In some previous forum (Poser pet hates I think) somebody wrote about the 'dead fish eye' in newbie renders. Now I think I confess I am a newbie, and ask all your help, to tell me how to avoid that? Because indeed... the eyes of the figures are very similar to something i say on the shore a couple of weeks ago...

Which version of Poser are you using? There are various ways you can counteract it, with varying degrees of success, dependent on your version of Poser. Probably the simplest way is to change the Specular_Color to white and adjust the Highlight_Size to something around 0.015 (assuming you have P5/P6). The same applies in P4/PP, except the names and numeric values are different. Alter all the eye materials in the same way, except the pupil, which should be non reflective since it's a hole in the middle of the eye. If you have P5/P6, you can play around with Blinn, Glossy and Alternate_Specular, too.

bookmark. Great discussion and suggestion!

Thanks Sam, I have Poser 6 so I will try these out ASAP :)

The most important thing, even before attending to the materials, is to have the eyes doing something. Unfocussed eyes looking vacantly into the distance make their owner look dead really quickly. The human eye - your eye - is very sensitive to what other people's eyes are doing. So. Add a prop to your scene - any of the standard Poser props is fine, because you now make it invisible. Set each eye to 'point at' this prop, and as you move it around, it makes adjusting the eyes much more controllable than with the dials. Also, if you want your character to look at something or someone in the scene, position a camera at that place while you adjust the eyes. Subtle variations in the position of the head and neck can make a difference too.

I don't like making people and scenes in poser that are 'empty' the way you describe. Of course a figure has to be looking at something! The problem was, that even when posed properly (both eyes parented to the target), in this case she, looked like some zombie who has just not yet begun to rot... Since I am working now, I need to wait until I get home plus install a new cooler in the pc before I try out the advices given. BTW in the poser-purist forum, somebody mentioned Blinn... (said 99 % of users dunno what it is)... I saw the option before.. but I take the opportunity and ask: What the hell is it for?:)

Another thing that contributes to the vacant stare is that people often appear to forget that the eyebrows can be adjusted as well. Raise them. Lower them. Add worry to them. That adds to the realism of the look. Also, it seems to help if the eyes aren't perfectly parallel. In other words, if the figure is looking straight towards the camera, adjust them inwards, towards each other, just a few degrees. I'm not saying make them cross-eyed, just a few (2-3) degrees towards each other.

Blinn is a subtle way of adding specularity. Usually not ideal for outer/eye surfaces. Better for skin. Anistropic is a better choice if reduced in scale and bumped from the texture(eyewhite). It will give you the white sparkle highlights. Same for cornea but less or no bump. Blinn is nice on irises. mho

yup..I tend to find that adjusting left-right, and up-down using the same numbers settings, doesn't look right..;) Use the eyebrows, eyelashes, mouth, head, etc., to throw some emotion into the scene..I always thought of the 'dead fish' syndrome is those NVIATWAS renders where someone's facing 3 feet of cold steel with the same expression that they'd have waiting for an elevator..;)noone's that good..;)
thanks for the 'invisible prop' trick (theese is my leetle friend..;); I've tried setting the eyes to follow the camera, with anatomically-impossible results..;)

This is a common problem with Poser figures -- largely due to the fact that Poser people are, after all, merely electronic mannequins. Poser figures look like the hollow imitations of real men & women that they are.

Personally, I try to use facial expressions to counteract this problem as much as possible.

Real humans have extremely "mobile" facial features -- features which constantly change in reaction to the world around them. By contrast, Poser people seem to frequently maintain a bland facial expression, regardless of what's happening in the scene......and that's one reason why Poser figures can look so unnatural.

As has already been suggested in this thread, merely turning the "smile" control up a notch or two won't do the trick -- the eyes themselves are vital to a realistic-looking facial expression. Wince, blink, brows up/down/frown/worry etc. can greatly add to the overall effect.

Pre-made commercial or free expression packs can help, too.

Have you ever seen a fake smile on a real person -- the type of smile that doesn't reach the eyes? Often a 'beauty queen' type smile, or else a smile from someone that's not actually being friendly will look this way.

Without adusting the eyes properly, you'll get the same sort of unpleasant effect from Poser figures.

Never thought I'd get so much help.. Love this place already:) thxalot:) I agree, simply adjusting face isn't enough.. have to set up eyes accordingly.. special thanks richardson for the screenshot, I will get into it right away. With the motto: eyes are the window to the soul.. now will ever a poser figure have a soul? or have I been reading too much Asimov?

bookmark~im a fairly new newbie...so anything like this is great!

Attached Link: http://www.psalmons.co.uk/

There's a P5/P6 tutorial in the "Tips" section on how to improve eyes, though the details are for Daz's Millenium figures. But there's several little things you can do with shaders, rather than a texturemap. I don't 100% agree with the suggestions there; I'd give a slight red tint to the black of the pupil myself, and as a general rule I avoid the extremes of black and white so as to leave a little room for highlights and shadows.