I got an iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2015) a couple years ago, and my poser renders look terrible on it. I can't get anything done. (I'd post an example screenshot, but if you don't have a 5K monitor, you won't see the problem... right?)

So I've been trying to sharpen up the renders for the past couple of years (since I got the computer) but nothing has worked.

(I'm stuck on Firefly and V4, By the way.)

I have tried everything. I've tried combinations of every render setting. (Post filter sizes, post filter types, min shading rate, etc.) I've tried every kind of light. I've tried rendering huge (which takes forever, of course) and then shrinking it down with Photoshop. I can't fathom why that doesn't work, but it doesn't. I've tried dozens of textures. I've read all the bagginsbill forum posts I can handle. (He's not especially... concise)

No matter what I try, my characters' eyes are always pixelated. (And the pixelated eyes are what bother me the most. Like, I can see the five or ten pixels that make up the eye.)

I know, of course, that the renders would look great on less good monitors. But... I don't have a less good monitor. Any ideas?

Thank you thank you thank you!

I have a 4k monitor so YMMV but in terms of image quality they should be about the same.

The only things I can think of are to use a teeny, tiny min shading rate, use whatever BB says is appropriate for filtering under the circumstances (although personally, I don't use filtering at all) and... Snarly's Scene Fixer and EZ Skin scripts. Use IDL when appropriate (outdoor with a skydome, for example), don't use IBL, enable SSS and for reflections etc, ensure you have 6 Raytrace bounces. Textures shouldn't appear pixelated unless you're doing something daft with the textures, such as compression or some kind of harsh filtering.

Oh, and render huge. Get used to long waits. Make sure you're using Bicubic when you shrink images in Photoshop.

Final thoughts: Is your display set up properly? Are you saving your renders as PNG? If not, why not?