I am trying to create an interior room scene with daylight pouring in from the windows.  Anyone know of any threads on this?  Will GI be necessary to do this?  Can this be done in Poser 7 Pro?  That's what I have.  It doesn't seem to have the global illumination option in the rendering settings..

There is no such a thing as Poser 7 Pro, it is straight PoserPro.

GI does not exist in P7's render settings, you will need to fake it with IBL lighting to an extent, although IBL works best with outdoor scenes.  BB's envsphere can provide exterior lighting based on a self illuminating skydome, and perhaps creating an IBL image for your interior lighting might give you a more exacting result.

Both can be found here:

http://sites.google.com/site/bagginsbill/free-stuff/environment-sphere

http://sites.google.com/site/bagginsbill/free-stuff/genibl---ibl-generator

BTW, GI currently exists in P8 and PP2010

thanks hboore, I'll give them a try.

You can edit the Samples and other settings by opening in NotePad.

In PoserPro, does GI take the place of IBL?  This constantly confuses me - is it best to keep using VSS and the envirosphere, or to set render settings such as indirect light in PoserPro?

Do you actually mean PP2010?  PoserPro does not have IDL as it is a derivative of Poser 7.  You can still use VSS and BB's envsphere under both situations.  The only factor you must consider is Gamma correction, both Pro versions incorporate Gc in the render settings.  This means that using VSSPR3 and envsphere, you must have internal Gc settings of 2.2 when rendering in the non-Pro Poser versions.  This is, of course, if you intend to apply material gamma correction to all your model's material zone.  Since Gc can be controlled in render settings of both Pro versions, material Gc for VSSPR3 and envsphere must be reset to 1.  The exception to this rule is any recent shaders BB has released which contain auto sensing of render Gc.  This includes VSSPR4.

BTW, BR is correct to mention the P7 Python Script which activates GI, but the results are far different from what you get in P8 and PP2010.

This looks pretty darn good, BR! So is there a tut on how to use this script? Or do you just run it and viola?

Looks very promising, BR.  There may be hope for P7 users.

Well, once you run the script, whatever settings are set in the script stay active until you:

A) Run a different GI script, or

B) Resart Poser.

So make sure you have things set the way you want, cuz it WILL add to your render time.

It's named GI - Low cuz I have a few with alternate settings, so like I said b4, edit it in Notepad and raise the settings when you are ready for final render.

So it's basically run script then render.

GI = global illumination, which includes all forms of illumination, e.g. direct illum. from directional lights, IBL and HDRI, as well as indirect illum., whether diffuse bounces or specular bounces, caustics, dispersion, refraction et al.

in poser 7, the GIVariables were restricted to diffuse bounces (IDL).

The answers are too complicated.

When I use VSS in PPro2010 everything looks washed out.

Is VSS needed with PoserPro2010?  SHould I uncheck IDL when using VSS, or use them both?

I always use VSS with PP2010 and fail to have a problem with wash outs.  There are numerous factors that figure in when using IDL with P8 and PP2010.  Particularly PP2010, if you are using VSSPR3, you will need to change the Gc node to 1 when rendering with Gc on.  However, the latest iteration VSS (VSSPR4) has auto Gc, it will determine if Gc is used in the render settings and will adjust itself accordingly.  Lighting shoud be kept to minimum depending the scene requirements.  Sunny days, for example, should not require multiple light to illuminate the scene.  A good, self-illuminating skydome (BB's envsphere) should provide adequate lighting with IDL.  Diffuse_values for materials should not be set to 100% (1.0), they overwork render calculations because Poser thinks that everything reflects diffusely at 100%.  Lighting intensities do not require 100%.  I can get excellent daytime lighting @ 75-80% using Gc and IDL.

You really need to experiment further with settings on all levels.  The old mentality governing earlier Poser versions, no longer apply to the P8 and the Pro versions.  You have to rethink everything placed within a scene. 

Wow BR, that's really good.  Long did that take to render?  What are the light setup and rendering settings you used?  I ran the script but the rendering was excruciatingly slow.  My computer eventually went into standby.  So I am going to try it another time.

I tried using IBL as hborre suggested and this is the best I can get out of PoserPro so far:

I have two IBL lights at 30% intensity, one infinite light at 180% intensity for the sunlight coming in through the window and two spot lights at 90% and 50% intensity to brighten up the interior.   I also have BB's envsphere filling the windows with the light blue color.  There is room for improvement, but i think this is good enough for what I need it for.

Yes the render times are rather slow when running the script.

All I had was a point light up in the hole at around 100% or more.

Two IBL lights are rather much for one scene.  Typically, only one should be enough.  Problem with IBL as a global illuminating source, it has a tendency to flood shadowed areas with too much brightness.  In that office image, you are losing shadow detail under the model, chairs and table.  Undesirable if you are striving for a more realistic render.  Also, the table appears to be self glowing, I wonder if there is an active ambient channel in it's PoserSurface in the Material Room.

And BTW, IDL rendering in PP2010 and P8 can take a significant amount of time, depending the complexity and composition of the scene.

acri, should have occlusion shadows under table, chairs, cabinet and girl when using IDL with poser 8 or later. if using earlier version, may try AO nodes on surfaces.  bill wrote thread here (Realism Tip - Use the Ambient_Occlusion node) for pre-poser 8.

That is true, Pre-Poser 8 versions should have some form of occlusion to convey more realism.  However, BB did make a reference that P7 AO on lighting had improved substantially.  But it wouldn't hurt to try renders both way for better comparisons.

There, that looks better:

I applied AO to the floor following BB's thread.  I changed the shader on the table also.

That looks much better.

Thanks for the pointers.