HDRI in Environment Slot against HDRI in Dome Light

[Razorback]

Perhaps some vray expert could explain to me the difference between the two specifically in using this in an exterior scene. Set up 1: Direct Light for sun and HDRI in the vray slot for the skylight. Set Up 2: Direct Light for sun and dome light with HDRI for the skylight then vray environment black color.

 

Is there any difference in terms of quality and render time? It seems to me that they are just about the same. Perhaps not?

 

TIA

[Razorback]

Anyone would want to give some insight? Got 62 views but no comment or ideas?

[Razorback]

:(

[Crazy Homeless Guy]

try the chaos group forums.

[Rick Eloy]

AFAIK, the dome light is another way of doing the same thing environment does, except you have more control over angles and power without having to go to the render dialog every 5 minutes. It acts as a light AND produces photons, meaning you have caustics. Another great thing is that you can rotate it at will to produce different effects without messing with the hdri map, making it (for me, at least) easier to set up a scene. Just keep in mind that when you have a dome light, you don't need to turn the environment on, which would be an overkill.

[Christopher Nichols]

The dome light is a LOT more powerful when doing HDRI lighting. Mainly because it is highly adaptive in its ray casting where the light intensity is very high, such as from light sources. This means that you can easily get sharp shadows from a Domelight when it was virtually impossible to get any from when in the environment. In fact, I don't know of any other rendering engine that can get as accurate a lighting from an HDRI than Vray using the domelight.

[Razorback]

Thanks a lot Chris and Rick.