I am trying to replace one light with another- because I like the light properties of a newly created light better.  I tried to change the properties of the original scene light to match with the one that I like better, - to see if I could just replicate the effect with the one that is already there, but it did not create the same effect as the new light.   Does that make sense?  I changed everything to exactly the same settings, but it looks nowhere near it.  (does Poser run on strange Voodoo sometimes, I am beginning to think so)?

So in the end I have replaced the original light with the new one (moved into the exact same place), but the shadow that falls on the ground is a lot shorter than the original.  I made all of the shadow settings the same on the new one, but it is still short.  Anyone have any idea why, and how to manipulate it?

Anyone know of a good shadow cam tut.?  I have delved into everything poser pretty deep, but have yet to even mess with or figure out the shadow cam, and what it does.

thanks!!!

Dr. Geep has some awesome tutes which can help you out.

http://www.drgeep.com/

Attached Link: "Shadow Camera" Tutorial compliments of Dr Geep Studios

Thanks for the plug hborre :biggrin:

This tutorial might help. ... Just click the link above the image or ...
... go to Room W 801 over at Poser U. located in downtown Feenix.

cheers,
dr geep
;=]

Show something regarding your settings (prefer screen shots) and renders. One man's short shadow is another man's "oh I forgot to make the same shadow map size/ray bias/falloff distance but I decided to tell you that I copied all the settings even though that is not the case actually because this one parameter I did not think was important."

Let me put it another way. I have experimented with Poser lights for years. Unless you've discovered an otherwise unknown bug, it is impossible that you copied all the parameters and got different results.

re: " ...all ..."

Yup ........... What bagginsbill said.

I'm in favour of poser users using the shadowcams, which are a survival from
the previous century, like FFRender.  using the shadowcam is somewhat analogous
to placing a camera inside, or coaxial with, the lite.  see geep's tutorial for more details.
the shadowcams may have some unpredictable behaviors, hence i would advise
deleting said lite and starting over, if problems develop.

thanks for the link on the tut- ok, the settings are all exactly the same despite what BB says, I have checked and tripple checked, and checked some more, I guess he assumes that everyone else is sub par.  Anyway, I have been working on this light set for about 6 months- very specific, and many tweaks, and now that I take a closer look, I have like 30 shadow cam lites, from lights that I have previously deleted.  I assume that the shadow cams are not deleted when you delete a light?  Can they be deleted, does it matter, will having that many SC cause interference/problems, long render times, anything?  Thanks a lot!

You can select any light (camera or object) and copy it.  Edit, Copy or Ctrl & C.  Open a Windows Notepad and choose Edit, Paste or Ctrl & V.  The parameters are copied to the Windows Clipboard and can be pasted into any text program.

As for your last post look into the Hierarchy Editor and choose Lights and Cameras.  This should give you an idea of which camera is attached to which light.

Best Wishes,
Rªnce

Attached Link: http://www.ranquist.net/tutorial/shadowcam.htm

There's a short Shadow Cam tutorial here: http://www.ranquist.net/tutorial/shadowcam.htm

Quote - thanks for the link on the tut- ok, the settings are all exactly the same despite what BB says, I have checked and tripple checked, and checked some more, I guess he assumes that everyone else is sub par.

There's nothing in what I said to suggest that you are "sub par". You can check all you want but you don't know why the shadows are different, which means there's a parameter you don't know about. You can check the 99 you know about, and that doesn't change the fact that there is one more you don't know about.

The fact that you don't know everything about shadow cameras indicates that it just might be possible there is something else about lights and shadows that you've missed.

But that's fine - if you don't want to show me your settings, and you just want to insist you got everything right, keep trying. I'm sure it will come to you.

Quote - You can select any light (camera or object) and copy it.  Edit, Copy or Ctrl & C.  Open a Windows Notepad and choose Edit, Paste or Ctrl & V.  The parameters are copied to the Windows Clipboard and can be pasted into any text program.

As for your last post look into the Hierarchy Editor and choose Lights and Cameras.  This should give you an idea of which camera is attached to which light.

Best Wishes,
Rªnce

This does not show you everything about the light, particularly the shadows. Don't think this will let you copy and compare for matches.

 For example, the copied data never mentions raytraced shadow setting, raybias, blur radius, etc. Nor is there anything about the shadow camera in there. In other words, this is not how you should go about figuring out what is different about two lights.

bagginsbill, you are right of course.  I still think it's as good as place to start as any.  At least you know the position and rotation of each light.  One by one the lights still have to be gone through and each parameter noted.  With the copy and paste at least you know each lights position and rotation.

I'm sure otherworld will work things out.

-Rªnce