Do Not Move this question into the Reality thread!!! There are over 223 friggin pages in that thread & counting! It'll just get lost in everything else there in no time & be impossible to find!

These are newb questions anyway. I only speak English, not Tech. 

 

I've looked over Paulo's store and website a bit and am wondering if either Reality 2 or 2.5 is right for me.

I've been very frustrated trying to learn lighting in DAZ and am hoping for a simpler, more intuitive system that actually makes sense. Something that applies to the laws of light and physics in this universe. Unlike DAZ.

My understanding of Reality & LuxRender is that you can make very realistic renders of outdoor, ambient light scenes with just one light.

WHAT I NEED is something that mimics the pretty simple and minimal light sources in photo backgrounds I will be using. In some cases they will be outdoor scenes. In many cases they will be photos of houses, apartments and hotel rooms.

WHAT I NEED is Even, Natural, wraparound lighting like you would get from a giant 6-12 ft(2-4 meter)softbox in the big commercial photo studios. Or standing outside under good ol Mister Sun, who's been around for several billion years now and no one's created a better light source since.

My V4 model will be standing in the foreground most of the time, occasionally in the background in the photos, but I need realistic even lighting that flatters her, but also creates soft, realistic shadows. Occasionally I will need reflections. But I can do reflections and shadows if necessary in Photoshop. Not a deal breaker if I can't get shadows on a photo background.

WHAT I DO NOT NEED is to create objects & props or clothes or buildings. Reality & LR do a superb job of that from all I've seen, but that is not something I'll ever need.

FIRST AND FOREMOST, I just need a good lighting system. Something akin to light in the real world and that will NOT require me to use a dozen lights to mimic the look of a single candle flame or single bedside lamp and take 72 hours to render!

So what is the difference between Reality 2.0 & 2.5 besides the latter requiring me to upgrade to DS 4.5? DS 4.5 which I do not trust considering all the problems I've been reading about people having with that.

Another thing you need to know. I'm not a CG whiz kid, so you'll be talking way over my head if you use too much tech jargon. English please.