I have a few models of buildings which are one piece (obj).  Thus I cannot make walls invisible or remove them.  The buildings have finished interiors.

Whenever I try to render a scene inside the building I get a render of the outside wall.  I believe I am bringing the camera into the room.  But how would I know??

Using P8.

What am I doing wrong??

Thnks

You can't tell until you render. Are you changing the Focal length of the camera?

Ah great idea!

Inside, you should change focal length to wide angle, just like real cameras.

Poser's focal length doesn't correspond with 35mm full frame - it's off by a 1.4x crop factor.

So ... to do the equivalent of a SLR at, for example 28mm (wide) set the Poser camera to 20mm.

If you set the main camera to visible and set hither I think to 0 you should see the camera outline with other cameras and you will see any walls you are not past.

You can use transparency maps to make parts of a building see through.

Thanks all of you.

Now that I have a better understanding of cameras, How do I move lights inside the building???

You can use either spot or point lights for your source.  They are better to move around within the scene.  IBL could be another alternative, however that light source is better utilized for outdoors renders.  Since you are using P8, IDL + Point would be the preferred.

ecccoman, I find moving lights manually (i.e. with the mouse) to be a bit difficult, especially on the z-index (forward and back). Use parameters. Select the light and change the numerical Trans settings on the parameters palette. Y is up-down; X is side to side; Z is forward-back.

I agree with Sharon.  Parameter dialing is better.  My approach to moving point lights, switch your camera view to Top and pull it back to cover your scene.  Select the light source and apply your coordinate movements.  Switch camera view again (Main, Front, Left, or Right) and adjust it's height and depth according to your preference.

Personally, I find it easiest to use the orthographic cameras (Top, Front and Left/Right) to position point lights exactly where I want them in an existing scene (for example, in the middle of a candle flame or a light shade). Clicking and dragging them using these cameras moves them on a fixed plane - for example, dragging a light in the Front Camera view does not alter the Z position, only X and Y. To drag along the Z axis I switch to Top or Left/Right.

So... three quick drags and everything is perfect. Make of that whatever you will. :O)

use hither dial in preview, but to render with camera inside, use bill's artistic lens with variable-IOR plane in front of camera to adjust camera's apparent FL.  unless somebody already mentioned this.

You can use distant lights, if you turn off shadows for the building walls and ceiling.
Spotlights or point lights give a better result .

This has probably been mentioned before, but I find the absolute easiest way to place a point light is using Ockham's Move Prop To python script. Puts it right where you want it and with only a minimum amount of positioning afterwards. Especially useful when trying to place the light in a lamp or candle.