Using HDR Spherical Images as Backgrounds in Poser 7

This article follows steps using Smith Micro Poser 7. Several of these steps become easier in newer versions of Poser.

Using HDR Spherical Images as Backgrounds in Poser 7

  1. Go to the Material Tab, from the Object menu, select Background. There should already be a visible, but unconnected BG Picture.
  2. From the Background, drag a node from Color to Lighting > Environment Map > Sphere Map
  3. From the Sphere Map Color node, connect to BG Picture.
  4. From BG Picture, click Image Map. Select the Spherical Map.

Importing in a spherical map isn't an exact science with some versions of Poser. There are a few ways to tweak your image.

Make sure your render size matches the ratio of your background. You may have further adjustments to make as Poser 7 and earlier have limitations on background sizes greater the 4096 pixels.

Try adjusting the Main Camera scale, increasing it to 200 or 400%.

Poser Pro 2012 includes and optimization function for using HDR images within Poser. Read the article Optimizing for HDRI in Poser Pro