forgot to post the wip lol..............still not sure the white or dark bg...but latexluv ty the skin is looking great so far...have posted in gallery. too large for in here....

Geez...  I have been getting weird renders lately.

All is fine and then.............it all goes bananas.

and lately, the preview or screen looks better than the washed out cartoony image I get from the full on firefly.  I've tried resetting to default settings, and useing auto render settings., full on render.  It does not seem to help.

Does this sound familiar to anyone?

You haven't provided specific information to your problem.  Screencap?  Poser version? Setting?  The list goes on.  Please provide more details.

Hello hborre,

I am running Poser Pro 2010 on an i7 2.8 GHz, 12 gig  machine useing Windows 7 with an ATI 4870 graphics card.

I posted here because it seems to be a lighting isseue, it may be nothing but a black screen, underlit, or some other lighting isseue that indicates different lighting  in the Firefly render than the preview render and it is not consistant.

As for settings,  I've reset to defaults, and run it on auto render setting set all the way to rhe right in final render setting as I mentioned.  The one consistant fact that I have noticed is that I've been haveing to over crank the lights to get a good render generally and sometimes unexpected results as I have mentioned.  (like a black render).

It is as if the main light in preview, is not seen in the render.

Sooooo,,,, thank you for asking about my Poser horror story. If you have any sugestions or ideas thanks for that as well.  I am thinking that either I have done something to the lights or that Poser is :o)

I'm only a noob with lighting which is why i started this thread ,i have noticed a distinct difference between preview and final render settings, in so much as that some landscape props need to be rendered in preview to get any shadow effects cast on them, maybe you could post a screen grab of your final render settings, and maybe its worth trying using the D3D render firefly, found in the partners list of your scripts menu, see if that makes any difference, like i said i'm only learning but maybe worth a shot?

ps maybe worth changing the light to a poser default and trying again to see if it the light properties of the light you used caused an issue....

now from me, LatexLuv, another question, if i want to add a second character into my scene do i need another skinshaderprop or if not. how do i apply effects to the second character? and come back , all is forgiven :) lol

Mysticeagle: if you are referring to the application of VSS, the recommendation would be to name your characters differently and address each character in their own VSS Prop rules.  By default, VSS will apply to all models bearing the same material zone names.  And if that is your intention, then 1 prop is enough.

3dBim: The very first thing that came to mind is gamma correction, but I needed to verify which Poser version you're running.  Check on the lower right hand corner of the render settings.  If Gc is set to 2.2, you may be overcompensating with your lighting causing a washout effect.  Either set Gc to 1 or lower your light intensity.  I would think for cartooning purposes, Gc=1 would serve you best. On the other hand, if Gc is already set to 1 and you are experiencing underlit scenes, lights might be the problem.  Are you using purchased light sets, Poser default or home-made?  Are they spots, infinites, or points?  No need to crank the render settings to the highest, it's a waste of computer resources.  Maybe some screencaps of your render settings and lights may shed some more info.

hborre, thankyou,  i  don't know what you mean by naming the character in their own vss prop rules if i am using two different basic skins on my characters, eg v4 with the sprinkles basic mat and m4 with another.....as i only get one skin template option on the vss prop mat, please clarify tyvm :)

The workflow in this situation is to introduce either 2 VSS props into your scene and have each one target the specific character present on the stage.  Or introduce VSS one at a time and similarly perform the mentioned convention.  Or use the original VSS and change the rules to affect the appropriate character.  In either scenario, you will need to modify the VSS rules to avoid inadvertant changes to an already modified character.  I am not presently at my home computer to illustrate this point, but perhaps later this evening if you need further clarification.

Quote - now from me, LatexLuv, another question, if i want to add a second character into my scene do i need another skinshaderprop or if not. how do i apply effects to the second character? and come back , all is forgiven :) lol

There is an easy way to do this. Start a new scene. Bring in what will be you're second figure. Bring in the VSS prop you want to use for this character. Syncronize with your character. Now poser her, even apply clothing and hair to her. Now save her to your library. Then load your scene with your albino girl and from the library load your second figure. You may need to tweek her pose if she's interacting in some way with your albino girl. And then resave your pz3 with the albino girl and the second figure. This negates the need to twinker with the VSS prop's shader rules.

ty .liz  here is the gallery link to the wip screenshot    http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/index.php?image_id=2195530

LOL. I am not makeing cartoons.  I said my renders sometime look like washed out cartoons.    I have to overcrank to get a decent render, but I am looseing much contrast.

I have set everything back to default, factory settings :o)

I may just try a reinstall.  I could clean out alot of old content that way.  As I said it was working great, then ;,,,,,not.

attached is my screen grab.

Thanks alot guys :o)

Sorry, I misunderstood. 

Render settings look fine.  I see you are using IDL.  You are aware that IDL works best within an enclosure like a room or under a skydome.  Under such conditions, I use D3D's renderer found under Partners within the Scripts menu.  It give you a little more control.  Your Gc is defaulted to 2.2.  With this value, you can render with much less light intensity than you would with previous Poser versions. 

There are some things we can consider, see why previous renders worked and current renders are not working.  Are the same models giving different responses to light?  Are Material Room settings "standardized" and "optimized" for rendering?  I have a tendency of decreasing my diffuse_value to 80% or so, depending on the image map.  This is my optimization of all materials to not reflect 100%, they will render a little darker in response to available lighting, a much more realistic result. 

As mentioned, your light intensity should be lower for all lights created in your scene.  For example, when I create a sunlit exterior scene, I use a skydome and 1 infinite or point light @ 75 - 80 % intensity with Gc and IDL active in the render settings. 

Could you describe the particular scene or scenes which are giving you problems, with as much lighting and set details as possible?  Some screencaps of settings will also give us a better clue.

Hello hborre :o)

Thanks again.

It seems to me that I need to start really simple 1 light, 1 model and work my way up to find the fault.  I have not posted screen shots because the problem is not constant. I can not give you an example... 

As for gamma settings:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma_correction

I am not messing with it.

I think that haveing set everything back to default, and beginning with factory setting in preferances, that it is not something that I have done or changed but perhaps a glitch or a problem with the install...

If I find something that may be helpful for others I will post it.

Thanks again :o)

And that can very well be the case.  Either the app or a system change through an update.  Just keep in mind, with Gc keep your lighting scenario simple, especially where IDL rendering is the choice.