high-res hdri = better lighting solution than lower-res

[SgWRX]

i've tried a couple of cool free demo sky's from cg-source. (ha, i think that's the guy who used to have tons of free car blue prints)

 

anyway, compared to lower res demo's, is a hi-res going to be a noticeable difference in quality? i've got 7 picked out to purchase and i'm just setting my expectation level

[fellazb]

Well if you want a good background then yes. For the lighthing also. Better quality HDRI is better shadow definement. I think cg-source has one of the best HDRI available.

[Corey Beaulieu]

Be aware though that a larger HDRI will bog the render down some. It will be noticeable in my opinion, but I doubt the extra time will seem not worth the wait.

 

It takes more memory to load such a large map.

[SgWRX]

good points. as for the memory, yeah it probably is big hog. however once i download these hdri files, there's no reason i can't down-size them or even adjust saturation/colors etc.. before using them for a given render.