Quote - K, so I'll be the gadfly this time.

Since what you say is true (and I completely believe you!!!), gamma-correction is not really an optional process: it is central to correct colours since colour processing sRGB colours by a device that expects linear information will generate rubbish.

Since it isn't optional, why hasn't it been included in all versions of Poser?

Sorry, the question begs asking.

It really *isn't a "Pro" feature, is it? Not if you're going to generate rubbish without it.

I know - I should be asking SM...

Here's where I think people get riled up. The word rubbish is only correct if NOTHING is done about it, i.e. if the user has not compensated. "Gamma correction" is the mathematically simplest and most accurate "compensation" for monitor gamma. But there are other ways. They include all the things people have done in the past:

1) Raise the light levels overall. While this raises the apparent brightness of the half-lit areas, it over exposes the fully lit areas. This produces the common yellow bloom.

2. Add fill lights selectively. Quite good results can be produced this way for a simple portrait. For a more complex scene, particularly a full room, this is difficult and time consuming.

3. Use IBL. Again, quite good results can be produced for a simple portrait, and much faster and easier than many individual fill lights. But still not easy or great for an interior shot where ambient light levels should vary throughout the different areas of the scene. I demonstrated this problem yesterday with the four Andy bots.

4. Postwork gamma correction - commonly done with the middle value in Photoshop "levels" dialog. Since this also causes hue/saturation shifts, it is usually followed by a hue/saturation adjustment, and then often a second levels adjustment. Success is possible, but requires a good eye, some skill with the tools, and must be done after each re-render. And, you can end up with information loss - the banding problem and the zero-data problem. I demonstrated this problem yesterday with the four Andy bots.

So - people have made do with these other "compensation" techniques, and they do work. But they require more effort than simply using GC.

As for why SM only includes it in the Pro version ...

I've chosen not to answer this question before and I'll choose not to do so again, if you don't mind. I do not want to have another arm-chair marketing manager discussion/argument/flamewar. I've been down that road before, with the very people grousing in this and other GC threads. Further, the factors going into that decision are not completely known to me, so I can't accurately convey their thinking. Nor is it my place to do so.

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Renderosity forum reply notifications are wonky. If I read a follow-up in a thread, but I don't myself reply, then notifications no longer happen AT ALL on that thread. So if I seem to be ignoring a question, that's why. (Updated September 23, 2019)