I'm experimenting with IDL in Poser8 and I really like the results - except for the hair (not dynamic -  the out-of-the-box stuff). Does anyone have tips on getting the hair to look better - more realistic?

If you are using Gamma correct, you need to make gamma 1 not 2.2 for all transmaps and bump maps.

Love esther

There is no gamma correction in P8, Esther

oops.  Then I can't think of anything that may help this problem.

Love esther

Actually, Esther is on to something... and it is about the new lighting. You will encounter issues with P8+ lighting and legacy shaders... this is just the way it is. Old shader: old lighting systems. You might try one of your favourite lights and render without IDL... works a treat, doesn't it?

I'm having to convert all my hair and clothing (and skin... heck, just about everything) for the new lighting. Have a read what Bagginsbill has to say about the new lighting and shaders: he does have several suggestions to make.

Oh, something easy you can do: turn of that bloody refl_lite_mult tick-box. Might make a difference, just there! :biggrin:

Quote - I'm experimenting with IDL in Poser8 and I really like the results - except for the hair (not dynamic -  the out-of-the-box stuff). Does anyone have tips on getting the hair to look better - more realistic?

Vendors have a tendency to put ambient and / or translucence in their hair shaders. You should kill those off, they make hair look terrible with IDL.

They also do over-enthusiastic, complicated things with Diffuse, Specular, Alt Diffuse, Alt Specular, Reflection, Refraction and heaven knows what else. These need sorting out. Make them as simple as possible and they'll probably render a lot better.

KISS never failed.
IDL took over what we had to simulate before.
Drop all simulations, and live happy ever after.

Just for PoserPro and GC?

All textures for bump, displacement, transparancy's etc, have to get their gamma set at 1..

Black is not black any more at Gamma2.2
All gray values change.. So...

PS all colors change.

well as Robyn just pointed out, there is no GC available to set in poser 8, so that is not his problem.

IDL can look very good, it's only a click of a checkbox and a slightly longer render usually to do it.  Not quite the same as simulating and the KISS principal.

Love esther

Quote - KISS never failed.
IDL took over what we had to simulate before.
Drop all simulations, and live happy ever after.

Just for PoserPro and GC?

All textures for bump, displacement, transparancy's etc, have to get their gamma set at 1..

Black is not black any more at Gamma2.2
All gray values change.. So...

PS all colors change.

Are you being funny here or ... ??? The gamma function is power. 0 to any power is still 0. Black is RGB 0, 0, 0. It should be obvious then that black at any gamma is still black. The statement "Black is not black any more at Gamma 2.2" is incorrect. The opposite is true. Also, for the same reason, white is still white at any gamma. The number 1 raised to any power is 1. White is RGB 1, 1, 1. Therefore white is not altered by gamma. Any color where all three RGB components are 0 or 1 is also a color that is unchanged by gamma. These are red 1, 0, 0 green 0, 1, 0 blue 0, 0, 1 yellow 1, 1, 0 magenta 1, 0, 1 cyan 0, 1, 1 Any shade of gray (all RGB components are equal) remains a shade of gray, but its luminance is altered.

The first thing I'd suggest is antioscopic specular reflection (put it in alt diffuse)... I think that work bests on hair.  After that, maybe play with bump/displacement maps if you're feeling brave. 

Sorry, don't mean to be rude or silly, but... I couldn't help but chuckle at "antioscopic". Sounds like a medicine term xD

one would interject that shorty's icon may be "snidely whiplash" and nell.  users may use power nodes in poser 8 to alter the rendered appearance of a posersurface.  P8 usrs can also approximate GC render func. with HSVTM/gain, but it's non-linear.  in re: antioscopic, perhaps he meant anisotropic.  one has found that jokes don't work well here, for obvious reasons.

can you show a render so that we can see where we are? its easier to help when we can see what is wrong.

Sorry, I had to flee the city - so to speak - and just got back. Thanks for the tips, everyone, and the lessons. And lectures.

If you render hair and use IDL then you might encounter a transparency issue with transmaps (might happen without hair as well of course). See attached PDF for the details. [Edit] Hm, forum does not like the PDF file. Does anybody know if it is possible to attach a 691KB PDF?

Quote - ... Hm, forum does not like the PDF file. Does anybody know if it is possible to attach a 691KB PDF?

Add a .txt extension to the pdf, so it looks like "MyDoc.pdf.txt" prior to uploading, and
tell everyone to remove the .txt extension.

That should work.

Attached Link: PDF file with info about IDL and transmaps.