to get them. They're really good HDRI lightsets, and pretty well managed. For renders where you're going to put the character/image onto a background in a 2D Editor (photoshop, gimp, etc.), using the lights the way they are is fine. However, if you're rendering against a backdrop or have a prop in your background, it creates banding, so I would recommend changing the shadows to raytraced shadows to prevent banding. Here are some examples:

Hang on...forgot they're still in .png's. Let me convert them for the forum.