Poser Lights?

[Seebee]

I know I'll kicked about for this but I hardly ever use any Poser light setups.
I first delete any default lighting and then just "add" a light/s where it/they looks best.
Then adjust it as required. I also find that most"light sets" with Dyn. Hair to be ghastly.

My warped thinking however will often produce outcomes very close to using
HDR's or whatever they are with high raytrace and those other weirdly named settings.

These "new" renderers and lights to me, only seem to prolong the rendering time (agony) and one would usually
require a magnifying glass to see any real artistically valuable differences.

I guess that's why my stuff will never look as "finished" as you folk here.
You all are so polished and clean.

Am I too lazy or something? But I do have a lot of quick fun with Poser
Getting old.

 

[Seliah (Childe of Fyre)]

I wouldn't kick you for it. I do the same thing in DS; I do my own light rigs from scratch mostly. In Poser, I just don't get the lighting, though, so I end up relying on others' presets more often than not...

 

[Miss B]

I have always found it easy to create my own lights in DS, but haven't figured out how to do it in Poser yet. I'll have to crack the tutorial I got to see if I can get it done as easily as I do it in DS.

I think, for me at least, the problem is I can't "see" the lights in my workspace like I can in DS. I like grabbing and dragging my lights around where I want them, and just using the parameters to refine the setup.

 

[Lorraine]

We never kick anyone here, Seebee I really like that in DS I can look through the lights to position them. Can you do that in Poser?

 

[Miss B]

Good question Lorraine, I'm not sure. I only looked through special lights in DS, like when I added a top light to see how it' shining on an object, especial a character's hair. For me it was the ease of positioning them where I want them.

In Poser, it's rare if you see a light in the workspace area, so it's hard for me to judge exactly where it is and what it's aimed at. True, I often turn them off one at a time, but that doesn't always give the right prospective.

 

[Seliah (Childe of Fyre)]

I think, for me at least, the problem is I can't "see" the lights in my workspace like I can in DS. I like grabbing and dragging my lights around where I want them, and just using the parameters to refine the setup.

I really like that in DS I can look through the lights to position them. Can you do that in Poser?

Those two things are THE biggest hurdle for me with figuring out Poser's lights for myself. I need, NEED to be able to do both in order to set up my own light rigs, and I constantly feel like it's just a blindfolded guessing game when trying to set up Poser light rigs.

I don't do well with the whole technical discussions of how lights work and all of that - those types of discussions only leave me further confused. I'm a visual learner... I need to be able to SEE these things as I'm setting them up, and I can't really do that in Poser.

If it IS possible in Poser to do both of these things, would someone who "speaks Poser" pretty please tell me how? LOL

 

[Lorraine]

In Poser, it's rare if you see a light in the workspace area, so it's hard for me to judge exactly where it is and what it's aimed at.

That would drive me crazy, Miss B! Well, crazier than usual

 

[Miss B]

If it IS possible in Poser to do both of these things, would someone who "speaks Poser" pretty please tell me how? LOL

I wouldn't mind knowing that myself Seliah.

 

[phdubrov]

Look through the light: click camera controls, select needed ShadowCam.
View light cone - impossible without third-party products IIRC, and I do not know one to work in P11 for shure. Advanced lights and cameras from RDNA does not work.
Use POINT AT feature! Select light, Object- Point at... say Dusk head. Or right eye. Or something else. Then with Direct manipulator drag light where you want it - but it will be always point at selected object.

 

[Lorraine]

Look through the light: click camera controls, select needed ShadowCam.

Well there you go Cool!

 

[Miss B]

Use POINT AT feature! Select light, Object- Point at... say Dusk head. Or right eye. Or something else. Then with Direct manipulator drag light where you want it - but it will be always point at selected object.

Now THAT's what I always do in DS. I didn't know that option was available in Poser, so thank you for that tidbit. I guess I'll have to check to view the Lights in the Hierarchy Editor so I can select them easily.

As for the other tidbits, I'll have to add the light controls back into my UI setup, because I took them out. Since I couldn't figure out how to use the light controls, I figured they were a waste of space.

 

[phdubrov]

I do not use lights controls. ShadowCam is selected in Camera controls, Direct manipulator is on tools panel.

 

[Seliah (Childe of Fyre)]

Look through the light: click camera controls, select needed ShadowCam.
View light cone - impossible without third-party products IIRC, and I do not know one to work in P11 for shure. Advanced lights and cameras from RDNA does not work.
Use POINT AT feature! Select light, Object- Point at... say Dusk head. Or right eye. Or something else. Then with Direct manipulator drag light where you want it - but it will be always point at selected object.

Thanks very much. I will try this out tonight. Maybe it will help. I don't mind TOO much, using preset light rigs, but I really do prefer to set up my own lights once I understand the "how/what/when" part of it in a program.

 

[seachnasaigh]

Click on the tiny triangle next to the camera controls palette label, and you get a drop down menu; select the needed shadow cam to view the scene from the light's perspective.

To create a new light, you can navigate from the top menu strip, object: Create Light

You can also create a light from the little camera control palette, using the little icon which looks like a sunburst:

 

[Seliah (Childe of Fyre)]

Click on the tiny triangle next to the camera controls palette label, and you get a drop down menu; select the needed shadow cam to view the scene from the light's perspective.

Thank you very much! Hopefully that will help. ^_^ I don't speak Poser very well yet. LOL Just enough to get in over my head!

 

[seachnasaigh]

I have the little triangle boxed in yellow here; click that little icon to get the drop down menu.

 

[Carey]

I and poser fight about lighting all the time... I has been a long on going battle...Nothing seems to make sense, the lighting that I work and work to create and get right for one render, won't work in the next render using the same set up. It is especially tough on me as I believe shadows are every bit as important as the lighting. Also being I am much given into dramatics...(That's an understatement), I pay close attention to things like shadow placement, reflection and light bounce... Now don't get me wrong I am totally in love with the work I am now able to do in poser, after years of struggling to understand the complexity of lighting I not conquered lighting in poser, but have found some workable solutions, but as I say, with poser one solution is just not enough because one solution just doesn't work in every render.. In one way I think that in and of itself is more of a question of what is a render and what is art. Should art be a struggle? Should a good render have the pain of creation? I can't speak for all, but for me, it always is... I was hoping by now I would be a "Master" of Poser and would have the knowledge at my finger tips that I could pass on to others. Problem is I work a lot by feel, half the time I don't keep track of what I am doing to get the look I want in a particular render so there is no real body of knowledge I can really pass on with any authority....

One of the things I constantly fight with is light placement in poser. Is there a way to introduce a light into a developing render and be able to place it exactly where I want it and how I want it. I know there has to be a better way then what I am using because half the time I spent a great deal of time just finding where the heck the light is that I just added to the work...

 

[Miss B]

I do not use lights controls. ShadowCam is selected in Camera controls, Direct manipulator is on tools panel.

Ohhhhh, duuuuuuh. I must've been half asleep when I first read your post.

As it turns out, I don't have the Camera Controls visible in my UI setup either, so I'd have to rearrange everything in order to add it back.

 

[seachnasaigh]

I don't have the Camera Controls visible in my UI setup either, so I'd have to rearrange everything in order to add it back.

You could add both the light controls and the camera controls as floating palettes (drag-docking disabled). The tiny icon in the upper right corner of every palette opens a drop down menu with floating and drag docking enabled as some of the options. Click floating and the palette will separate; then immediately (before trying to move the palette to where you want it) click the icon for the menu again, and un-tick drag docking enabled. Now you can move the palette around without it inserting itself back into the main UI.

You could save a UI dot with the UI as it is now, and then add the light and camera panels, and save another UI dot with those palettes in place. That would allow you to flip back and forth between the two layouts.

I have several UI dots just to switch from a small window for test renders to a large window for final render, while maintaining a precise aspect ratio. One pair of dots is widescreen aspect ratio, another pair is square, etc.

 

[Seebee]

Light placement is much much much easier by using the option of the Poser quad viewport.
Then just like Max or most 3d programs, you can easily place/drag your lights anywhere YOU want to
And with precise accuracy as well.

Just don't always using only the Perspective view.
Might help?