Quote - I have to ask. If you use an IBL light with a hdr and an illumination prop, can this make tons of fireflies? My current render has a gazillion fireflies that don't seem to be resolving (although the render has only been going for 30 minutes).

Post your *.lxl and *.lxs file. I'll set up a scene here with the same data and try to find out.

Quote -
i have some questions about materials now. what material should i use in poser to get glossy in lux.

how to change the IOR settings in poser?

do we have to use blinn or just the specular node?

can we use textures for reflections?

The standard material is glossy if specular is set, else it is matte.
As far as I can tell BB makes use of the blinn node. 
I don't use plain materials BB's converter exports. So I can't tell much about it.
For skin I replace all materials to mattetranslucent or velvet.

can we change the IOR in poser's material room?

or do we have to use the text editor ?

Quote - can we change the IOR in poser's material room?

or do we have to use the text editor ?

The current material exporter part is made by BB. So you have to ask him.

ok i see that if you connect the textures to the specualar that it works.

now i only need to find out how to change IOR for reflections.

Quote - ok i see that if you connect the textures to the specualar that it works.

now i only need to find out how to change IOR for reflections.

Reflections? This is how glossy is defined:

glossy::d float texture The depth (thickness) of the coating layer for absorption effects. (0 = disables) 0.0
glossy::index float texture IOR of the coating. 0.0

Quote - > Quote - ok i see that if you connect the textures to the specualar that it works.

now i only need to find out how to change IOR for reflections.

Reflections? This is how glossy is defined:

glossy::d float texture The depth (thickness) of the coating layer for absorption effects. (0 = disables) 0.0
glossy::index float texture IOR of the coating. 0.0

Well adp, a certain IOR setting will change how a reflection looks, not that there IS a reflection ;o).

Laurie

Quote - > Quote - > Quote - ok i see that if you connect the textures to the specualar that it works.

now i only need to find out how to change IOR for reflections.

Reflections? This is how glossy is defined:

glossy::d float texture The depth (thickness) of the coating layer for absorption effects. (0 = disables) 0.0
glossy::index float texture IOR of the coating. 0.0

Well adp, a certain IOR setting will change how a reflection looks, not that there IS a reflection ;o).

Laurie

Are you talking about highlights?

No, I mean that a different IOR will bend the reflections in different ways. For example, reflections in water don't look the same as they do on glass :o). Each refracts light in a different way. Normally, I just use IOR on transparent or translucent materals like glass or liquids or on metals.

Laurie

isnt IOR also important for skin?

not as important as it is for refractive materials.  I don't know if skin even has an IOR value.  Might have a BRDF though

For skin one should use mattetransucent or better velvet (LuxRender 0.8dev). 

for skin you need matte or velvet combined with  glossy. its important.

if you use only velvet for skin you will get a disaster

FWIW ...  with all the chatter of skin.. Here is a good "Bone-Up" article for those really interested in CG and Skin... maybe it's been posted before, if so, sorry. Very good in depth info, though not directly related to LUX... :)

>>>Clicky<<<

Quote - for skin you need matte or velvet combined with  glossy. its important.

if you use only velvet for skin you will get a disaster

Best to mix velvet with the standard glossy or matte skin material coming out of poser.

Quote - > Quote - I have to ask. If you use an IBL light with a hdr and an illumination prop, can this make tons of fireflies? My current render has a gazillion fireflies that don't seem to be resolving (although the render has only been going for 30 minutes).

Post your *.lxl and *.lxs file. I'll set up a scene here with the same data and try to find out.

Okay, I don't know what I'm not doing today that I did last night but my self illuminating prop isn't showing up as a light source at the moment. Regardless, I'm getting the same effect of a gazillion fireflies. I only have an IBL light as my light, with the Pond hdr image attached.  Here is my light file:

start lights

LightGroup "GR1"

start light "GR1:IBL"

LightGroup "GR1"
AttributeBegin
 TransformBegin
 Rotate 240 1 1 1
 Rotate 19 0 0 1
  LightSource "infinite"
   "float gain" [360.0]
   "color L" [0.74827928474 0.853189871356 0.513612567121]
   "integer nsamples" [2]
   "string mapname" ["C:/Poser 8/Runtime/Textures/HDRVFX/HDRVFX_pond_01_v_002.hdr"]
 TransformEnd
AttributeEnd

end light "GR1:IBL"

end lights

I also get the same firefly thing going on if I use the Sun & Sky settings that was posted to the Poser Lux Wiki.

Did a couple of test scene just to see what's going on. I could not get a self illuminating object to work for me, but I may not be setting it up right. The second experiment was setting up a scene with an IBL with no attached image and one spot light just to see what's happening. It came into Lux and there was lots of fireflies, but they started to clear up quite quickly. It seems that at least on my machine, the attached hdr to the IBL light is causing the masses of fireflies that don't clear up even after an hour of render time.

Image has only been rendering for 30 minutes and almost all fireflies are gone.

Are you using the "bidirectional"  SurfaceIntegrator? 

Make sure the Poser material has Ambiente_Color/Ambiente_Value set to create a light-emitter (P4-mode).

Changing the pixelfilter to "gaussian" instead of "mitchell" might also help decrease the amount of fireflies.

Quote - Changing the pixelfilter to "gaussian" instead of "mitchell" might also help decrease the amount of fireflies.

Pixelfilter?  Where?

Quote - > Quote - Changing the pixelfilter to "gaussian" instead of "mitchell" might also help decrease the amount of fireflies.

Pixelfilter?  Where?

Close to the end of the .lxs file you'll see
PixelFilter "mitchell"

 "float xwidth" [2]

 "float ywidth" [2]

 "float B" [0.333333333333]

 "float C" [0.333333333333]

Change that to
PixelFilter "gaussian"

 "float xwidth" [1.3]

 "float ywidth" [1.3]

I'm getting an error using version 1.40 of the exporter:

Traceback (most recent call last):

  File "/Applications/Poser Pro 2010/Runtime/Python/poserScripts/ScriptsMenu/luxrender/PoserLuxExporter.py", line 220, in ?

    ExportScene(scene, globalParameters).write(f)

  File "/Applications/Poser Pro 2010/Runtime/Python/poserScripts/ScriptsMenu/luxrender/workers/PoserLuxExporter_workers.py", line 549, in write

    ExportFigure(fig, self.globalParameters).write(outfile)

  File "/Applications/Poser Pro 2010/Runtime/Python/poserScripts/ScriptsMenu/luxrender/workers/PoserLuxExporter_workers.py", line 255, in write

    params).write(file)

  File "/Applications/Poser Pro 2010/Runtime/Python/poserScripts/ScriptsMenu/luxrender/pydough/geometry_export.py", line 39, in init

    materials = get_materials(geom, convert_material)

  File "/Applications/Poser Pro 2010/Runtime/Python/poserScripts/ScriptsMenu/luxrender/pydough/geometry_export.py", line 16, in get_materials

    return [f(mat, geometry.material_key) for mat in geometry.materials]

  File "/Applications/Poser Pro 2010/Runtime/Python/poserScripts/ScriptsMenu/luxrender/workers/PoserLuxExporter_workers.py", line 85, in material_converter

    mat= MatConverter(mat, key).eval()

  File "/Applications/Poser Pro 2010/Runtime/Python/poserScripts/ScriptsMenu/luxrender/workers/BBLuxMat.py", line 93, in eval

    s = self.eval2(key)

  File "/Applications/Poser Pro 2010/Runtime/Python/poserScripts/ScriptsMenu/luxrender/workers/BBLuxMat.py", line 123, in eval2

    if isNode(color) : color=inp.Value_1

NameError: global name 'inp' is not defined
 

Changed Vicky's skin and get error:

Traceback (most recent call last):

  File "/Applications/Poser Pro 2010/Runtime/Python/poserScripts/ScriptsMenu/luxrender/PoserLuxExporter.py", line 220, in ?

    ExportScene(scene, globalParameters).write(f)

  File "/Applications/Poser Pro 2010/Runtime/Python/poserScripts/ScriptsMenu/luxrender/workers/PoserLuxExporter_workers.py", line 549, in write

    ExportFigure(fig, self.globalParameters).write(outfile)

  File "/Applications/Poser Pro 2010/Runtime/Python/poserScripts/ScriptsMenu/luxrender/workers/PoserLuxExporter_workers.py", line 255, in write

    params).write(file)

  File "/Applications/Poser Pro 2010/Runtime/Python/poserScripts/ScriptsMenu/luxrender/pydough/geometry_export.py", line 39, in init

    materials = get_materials(geom, convert_material)

  File "/Applications/Poser Pro 2010/Runtime/Python/poserScripts/ScriptsMenu/luxrender/pydough/geometry_export.py", line 16, in get_materials

    return [f(mat, geometry.material_key) for mat in geometry.materials]

  File "/Applications/Poser Pro 2010/Runtime/Python/poserScripts/ScriptsMenu/luxrender/workers/PoserLuxExporter_workers.py", line 85, in material_converter

    mat= MatConverter(mat, key).eval()

  File "/Applications/Poser Pro 2010/Runtime/Python/poserScripts/ScriptsMenu/luxrender/workers/BBLuxMat.py", line 93, in eval

    s = self.eval2(key)

  File "/Applications/Poser Pro 2010/Runtime/Python/poserScripts/ScriptsMenu/luxrender/workers/BBLuxMat.py", line 114, in eval2

    m = self.skinType(root, skin, name)

  File "/Applications/Poser Pro 2010/Runtime/Python/poserScripts/ScriptsMenu/luxrender/workers/BBLuxMat.py", line 190, in skinType

    return LuxMatteTranslucent(Kr=skin.SkinColor, Kt=skin.SheenColor, sigma=skin.Ka)

NameError: global name 'LuxMatteTranslucent' is not defined
 

Flenser,

Remove ALL Poser nodes attached to the ambient, and the error goes away, I had the same issue on page 48. (for the "inp" error anyway)

Testversion Alpha 1.41, Download here 

This version has experimental skin and velvet support. Please give feedback after experimenting.

(1.40 is still downloadable from my footer if this version does not work for you).

SKIN:
Poser Skin SkinColor -> Lux mattetranslucent Kr
Poser Skin SheenColor ->  Lux mattetranslucent Kt
Poser Skin Thickness -> Lux glossy d
Poser Skin eta -> Lux glossy index

VELVET:
Poser Velvet Velvet_Color -> Lux velvet Kd
Poser Velvet Ka -> Lux velvet p1
Poser Velvet Kd -> Lux velvet p2
Poser Velvet Ks -> Lux velvet p3
Poser Velvet Edginess -> Lux velvet thickness

Quote - Flenser,

Remove ALL Poser nodes attached to the ambient, and the error goes away, I had the same issue on page 48. (for the "inp" error anyway)

Vicky's skin had ambient_value set, after I set them all to 0 the inp error went away.

Is there a way to set all ambient_values to 0? It's very annoying to have to change every piece of skin material by hand.

Quote - > Quote - Flenser,

Remove ALL Poser nodes attached to the ambient, and the error goes away, I had the same issue on page 48. (for the "inp" error anyway)

Vicky's skin had ambient_value set, after I set them all to 0 the inp error went away.

Is there a way to set all ambient_values to 0? It's very annoying to have to change every piece of skin material by hand.

There is a freebie Python floating around that turns all Diffuse to .08, I think is should be an easy hack to make switch all Ambients too...

Save this in a file with extension ".py"

import poser
scene = poser.Scene()

EXCLUDEDACTORS="UNIVERSE","GROUND",

for ac in scene.Actors() :
    if ac.InternalName() in EXCLUDEDACTORS : continue
    if (ac.IsProp() or ac.IsBodyPart()):
        print ac.Name()
        for mat in ac.Materials() :
            n=mat.ShaderTree().Node(0)
            n.InputByInternalName("Ambient_Color").SetColor(0,0,0)
            n.InputByInternalName("Ambient_Value").SetFloat(0)
        
scene.DrawAll()
print "Done."

Thanks ADP, that'll be very helpful. :)

Testversion Alpha 1.41a, Download here  

This version has experimental metal and mirror support. Please give feedback after experimenting.

Add a reflection-node as usual. If Diffuse_Color is Black the exporter assumes a mirror, else metal.

Imagenodes may be attached to skin/velvet/mirror/metal. A few simple math- and other nodes too. But results may come out unexpected. 

Quote - Testversion Alpha 1.41a, Download here  

This version has experimental metal and mirror support. Please give feedback after experimenting.

Add a reflection-node as usual. If Diffuse_Color is Black the exporter assumes a mirror, else metal.

Imagenodes may be attached to skin/velvet/mirror/metal. A few simple math- and other nodes too. But results may come out unexpected. 

Hmmm, File Not Found.

Sorry, should work now. One character was uppercase in the filename.

Quote - Testversion Alpha 1.41, Download here 

This version has experimental skin and velvet support. Please give feedback after experimenting.

(1.40 is still downloadable from my footer if this version does not work for you).

SKIN:
Poser Skin SkinColor -> Lux mattetranslucent Kr
Poser Skin SheenColor ->  Lux mattetranslucent Kt
Poser Skin Thickness -> Lux glossy d
Poser Skin eta -> Lux glossy index

VELVET:
Poser Velvet Velvet_Color -> Lux velvet Kd
Poser Velvet Ka -> Lux velvet p1
Poser Velvet Kd -> Lux velvet p2
Poser Velvet Ks -> Lux velvet p3
Poser Velvet Edginess -> Lux velvet thickness

On the Metal Support (1.41) version we should follow this :
"Add a reflection-node as usual. If Diffuse_Color is Black the exporter assumes a mirror, else metal."

How are the "Skin" conversions created, do we need to have a specific Poser node or channel "on" ?
I run the script, it works like normal, but there is no difference in the lxm output.

On the"Skin" version should we do similar like the Metal.

Maybe it is due to Lux version .7, I cannot run V.8 because of OSX 10.6- Just a thought.

looks like a shop dummy.. the ones with the flocking skin... not bad...

Quote -

Maybe it is due to Lux version .7, I cannot run V.8 because of OSX 10.6- Just a thought.

mattetranslucent and velvet are not available with LuxRender 0.7.

metal and mirror should work.

Quote -
Maybe it is due to Lux version .7, I cannot run V.8 because of OSX 10.6- Just a thought.

Look for version 7.1! This version has mattetransulcent, velvet and "multibounce" addition to glossy.

Quote - > Quote -

Maybe it is due to Lux version .7, I cannot run V.8 because of OSX 10.6- Just a thought.

Look for version 7.1! This version has mattetransulcent, velvet and "multibounce" addition to glossy.

Thanks ADP!

7.1 is Linux build :(
Test build .8 is OSX 10.6 only, I am wondering they are going to drop OSX 10.5 support all the way around.

Well I'll make due with what I have for the time being ;), 

Seems we better wait with displacement-map support. Read this for more information:  http://www.luxrender.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=4684

Quote - mattetranslucent skin mixed with velvet in 80/20 ratio.
The only light in the scene is a lightbox, from 3DC's Photostudio set, made into a light emitter.

Needs a bit glossy for my taste ...

Quote - > Quote - mattetranslucent skin mixed with velvet in 80/20 ratio.

The only light in the scene is a lightbox, from 3DC's Photostudio set, made into a light emitter.

Needs a bit glossy for my taste ...

Yeah, I thought so too ;o). She needs some Lubriderm ;o).

Gonna be hard to mix three things though, but I think it can be done so long as they all are parts of 1. Maybe Mattetrans 50/Velvet 30/Gloss 20? Thinking about how Luxrender reads them and codes them though, maybe not... Might have to mix two and then mix that one with another.

Laurie

i think you can layer a lot of shaders together.

you just use two mix shaders and combine 3 together.

i think bagginsbill will know more about this.

Yes, working on this mix.

I think I get it ready soon :) 

Experimental Version 1.42 Download here

This version has experimental skin, velvet, mattetranslucent, metal, mirror and glass support. Please give feedback after experimenting.

(1.40 is still downloadable from my footer if this version does not work for you).

Base is a glossy-shader. Other shaders are mix-ins. 

Poser translucence -> Lux mattetranslucent
Poser Refraction -> Lux Glass

Would be nice if someone could play with this. Maybe some parameters are better changed.

Quote - Experimental Version 1.42 Download here

This version has experimental skin, velvet, mattetranslucent, metal, mirror and glass support. Please give feedback after experimenting.

(1.40 is still downloadable from my footer if this version does not work for you).

Base is a glossy-shader. Other shaders are mix-ins. 

Poser translucence -> Lux mattetranslucent
Poser Refraction -> Lux Glass

Would be nice if someone could play with this. Maybe some parameters are better changed.

Getting a 'file not found' for 1.42.

Another typo in the filename.

Fixed. 

Quote - > Quote - > Quote - mattetranslucent skin mixed with velvet in 80/20 ratio.

The only light in the scene is a lightbox, from 3DC's Photostudio set, made into a light emitter.

Needs a bit glossy for my taste ...

Yeah, I thought so too ;o). She needs some Lubriderm ;o).

Gonna be hard to mix three things though, but I think it can be done so long as they all are parts of 1. Maybe Mattetrans 50/Velvet 30/Gloss 20? Thinking about how Luxrender reads them and codes them though, maybe not... Might have to mix two and then mix that one with another.

Laurie

I think the mix works on 2 at a time, maybe mattetrans50/gloss50 -> mix70/velvet30?
Will give it a try over the weekend.

Quote - Experimental Version 1.42 Download here

This version has experimental skin, velvet, mattetranslucent, metal, mirror and glass support. Please give feedback after experimenting.

(1.40 is still downloadable from my footer if this version does not work for you).

Base is a glossy-shader. Other shaders are mix-ins. 

Poser translucence -> Lux mattetranslucent
Poser Refraction -> Lux Glass

Would be nice if someone could play with this. Maybe some parameters are better changed.

If you mean attaching a refract node to the Poser surface and it translates into Lux as glass....it's not working at all. Had to hand edit the material file.

For me the material above computes to the following Lux file (important parts only):

#----->   luxball_new_1/material:glass    <-----

MakeNamedMaterial "luxball_new_1/material:glass" "string type" ["glass"]

"string Kr" ["0.024222943199534778, 1.0, 0.22331043694287706"]

"color Kt" [0.215686276555 0.54509806633 1.0]

"float index" [1.5]

"float cauchyb" [0.20000000298]

"float filmindex" [0.850000023842]

######################

#----->   luxball_new_1/material:glass_1    <-----

MakeNamedMaterial "luxball_new_1/material:glass_1" "string type" ["glossy"]

"color Kd" [0.139313726983 0.139313726983 0.139313726983]

"color Ks" [0.0172058831287 0.0172058831287 0.0172058831287]

"float uroughness" [0.32760295434]

"float vroughness" [0.32760295434]

######################

#----->   luxball_new_1/material    <-----

MakeNamedMaterial "luxball_new_1/material" "string type" ["mix"]

"string namedmaterial1" ["luxball_new_1/material:glass"]

"string namedmaterial2" ["luxball_new_1/material:glass_1"]

"float amount" [0.0]

As you can see, the "mix amount" is 0, because Refraction_Value is 1. So the glossy part is ignored.

The colors defined in Poser are assigned to the glass material as follows:

Poser Refraction_Color -> glass Kr
Poser Refraction Node Background -> glass Kt 
Poser Refraction Node Index_of_Refraction -> glass index
Poser Refraction Node Quality -> glass couchyB
Poser Refraction Node Softness -> glass film
Poser Refraction Node Raybias -> glass filmindex

A word about emitters: Make sure normals from your emitter-object are pointing into your scene. This is most important if you use a singlle-sided-square.

Clear glass: Make all color white (Refraction_Color, Background color) and set Refraction_Value to 1.