Attached Link: http://www.users.on.net/~pkinnane/AO%20Tutorial/AO%20Node%20Tutorial.html

A tutorial with some pretty pictures with everything you wanted to know about the Poser 6 Ambient Occlusion node but were afraid to ask.

Grrrr, forgot the graphic.

Like so many others, I have found your products very useful. Thanks for sharing your know-how too!

I am so trying to control my mouse from sticking this in my cart. It looks fantastic. i am off to view the turotial. All the products I have bought from face off are amazing. cheerio lululee

Ok, I read the tutorial. Now my question about Occlusion Master. Does it do the settings for you or do I have to manually set each of them? cheerio lululee

Wow, thanks! Nice tut face_off. I have so got to get your RealSkin Shader. I have been playing a lot in the Mat Room lately, but I can never seem to come close to what you make.

Congrats again, Paul. This one is a real time saver. Sure, you can apply the nodes manually, then fiddle with settings afterwards, but on a figure like V3, with lots of material zones, that can be a laborious undertaking. So this script really speeds up the process, and is very very simple to use. Using occlusion nodes, in my opinion, is a better choice than using the overall occlusion method on the diffuse IBL light itself. It provides much more control over how the AO will affect your scene.

Since I was so thrilled to see your brought your other shaders to the Mac contingent, might I ask if you are planning on making this product available to Mac users as well?

Pretty please? ;)

Outstanding. Thank you for the good advice! Dean

Lululee, it defaults to the settings it thinks are right for the figure you are using.....which are the defaults that are mentioned in the tutorial. It assumes you want AO nodes on all skin parts, but in practice you only add AO nodes to materials that you think will benefit from it (ie. are wearing clothing, or are touching another surface/skin), to minimise rendertime. For example, if your V3 figure is wearing a necklace, only add AO ao node to SkinTorso. If your figure is sitting on a seat, only add the AO node to the seat material. After a while, you see a scene, and can quickly say, "I need an AO node there, there and there". (getting well OT here) For example....http://www.renderosity.com/viewed.ez?galleryid=984974, richardson has put AO nodes on all her skin materials, plus the stool mat, plus the floor. I personally would have left the nodes off her hand materials (since that is giving shadows in her figures). In http://www.renderosity.com/viewed.ez?galleryid=993858 (probably the best Poser render I've ever seen!), it looks like Uwe has used the AO nodes just on her skin - specifically her SkinShin (for the subtle boots shadow) and SkinTorso/SkinHip to provide AO shadows on her skin from her barely adequate clothing. At http://www.renderosity.com/viewed.ez?galleryid=980297 there is a classic necklace exmaple from Deane. An AO node on SkinTorso.

Ariannah, we are unsure at this stage.

Well I'll keep my fingers crossed and thanks for the reply. I'm having a blast working with the other shaders I purchased. Thanks again for finding a way to port them to the Mac. :)

So if we use this tutorial, do we have to pick between using real skin shader and the ao settings as won't some of the same of the nodes on the main panel be the same?

PBM, all the node setup's in the tutorial will work on both standard mat pose setups and RealSkinShader/HyperReal/Realism Kit shader systems. Not too sure what you mean by won't some of the same of the nodes on the main panel be the same? .

I was talking about the nodes on the main poser surface panel... diffuse value, specular color, etc.

PBM : the AO node plugs into the Diffuse_Value and Specular_Value - neither of which the skin shaders use. The AO node also needs to hook into the Alt_Spec and Alt_Diff if they are used. In the case of the skin shaders, the Alt_Spec is used, so you simply create a new color maths node, plug whatever was in the Alt_Spec into value_1 of the new node, and the AO node into value_2. Then plug this new node into the Alt_Spec. This is described in the "Plugging in the AO node" in the tutorial. For example, the diagram attached is what you end up with if you apply the Unimesh Realism Kit nodes on V3, and then follow the tutorial to add the AO node to her SkinTorso. You can see the new color maths node is called ApllyAOSpecular, and it multiplies the specular light (coming from the Realism Kit Blinn setup) with the Ambient Occlusion. The AO node is also plugged into the Diffuse_Value (above this image).

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Nice work Paul, love to see you keep pushing the envelope towards realism! -jay

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when will the script be available through CP?

PBM, usually takes a day or so for products to be migrated across to the CP. I'll post here when I see it over there.

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PBM - at the CP at http://www.contentparadise.com/user/product.php?productid=12305&cat=1325

Thanks :) How many lights did you use?

How many lights? For the promo shots? Pretty much all my indoor studio lighting type renders are a main light at around 45 degrees elevation (80-100% intensity), and filler light positioned exactly at the camera (around 30-40% intensity) and a plain white IBL at around 30%. Sometimes there is a rim light in there too.