Not trying to start an argument

[SparklePants]

I have had amazing results using HDRI's / light probes. I did a comparative render once with a set of lights. 2+ hours in, not rendered, and, fireflies / grainy. Same render, with a soft diffuse HDRI, 20 minutes.

The more lights I use, the slower my daz goes it seems. But again, I think that also comes down to: what time of day is it? Is the render inside or outside? Candle light? Night time? Day? Dusk? Dawn? Fire light? Photo studio? Pose? What's your computer power? Your rendering engine? (3D or Iray) , what set of lights? What color? What lumens? Are you using the filters in render settings? Are you using Luminosity?

It's so different for everyone. :3

That said, I really do love my diffuse HRDI's and Elianeck's lights.

Diffuse HDRI: https://lasaucisse.deviantart.com/art/Free-HDRI-029-diffuse-hdri-pack-01-418339849

Using Luminance HDRI's in Iray tutorial: http://www.valzheimer.info/2015/10/va2015-using-luminance-hdris-in-iray.html

If you have photoshop know how, you could technically make your own diffuse HRDI's.

Anyway my 2 cents. I am all self taught/newbie, so my advice might suck :p

[Dragon]

@Picaya nice render. What character/generation is that BTW?

[silverboaX]

@sparklepants - yeah the processing time is one of the reasons I moved to using primarily HDR lighting, the performance in DAZ is soooo much better than direct lighting. Of course it's not always right for your needs, but you can of course also get studio HDR sets with 3 point setups and such.

Sometimes you want that harsh direct lighting look and crisp shadows though.

For creating HDRs there is specialist software, I believe there's even some opensource stuff. It's a bit more complex than just making a greyscale map with bright spots (though to me it's still a kind of magic, its an area of CG i've never explored to create my own)

[3Danimenut]

@Dragon
I know what ya mean, I tend to use environments that have there own light source to start with, and add in extra if i think it's needed. I have found at times I have to crank the Lumens on a spotlight or point light to 100 times that of real world, 100 watt bulb put's off 1600 lumnes(real world), I've had to crank it to 16,000 just to the get the right light.

[Dragon]

@3Danimenut I get nadda with anything below 50K lumens and even then not really worth it. Most often its 100 -300K. I tend to use point lighting instead of spot because spot is just too direct. I've experimented with lower but not good results.

I really do need to study up a little on exposure and fstop and all that.

I'm really interested in this HDRI interior lighting thing. I haven't played around with HDRI much.

[silverboaX]

@dragon - wen you say “too direct” what do you mean ?

[3Danimenut]

@dragon
HDRI lighting is nice, I use TerraDome 3 and Daz Real World Lighting A lot, as for the spot being to directed to one area try cranking up the spread angle it fans the light out more.

[Picaya]

@Dragon It is Gen 8 but I can't remember which character. I set it up and rendered it in less than an hour.

[PhantomF4]

Catching up on this thread. ALOT of good info from all of you. Thanks!

Isn't it interesting that a good understanding of basic principles of light, cameras, and even human anatomy in real life applies when composing scenes in DAZ Studio?

[eelgoo]

Well, I went to the excellent HDRIHaven site mentioned in Freestuff by Adam.

Very impressed with the content there, but I have a question.
There are a variety of sizes of file available, specifically:

16384x8192
371 MB

8192x4096
98 MB

4096x2048
25 MB

2048x1024
6.4 MB

1024x512
1.64 MB

So what size is optimum for use in DS, please?

[Dragon]

@silverboaX I guess too harsh. I've tried playing with the settings and stuff, width( or spread. whatever its called), lumen level, color. I don't know. Its just not what I want unless I'm looking to spotlight a wall. It doesn't have that ambient look to it. I find point lights work better for me. I can get the soft or the harsh. Personal preference I guess.

@Picaya OK.. I'll look for G8 then. 😉

@3Danimenut I've played with the wide angle too. I don't know. Its just different.
I messed with some HDRI lighting last night. Its nice, but doesn't cast shadows, so I wound up having to add a point light. I'm so freaking anal about figures looking grounded. I have to have shadows, even if they're slight.

I'm actually hella anal about a lot of Poser/Daz renders by people. They post crappy pics with figures floating above the floor, or crappy textures or lighting etc, and people rave about how awesome they are. SMH.. I'm not perfect, but at least I do my best to learn. LOL

[Anonymous]

@EvilMonkey

No, this! 🙂

[Anonymous]

@Adam

I've tried every adjustment and it just won't work for the pose I want.
See the image I posted for the look I want 🙂

I'll try again when I have time :/

[3Danimenut]

@dragon
I've used this with very good results in the past, it's a mesh lighting kit...I think there is also a second one out now also, more updated, more control.

https://www.daz3d.com/iray-ghost-light-kit

[3Danimenut]

@dragon
Using nothing but the Ghost light Kit, no other lighting.

[Author]

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