Help! I'm so much a DS user I'm totally lost in Poser!

[Rae134]

If anyone know of some good (free) videos on the basics of Poser 11 pro (or relevant) I would love a list of them
With DS I didn't have much problems setting up a basic scene when I first started. I could work out lights (maybe not so they looked good, but enough to light up a scene ) and my first render wasn't so bad. With poser I'm like a deer in headlights!

I did some quick renders with Dawn (on left) to compare with Sora (on right) in each of the render settings just using default settings so I could kinda gauge what each does (only on the 3DL did I add just a distant light).
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now, I could get a better render out of the 3DL one as I know a little about lighting in it now and I could get an even better one out of Iray as I'm much more proficient in it (I just wish my computer could use it, this had to be stopped half way).
The default lighting in Poser isn't too bad but I'd have to do alot of postwork to make the skin look more natural (I only had a quick look but I couldn't find out how to do lighting) but I didn't change any settings from Firefly to Superfly and Sora rocks but what the hell happened to Dawn?

 

[Glitterati3D]

I'm having a bit of trouble determining which is which, but if you are referring to the "silver" Dawn in Superfly, that's what happens when you use Firefly skin settings in the Superfly render engine.

All you have to do to repair that, at least initially, is to either:

Load Sora/Dawn SUPERFLY materials; or
Apply EZSkin to the Sora/Dawn Firefly materials to make them work in Superfly. This option will require you to address the specular settings on the cornea, fingernails and toenails. They will literally come out white because Superfly does not use specular settings. I set those 3 items to pure black in Superfly materials. You may wish to play a bit with them.

 

[Rae134]

Thanks Glitterati
Dawn is on Left, Sora on Right, on bottom left corner I have FF for firefly, SF for superfly, 3DL for 3Delight and Iray.

I don't know if Dawn or Dawn SE has separate Superfly settings? (I can't find any, but like I said total newbie!).
I didn't do anything to Sora (as far as I know is FireFly settings) and she didn't look too bad in SF.
And sorry, but I don't know what EZSkin is?

 

[Miss B]

Dawn or DawnSE don't have SuperFly materials, as they came out before Poser 11, which is when SuperFly was introduced. That's why I use SnarlyGribbly's EZSkin 3 with them if I'm going to render in SuperFly.

Sora, OTOH, is brand new, and her textures are set up for both FireFly and SuperFly, so EZSkin 3 isn't needed with her. She renders in SuperFly just fine.

 

[Rae134]

ahh cool, if I do a google of SnarlyGribbly's EZSkin 3 it will show up? (hopefully its free as I got no fund )

 

[NapalmArsenal]

Best lights on the market for Poser and work in firefly and superfly and usually you can get a break on pricing when they are on sale at Rendo are Warm'NSoul Lights Lights OR Cameras fabiana and MildBoreal Lights Lights OR Cameras fabiana wont work on every single texture but they are really pretty good.

Also you know Sub D in Daz right? Poser has that too!

Ok so if you select your figure or what you want to Subdivide and go up to figure on the top menu bar and select skinning method and then Poser Unimesh. You will get the subD level settings on the right hand side.
Put it at 2 or 3 but it will make your renders run longer.

Lets see. Oh yeah, Superfly tends to use the default in the render - render settings firefly pixel samples at like a 3 this will cause grainy renders in Superfly so you want to up that to about 8 - 10. Should improve greatly how things look.

Maybe that helps?

Ah and sometimes Superfly does not like the gamma correction setting so if it happens to be on uncheck the box in the render settings.

 

[Miss B]

His scripts are free, and his site is snarlygribbly.org/snarlyspace/ That's not a live link, as I don't think they want outside links here on the forum. He has a few scripts, and I just got his EZDome script to play with, though I would recommend you get used to PP11 before playing with that one.

 

[Miss B]

Good info NA. I usually set SuperFly Samples at 8, but I also select Medium Quality Sub Surface from the Load Preset list at the bottom left of the Render Settings dialog. I save High Quality Sub Surface for final renders.

If you see any light specs in a render, the Samples need to be upped to a higher number, but as NA mentioned, be ready for longer renders.

 

[NapalmArsenal]

And yeah if you are going to use superfly you need to be sure to have the right mat materials. Although, some will work in both I think Ken1171 has a set that does that.

 

[NapalmArsenal]

Good info NA. I usually set SuperFly Samples at 8, but I also select Medium Quality Sub Surface from the Load Preset list at the bottom left of the Render Settings dialog. I save High Quality Sub Surface for final renders.

If you see any light specs in a render, the Samples need to be upped to a higher number, but as NA mentioned, be ready for longer renders.

Oh need to try that medium setting!!

 

[Mythocentric]

Hi Rae!

There are a lot of free video tutorials over on Rendo covering stuff from Poser basics to advanced which apply to most versions plus the new series which deals with Poser 11/Poser 11 Pro specifically. Also as Miss B points out Snarlygribbles EZSkin3 makes life easy for Dawn. Please note the 3 in EasySkin. Earlier versions don't work with Poser 11/11 Pro! Have fun!

 

[Glitterati3D]

Rae, these are my Superfly render settings for CPU rendering. I'm assuming with your low level machine you're currently using you have no nVidia card and will need to render CPU. Just use these settings and it will automatically go to CPU:

And you can download EZSkin3 here: CGbytes - Store - EZSkin-3

 

[Rae134]

Thanks guys, that should help me get started

I do have an old nVidia card but its on its last legs (if I try to use it for rendering it just shuts the whole computer down, does it too sometime just using the CPU)

 

[Miss B]

Oh Yes, I also use Progressive Refinement. Makes it a whole lot easier to follow along with the render as it does it's magic.

Only thing you might try, Traci and Rae, at the bottom left I changed the Clamp direct samples to 6, and the Clamp indirect samples to 1. Someone mentioned it on the SM Poser forum, and I think it helps somewhat with how the final render comes out.

I also use a bucket size of 16. Used to use 32 on my P9 FireFly renders, but 16 is supposed to be faster I think.

 

[NapalmArsenal]

Also, Just goof around and play with stuff =) that's part of the fun too discovering new things. I also like the sketch and toon settings!

 

[Glitterati3D]

Oh Yes, I also use Progressive Refinement. Makes it a whole lot easier to follow along with the render as it does it's magic.

Only thing you might try, Traci and Rae, at the bottom left I changed the Clamp direct samples to 6, and the Clamp indirect samples to 1. Someone mentioned it on the SM Poser forum, and I think it helps somewhat with how the final render comes out.

I also use a bucket size of 16. Used to use 32 on my P9 FireFly renders, but 16 is supposed to be faster I think.

I actually use those settings for my promo renders (~800x800 px) and they render in 30 minutes in Superfly. I've just about quit using Firefly at all, except to test materials.

 

[Rae134]

I'm going to drive myself bonkers when I get out of hospital and can use the computer again learning all this stuff

 

[Miss B]

For my very first successful SuperFly render earlier this year (see below), I set the samples to 40, and that took about an hour, give or take, but I was happy with the results for a first try.

 

[Miss B]

I'm going to drive myself bonkers when I get out of hospital and can use the computer again learning all this stuff

No you won't. You'll have a blast!!

 

[Rae134]

I recognise that sexy lady!

At least when I can sit up and use the computer again I'll have heaps of time (6 months recovery) I might even become and expert hahaha