I posted something similar in the Vue forum, but thought about giving it a try here... do you know why the poser hair looks like plastic in Vue?? it happens with all of Kozaburo's hairs... dunno if it does the same thing with other hairs (I mostly use his creations). thanks!

I think its the way the transparency is handled in Vue...try reversing(invert) it in the material editor.

Odd, I don't have this problem when importing from P4/PP to Vue. You should probably get the more recent Vue update, but even when I was using 4.1.2 I never saw that happen. Are you importing .pz3 files? If so, trans maps should work with no problem and no further necessary adjustments. Sorry to be of no help, I'll try importing some Koz hair and see what happens, then get back to this thread.

thanks, yes, I imported the pz3 file, not an obj or anything like that. I could think that I may have misplaced the transmap, but then, the rest of the hair wouldn't be transparent? and if so, then the Poser render would show that the transmap is missing... but, as you can see, the file that was rendered in poser, is exactly the same file that was imported into Vue. I'm seriouslt at loss in this one...

reversing the transparency?? I'm pretty new in Vue, so I don't know what you're talking about... I'll go and test and see what I can get done. thanks!

I don't think it's the trans map. It's most likely the lighting and the highlights. Press F6 to bring up the Material Preview, then select each part you need to adjust by double clicking on the thumb view and then select highlight. Change the color to white or something light. The set the values to about 30% intensity and 20% size. When Vue imports a PZ3 from Poser it doesn't tranlate the highlights right.

Yes it looks like a specularity problem.

the reason I said that..was having problems with some other stuff going into Vue from Poser...Vue does something with the trans maps... There is a channel to apply transparency..you can also invert it in there... Check this..maybe iots not the invert note the first image is kinda what you have by using fuzzy and additve in the material editor, it looks more transparent. I'm pretty new with Vue myself...have been trying different setings to see what they do...

Dave, you could be right, but in this case I'm not sure. You do have to reverse transmaps (and sometimes flip them upside down, too) if you're importing an .obj from Poser, but .pz3's have always imported perfectly in my experience. The only thing that doesn't is relfection maps. (That's easily corrected by turning down the reflection in the Materials Editor.) This render was done in P4/PP, rendered at 650x650, 300 dpi. All I did was lighten it very slightly, then shrink it in Photoshop.

This was rendered in Vue 4.2 at 650x650, 72dpi, "Final" mode. The hair would look much, much better if I had rendered at a higher level, but I intentionally used "Final" mode so as to not put Poser render at a disadvantage. What minor flaws there are aren't the same as what kayarnad is experiencing. The only in-Vue tweaking I did was to raise the hair's ambient level from 40% to 45%, and to raise the luminosity from 0% to 8%, to bring out the highlights a little more. I did nothing with the trans map. Kayarnad, are you rendering in Vue at "Preview" quality? Sorry if you already know, but "Preview" is really only for testing composition and such, it should never be used for a final render. All sorts of data will be ignored. The same is true to some degree for "Final" mode. I'm hoping that rendering at "Final" or higher (use the "superior" antialias settings) will correct the problem you're experiencing. Good luck!

"When Vue imports a PZ3 from Poser it doesn't tranlate the highlights right." Very true, and as you can see in kayarnad's render, this affects Poser figure's skin as well. Usually, that can be fixed by lowering the "ambient" setting for "skin body" and "skin head." I think it always defaults to 40%, which can result in dull or plastic-looking skin. And on that note, here's a REALLY nifty trick for improving the appearance of Poser figures' skin in Vue. For the body and head skin, go into the materials editor. In the upper right corner, check "one sided." Click on the "effects" tab, then check "backlit." Do this only for the basic skin zones, ignore lips, nipples, and all that. Put a reddish or pinkish spotlight (approx. 25% intensity, turn off shadows) behind your figure. This helps to give the skin a more translucent, realistic appearance. The difference is very dramatic. You may have to play around with intensity and color to get it right, but it's a very useful improvement technique. It might cause eyelash transmaps to put small "holes" onto your figures face, but they're usually very minor and can be easily fixed in post-work. Trust me, this is one technique you'll want in your Poser-to-Vue arsenal. Maybe I'll post some before-and-after examples later on. And while I'm ranting, one more thing that Poser-to-Vue newbies should know. Always uncheck "cast shadows" for eyeball, eye white, iris, and pupil. (Since when does a pupil cast shadows, anyway?) If you like you can also up the luminosity of the iris to make the eye color stand out more. This will correct the grayed-out eye problem that sometimes occurs. OK, no more Penn and Teller secrets-revealing tonight. :-)

when you import to Vue, do you group the mesh???? or do all the separate materials remain as in Poser ??? The reason I ask that is they would have to be separate to do what you're describing ???

now that we're checking this Poser to Vue thing out...here's an image I did...imported the pz3...did not do a thing in adjusting Vue...applied 1 point light...you can see the shadows destroyed the eye... Also, I pointed out a couple of funky areas... What do you suppose happened there????

I'm not trying to hog the original intent of kayarnad ...but was following xoconostle tips ..and now the guy has grown eyebrows...what happened there ???

Jeez, I have no idea what's causing some of that! Sorry, Dave, I didn't mean to make more problems for you. :-) I remember a conversation awhile back about that eyebrows problem, but it's never happened to me. I'm sure the experts at the Vue forum could explain, though. There's probably a simple fix. Those strange areas on the hair are probably caused by the point light affecting the trans map. I think of point lights as being more for certain "special effects" than general illumination. You'd be a lot better off using spotlights for portraiture like this. That ugly shadow on the eye is almost certainly cast by the nose, I think the point light is just too strong. You can always try lessening the shadows of sunlight, and in the atmosphere editor, you can lower the ambient light (or turn it all the way off) to yield better global illumination and less harsh shadows. I don't do anything to group the mesh. I simply import it. Vue preserves all of Poser's material zones, as you can see by clicking on that "three spheres" icon to bring up the materials editor. Sometimes it helps to turn off "receive shadows" for some body parts, if they're a problem. Again, I've never experienced those anomolies.

These quickie renders don't fully convey what I was talking about in post #11, but you'll get the general idea. This is the "before" render. The mesh has been imported into Vue with no materials tweaks.

And here's the "after" version. Body, arms, forearms, head, and scalp have been set to one-sided/backlit with a pink light behind V3. A bit overlit, but again, you get the idea. I'm also sorry if we hijacked this thread, but Poser-to-Vue is a subject that gets me excited.

woooz, this is turning into a long thread... I haven't read anything yet, but since we're on the subject... do you notice how my character in Vue is fatter than in poser?? for something reason, Vue does not take the morphs happily... it actuallym imported the morphs (mostly neck and waist morphs) as green balls that i had to delete to get that render... but it appears that the head morph disappeared when imported into vue... the girl's face is longer in poser, and rounder in Vue... or is it just me? plus, I think the teeth were removed when imported into vue, but it might be just the lighting... I'll read your posts with the utmost attention and then I'll reply again.

still reading, but, by the way, my render was done in Final mode... I'll try all your tips and post the results. Still gotta check how this thread in doing in the vue forum.

kayarnad maybe the camera focal length is different in vue than in poser and that may make the character look fatter than in poser and it looks like the teeth are still there in vue.

that's probably it, the foical lenght..and the teeth just arent lit up.... Vue is pretty awesome, but quite a bit to learn :) I've only had it a short while....barely touched the surface...

aghhh, I lost all what I was writing for posting offline, gghhh.. anyway, here's the render where I solved the issue... it was the highlights!! I turned them down to 0%... sorry, but I had typed a lot more and now got a little frustrated... the teeth are there, but i had to use a spot light on them to make them visible... is there a better way to do this? thanks for all your help! I'll keep playing with the focal lenght... but, what is better, to put the camera really close to the character with no close-up, or putting the camera really far away and then zoom in?? I use the latter method, this pic was at 365mm. thanks again

I meant to say, I turned the hightlights down to 0% to solve the problem... it was at 100%

That's because the highlight color is most likely black at 100%. Double click the color and change it to white and then set turn the settings up to 30% and 20%. Dave; Use the F6 key to bring up the Material Preview and change them from there. It aviod the grouping issue.

Wow, I think we need a lot of tutorials regarding Poser5 to Vue4.2 transfers.

Kayarnad the way you use the focal length is quite good a small number 20 or 30 mm is like a wide angle lens and causes some distortion of the shapes. In poser I use a lens of 120 mm(vue probably has the same settings for focal length). 365 mm is quite a high setting but if it works then it is allright.

By the way, 50 mm is the focal length of the human eye.

Yes, I, too would like to see some more P5 to Vue 4.2 import tutorials. Lots of 'em.

Hi, kayarnad. The green balls are magnets, and if they were affecting clothes or the woman, that would explain the difference between the poser version and the vue. If you have a figure that uses magnets, you should "Spawn a Morph Target" prior to saving (and remove the magnets, if you don't plan to reuse the pz3 file in poser) Hope that helps eric

You can also select the individual magnets (or "body handles," or whatever other unwanted device turns up) in the World Editor column in Vue and delete it. Glad you were able to fix the hair, kayarnad!

hey, xonocastle, thanks for the help! and thanks too, mambanegra, I still don't get much how to spawn a morph target... the one time I tried it, I spawned the morph target, then open similar model characters, loaded the morph target, and nothing happened! I'll keep trying though, because practically 90% of my characters use morphs, and if vue is gonna keep messing them up, I'll have to find a way around. and I'll keep playing with the focal length... cool to know that farther is better... thanks to everyone for the help! and oh, the highlights were white, actually, it was weird, but removing them solved the problem in one step.

wow, I forgot to ask... should I removed all the clothing and props in the pz3 file before spawning, or should I just select the girl's body and do it?? man, I really am clueless in the morphs...

Sadly, you will have to spawn a morph for each body part:( So, if you have a magnet for hips and waist, you will need to do the same for those two. If you have tons of body parts affected, you can then (after spawning each morph and setting the new dials to 1) create a "full body morph" for the body, which you can use later. If the magnets affect clothes, you will need to spawn morphs in those as well, i'm afraid. Keep at it. Magnets are the coolest part of poser, IMHO, but there is some serious trickiness involved in understanding them. eric

kayarnad you just select the girl`s body.