HDRI vs Sun; Lighting Issues

[SamIq]

Obviously many people have different views about using HDR vs Sun, but what are the pros and cons of the both, pass the obvious ones.

Secondly, I have my HDRI set up in Environment, one for GI, and the other for Background, both set up as bitmaps [they are both .hdr files], previewed as spherical, but when I render my Image it is really dark, 100% dark. The Image is actually an exterior BRIGHT scene. But when I add the vray sun, it has all the reflections of the HDR Image, and its lighting atmosphere, and its really well lit, but if I take the HDRI out, and switch it with a vray sky, then the colors change. Should I keep the HDRI, with the sun, or should it be with out the sun, If so, how can i keep the render well lit? I tried increasing the multiplayer by 8, then 9, then 10...but still DARK.

Thank you and sorry for the noobness.

[snoxpt]

Re: HDRI vs Sun; Lighting Issues

disable physical camera

[fpedrogo]

Re: HDRI vs Sun; Lighting Issues

Yes, you can use the sun and the HDRI together. You have to increase the multiplier of the HDRI more that 10. Try to increase the Multiplier for the HDRI to 100 or even more if your render is to dark. The Physical camera control the exposure of the sun and because the sun is very bright, the physical camera reduce the brightness drastically. So every other multiplier is reduced too. That is why your HDRI is dark. IF you don't want to increase the multiplier of the HDRI you can reduce the intensity of the sun. Go to the sun parameter (under object properties) and reduce the sun intensity to something like .03 or .01. If the sun is to dark just increase the intensity.

Best