Is there a way in Poser (7) Pro to exclude an object from being lit by a specific light or lights? Maybe some kind of funky material room method?
I'm not talking about keeping objects from casting shadows or being visible, or keeping lights from casting shadows. I know how to do all that, I just want to be able to keep certain objects from being affected by certain chosen lights, not all lights.
You can do this easily in LightWave,  max and Maya, and I'm sure all other apps smug enough to call themselves "pro".
I've checked through all the object and light properties settings, which is to say all two or three possible options... but have found no love there.
Maybe a python script? Can't seem to find one. If there isn't one, there ought to be.

It's not in Poser itself.

The only workaround I can thnk of is rendering the scene with all lights on, then rendering the scene again with those specific lights turned off, and compositing in a 2D app.

Depending on the scene setup you can make the light "stop" just before it hits the object, using Distance_Start and Distance_End. Works only for spotlights and point lights. Playing with Angle_start and Angle_end (spotlights) might also get you there.

Thanks, svdl, I had feared as much.
I've done all those things you mentioned at various times, but it gets tedious.
Times like this I wish I knew Python. I wish I even so much knew if it were even possible to write a script for such a thing, and I might look into it, because it would solve a whole lot of lighting issues I have with Poser.

Making a point light or spotlight "stop" just before it hits the object is fairly easy in Python, the math is straightforward.
Adjusting a spotlight cone so that it misses the object is also possible, but the math is tougher.

Well the thing is, I often have objects which are getting light from another source which I want, but which overlaps. Then maybe I want the offending light to light up the area around the object, but not add to object. Making lights which don't make it to the object would also make them not go past the object. so limiting the range doesn't work in that case. Although it does work in other cases.

In other words, I have a table which is getting lit from a spot on a corner of a room. Now I have a rim light which has shadows turned off and does a nice job at backlighting objects and the floor, but it's too much when it hits the table. Turning the table's diffuse down is no good, and moving the spot is no good either, and I don't want to lose the rim light effect on the other objects - I just don't want it affecting the damn table.

So it would be highly useful to have an option for a light to be able to exclude having any effect on selected objects.

Thanks for the replies though, I might try to take some time to look into the whole python thing. :-)

In Carrara one can specify what objects a light hits, and does not hit.  This can be done as "Only light specified objects" or "Light all objects except".  Very useful.

I'm just sayin'.

Klebnor

Yeah, like I mentioned above, most 3D apps worth their price have such features.
Well then again, Poser is always the exception to everything...

While I'm at it, Poser could stand to have an "exclude OpenGL" feature for the lights too, to prevent selected lights from displaying OpenGL preview, so you can save that for your more important lights. OpenGL is limited to 8 light previews, and considering the huge Suck Factor in Poser's lighting, needing well more than 8 lights is pretty common. For me, at least. And it must be for others, too, since actual pro apps tend to have that feature as well.

The more I get into the New and Improved Poser "Pro", I have to wonder what about it actually has made it "pro". Gamma correction and the ability to half-assed export to better apps....

For the 3D preview part, I'd wish Poser would use a library like OGRE or Irrlicht. Or maybe another game oriented graphics library. The realtime rendering capabilities of OGRE and Irrlicht far, far outshine the realtime OpenGL preview of Poser, both in visual quality and in performance.
As an added bonus, Windows users would get the choice of using either DirectX or OpenGL, which would be a great plus for everyone with a graphics card with less than stellar OpenGL support - i.e. most consumer graphics cards and just about every onboard graphics chip.

Weren't you just telling me the other day OpenGL is more powerful?

Oh never mind, I think I misread what you meant. You were saying that DX appears to be more powerful, because GPU drivers don't utilize OGL to its fullest.

Well stewer said in another thread that the hardware shading of poser's viewport is done with Cg, so i'd settle for just having the ability to use custom Cg shaders. That alone would mean you could create shaders to do normal mapping, basic IBL, basic SSS, some raytracing and nice looking shadows, all in the viewports. Also stuff like realtime AO, bloom, depth of field and tone mapping like in mudbox. It would easily become a very nice alternative to FF for animations and quick renders.

As for not being able to exclude lights, yeh it sucks as it means it's real hard to do any sort of complex lighting in poser. Not only is there no GI, but you can't easily fake it either with hand placed lights.

Quote - Well stewer said in another thread that the hardware shading of poser's viewport is done with Cg, so i'd settle for just having the ability to use custom Cg shaders. That alone would mean you could create shaders to do normal mapping, basic IBL, basic SSS, some raytracing and nice looking shadows, all in the viewports. Also stuff like realtime AO, bloom, depth of field and tone mapping like in mudbox. It would easily become a very nice alternative to FF for animations and quick renders.

As for not being able to exclude lights, yeh it sucks as it means it's real hard to do any sort of complex lighting in poser. Not only is there no GI, but you can't easily fake it either with hand placed lights.

Quoted for agreement. If they did nothing else for Poser 8 but improved the lights and OpenGL and previews, and added more options for such, I'd be quite happy.

Mudbox blows the mind with preview power. Gahhh!!,, sculpting on 4million quads realtime under full AO, refection, DOF and shadows...

Quote - Mudbox blows the mind with preview power. Gahhh!!,, sculpting on 4million quads realtime under full AO, refection, DOF and shadows...

Yes, it is a truly amazing thing to behold.

Would the traditional, old-school, real-world solution not work? -- Using a "flag" or semi-transparent "net" prop in front of the backlight to cast a shadow on the table, but not obscuring the surrounding areas?

That's an interesting idea and I might have to try that sometime. But no, in this example I gave here it wouldn't work, because that backlight is there strictly for the effect and has shadows turned off.
I do that sort of thing quite a bit, which is why I'm always wrestling with this type of problem.