I'm looking for a way to load light sets that get great results. Is IDL 2 (http://www.runtimedna.com/IDL-STUDIO-2.html) a good choice or is there 'better'?

I'll probably get IDL2, for ease of use.

There are plenty of outstanding light sets, though. The key is whether or not they make use of later features in Poser. The more recent offerings often have additions that take advantage of these new features. Of course, the older ones do not. But, the older ones work just fine, provided you adjust your rendering options accordingly, when necessary.

Two lightsets that I like a lot are CVs Softlights and a Saintfox's light set that I have, but is only listed as "Saintfox Lights" in my directory. It has some fun cels/caustics/masks, IIRC and interesting IBLs. (Both purchased at here.)

Search around the net for Saintfox's freebie IBL lightsets, by the way. There are several of those, IIRC.

Thank you, Morkonan. So are you saying that IDL 2 is older than IBL and not quite as robust as the CVs and Saintfox IBL light sets?

Well, maybe it's the opposite. IDL appears to be the latest technology over IBL. Correct?

IDL is, indeed, the latest, most advanced technology.

I use it almost exclusively.

JoePublic posted a set of "General" lights that work very well. They are here: http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?message_id=4059148&ebot_calc_page#message_4059148

Also, make sure you get bagginsbill's Envdome, which basically handles outdoor renders (The done is self-lit and requires you to add only one infinite light to mimic the sun.)

It is here:

https://sites.google.com/site/bagginsbill/free-stuff/environment-sphere

BB's dome and one Infinite light is all you will ever need for outside renders.

I use BB's EnvSphere/hemisphere/dome for all sorts of renders, including indoor types and usually delete the default lighting. It is pretty much essential IMHO for getting good reflections if you don't have anything in the scene to reflect off of.

Quote - Thank you, Morkonan. So are you saying that IDL 2 is older than IBL and not quite as robust as the CVs and Saintfox IBL light sets?

No, IDL (Indirect Lighting) is a more recent technology addition to later versions of Poser. IBL (Image Based Lighting) has been around quite awhile.

But, you can get very good results with IBL light sets. You don't need something like IDL2 sets in order to use IDL. Whether or not you can use Indirect Lighting in your renders is dependent on the version of Poser that you have and there's absolutely nothing "special" in regards to IDL lightsets other than the creator has tweaked light settings and reflective surfaces especially for IDL-Capable versions of Poser.

You could, for instance, grab a free IBL based lightset and then add something like BagginsBill's "Environment Sphere" to help out with IDL bounces. You could even use a panaromic image on it to get more accurate lighting, much like the spherized images in IBL lights. (Indirect Light is calculated, in one way, by how the light bounces around the scene. So, if you have a reflective surface, one that can reflect light, then the light bounces of it and gets to illuminate something else before disapating. If you don't have a lot of geometry that light can bounce off of in your scene, using a big sphere to contain your entire scene gives the light something to bounce off of and illuminate the subject, like a figure posed for a portrait.)

I've had GI Studio (same creators) and I did find it very akward to use, it was easier to do my own light sets. IDL Studio 2 may be a lot easier to use, don't know, it looks interesting, but it's not a must..... but may make life a lot easier.