Attached Link: You need to gamma correct

Hmm, interesting question. Apparently my work is not done.

What I've been saying over and over is your (and everybody's) renders suck.

If you are not gamma correcting your renders they suck.

You are generating renders in Linear color space, using Poser 5, Poser 6, Poser 7.

Your monitor displays images in sRGB color space. Only Poser Pro can generate an image directly in the target color space for your actual monitor, printer, or projector. All visual devices today are calibrated for images encoded in sRGB color space.

So it is in issue, until and unless you are using Poser Pro and you enable Poser Pro's built-in gamma correction in render settings.

I have discovered that it is possible using nodes to generate images in the proper color space even in Poser 5, Poser 6, and Poser 7. Anybody who has been using my VSS shaders has been enjoying renders (of the figure at least) that are properly encoded to be viewed as they are supposed to be on actual real-life computer monitors, as opposed to imaginary idealized monitors that do not exist.

I have been trying to make everybody understand that all versions of Poser prior to Poser Pro were rendering perfectly well, with the lighting being quite good really. Many people think Poser's lighting is not good. This is incorrect. What has been missing all along is that you are looking at images not designed to be looked upon with a computer that actually exists.

In order to prepare images to be viewed on your actual real-life computer monitor, you must gamma correct it.

It turns out that linear color space images look similar to sRGB images, but they are not the same. But they are close enough that 300,000 Poser users have been struggling with lighting trying to make up the difference.

The issue is not lighting. The issue is you need to convert your render to sRGB color space.

The conversion is simple:

linear color to the power (1 / 2.2) = sRGB color

SImilarly, any incoming images used in shaders, such as skin textures, must be converted from sRGB to linear space, as follows:

sRGB color to the power 2.2 = linear color

These two conversions are performed automatically for you by Poser Pro if you enable them.

If you do not enable them, Poser Pro does not do this for you.

Many people bought Poser Pro and believe that gamma correction just makes their pictures ugly.

Actually, their pictures are ugly to begin with, and Poser Pro reveals this when rendering them with gamma correction.

Hundreds of thousands of Poser users have been bamboozled for years into thinking they need to throw dozens of extra lights into a scene to get the darker areas to look right. They think it is not possible to light a scene with only one spot light adequately. They are wrong. They only need to actually "see" a render correctly encoded for display on real-life computer monitors.

(Sigh. I've only been saying this every single week and it still isn't clear, apparently.)

I have written in DP Hoadleys thread about the same thing.

Last month I wrote a thread called "Friendly Reminder - You need to gamma correct".  It is in the link above.

I guess I should write it again.

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