I just purchased Runtime DNA's Render Studio for Poser (it was 50% off) and I was wondering if anyone here uses it. If you do, let me know your opinions and experiences. Is it easy to use? Does it produce better renders? Please give your opinions or any tips and tricks on the best way to use it. I'm always nervous about trying out new things like this. Help would be much appreciated! Thank you.

YES!!! (Did the same thing you did, saved 50%!!!)

I love it.

As far as the program, just PLAY!!! or.....

Seriously, do the thing 70-75% us hate doing! Read the documentation. Check out the flash movies on the product page. Poke around it, kick the tires!

I''l post up a before and after with right out of the box settings.

Hang on!

Middle image done with RSP base setup SOFTBOX.

Rightmost image done with RSP base setup DRAMATIC RIGHT.

There are no adjustments to body textures. (I did change the material on the chain belt for the rightmost render when testing RSP).

I loaded the saved .PZ3 and swapped out old lights and rendered the two tests you see here.

These were just the basic presets...and as I said before, read the docs, and play!

I have it also and the monochrome....perfect products, just love it.  Sharen

I have it also and I think it's good... I used it for portrait settings... Looks better than my best lighting set up.

I also have it (on Mac). It makes setting up and managing studio scene lighting ever so easy.

A couple of points though.

Firstly, as mentioned above, DO read the documentation/tutorial on studio lighting that comes with the product, because it really helps to understand what all the different studio lights are for, and how/when to use them.

Secondly, remember that this product is intended to replicate the lighting you would find in a typical (indoor) photographic studio, and I don't regard it as a "one product fits all" solution. If my scene does not really suit a studio lighting setup, I would not even attempt to use Render Studio to light it. For outdoor 'realistic' lighting scenes, for example, I always fall back to a single IBL plus one or two directional lights. But do experiment with Render Studio in different scenes, and you'll soon find when you prefer not to use it.

Oh, one more thing. Remember that the OpenGL preview display will only show up to 8 lights. If you are using more than 8 lights to light your scene, you may be perplexed (like I was) that changing some lights makes no difference to the preview scene. This limitation in OpenGL is the reason for that. The render will show the changes. (Also note that the "soft spot" light is actually four spotlights with a single control).