And perspective view (main camera) with an angled light, still at 100 %. notice the shadows on the balls, I didn't like the shadows on the right, but I realised that  a sphere without any indirect would look like that, like a half moon by example (look for stewers picture in the Gamma-correction thread)

Here is the same picture but with IDL  and shadows activated, notice the difference with the other picture. The planes looks very much the same, but the spheres are very different, light is still 100 %

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.

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

Fair enough, Bill... and thank you for your answer.

Good demo, bopper. However, the use of a 100% diffuse value on the sphere is creating a problem with IDL. The indirectly lit part of the sphere appears brighter than it really should.

This is the same render, but with a 50% light.

This also demonstrates why you can't use shader GC with IDL. At least, not fully at 2.2.

This is why I like Poser Pro 2010 so much more than Poser 8. With Poser 8, I have to use a mix of partial shader GC and HSV ETM. This makes things more tedious than with Pro 2010, where I can use trivial non-GC shaders.

And my last picture with the ground plane also gamma corrected.  I had some strange "artifacts" on the spheres, untill I realised it weren't artifacts, but it is were the ground plane stops. The dark shadows on the top of the spheres are actually the background, which shows how good IDL works. Hope this was informative (a bit dull perhaps).

Best regards,
Bopper.

I agree, but with dimension3D script you can change the strength of IDL much more then with the regular firefly settings, perhaps this will give better results with Poser8.

Bopper.

> Quote - >     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,

 

A quick tip for those who are doing postwork gamma correction in Photoshop:  To prevent hue/saturation shifts while using levels or curves, set the Adjustment Layer blend mode to Luminosity.

Interesting. I got my copy of Photoshop ten years ago. Photoshop 6 doesn't have adjustment layers. I'd have to duplicate the layer, adjust levels, then set the layer blending mode.

Quote - > Quote - I'm about ready to go over to PoserPros and just talk to myself for awhile.

Laurie

I'm quite ready to join you there. I'm tired of being sideswiped by people's egos around here. Try to help one person and suddenly person number three jumps in out of nowhere to take offense at what you'd said and it wasn't even to them/at them. Talking to myself sounds much more relaxing. :tt2:

For the record I didn't take offense at your post. I felt bad for Wand and posted my opinion same as you, that's all.

never mind that last post, I misunderstood it