Howdy;

Long time now i am struggling with a way to solve this issue...i need some expert advice.

in this image are two renders...left was rendered with IDL STUDIO from Colm, with one idl infinite front added at 50% strenght.  And at the right was rendered with BB Env sphere and also same idl light at 50%.  Personally i much more prefer the render result on the left with idl studio.  the only reason that i use BB Env sphere is for the reflections...but with the setback that the characters dont render properly as you can see.  So the real question here is...how can i get the same results  that render on the left with idl studio...on the right with BB Env sphere?...i have tried turning off the light emitter on the Env sphere...all this does is make the render much darker...doesnt really help. To put it simple...i would like the same results that i get with idl studio...when using BB Env sphere. Can this be done...if so how?...

Thanks.

Do you have an image on the Envirosphere?  If so, what kind?

And have you tried lowering the infinite light below 50%?  I usually find 50% is too bright.

Yes...i have an HDR image attached on the Env sphere...its a HDR from Posers own runtime. Why...does it matter?...i have it attached for the reflections.

The Envirosphere lights the scene even without any other lights.  It's meant to have an image on it, or it might be too bright. 

I assume you have "gamma in" set to 1.0, as in the instructions?

If so, trying lowering the intensity of the other lights in the scene.  I usually use one infinite light with the Envirosphere, set at maybe 40%.  Sometimes lower.

Quote - Yes...i have an HDR image attached on the Env sphere...its a HDR from Posers own runtime. Why...does it matter?...i have it attached for the reflections.

Some of those images are not in a format that you can properly apply to the EnvSphere.
The EnvSphere will not take a mirror ball, only a latitude/longitude map (ideally 2:1 ratio)

What reflections are you talking about?  Your scene looks like it is in an enclosed space.

Are you perhaps confusing reflection with specularity?  In any case, light from the Envsphere is diffuse and you would need an extra source for specularity

Just because a file has a .HDR extension doesn't necessarily mean it will be usable for any object.

You can use an HDRI for illumination on any object that has compatible mapping

in the attached picture, there are two hdrs from the Poser run time, the one on the right would be suitable for the Envsphere and the other is in the format an IBL would use

You might be interested in Picturenaut. It can do all kinds of cool HDRI goodness, including create 'fake' HDRIs from conventional images and IIRC, you can use it to convert between the HDR mapping formats. There are also a lot of great free HDRs for download at the parent hdrlabs site in the Smart IBL section (http://www.hdrlabs.com/sibl/index.html) - you don't need the plugin to use them.

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