Hi all !

Not exactly new to Poser... rather returned to it. Last I did some Poser was in P4 (Ghasp !!) and now I'm back for all the good reasons with Poser Pro 2012 on a 64-bit system.

Things have changed to the better - indeed - and I just discovered by accidently tripping over a thread that there is InDirect Lighting (IDL) now incorporated, which makes things so much more exciting. But I know close to nothing about it ... :(

The feeble go I had at it was using the HiRes Clothplane in the generic Primitives and cranked the Ambience up to a ridiculous level in Material Room and that's how far my experience and knowledge about IDL goes.

Now, to not bog down this forum with nooby questions - could someone please point me to some good learning resourses about IDL ?

Found one over at RDNA but all the images were gone, so ...

What I have understood is: You can use any of the Primitives to produce IDL - right ? You can use any geometry in the scene with a material defined to it - right ? IDL does proper AO - right ?

Pretty please help me fill in the the missing blanks !

Thanks in advance.

IDL is not principally for glowing props as light sources, although it will take that into account.

The main point of IDL is that light doesn't go only from object to camera. It also goes object to object. So it is the diffuse inter-reflections that is the principle benefit - secondary bounced light that started from a light source but did not stop upon first encountering a prop.

But yes, glowing props are very handy. The most important glowing prop, one that almost everybody is using now, is my free Environment Sphere.

Click for my site full of free stuff in my signature.

With IDL Off, only direct lighting is simulated.

Notice the AO under the bottom ball. Built in.

Notice the red light bouncing off the red ball down onto the box, filling its own shadow with red light. That red light came from the light source, bounced off the box, bounced off the ball, and then lit the red box, which then bounced up and relit the underside of the ball making it as bright as the top.

I use these big disks as light sources or as diffusers of bounced light. Sort of like studio umbrellas that photographers use.

This image was rendered with no lights at all.

Only one spotlight, pointing down. Additionally, the middle four spheres are glowing.

Ok - I get it, bagginsbill. Thanks ! :)

Seems I do have a lot of catching up to do about IDL and the main Q is now answered - what emits IDL, as in what is the source.

Click for my site full of free stuff in my signature.

Bookmarked as we speak and i certainly will explore it :)

Thank you for your very quick response !

Quote - No lights here. My EnvSphere with an equirectangular photo of a very interesting room with high ceilings and big windows.

SWEET ! Ok - time to blow the dust off from my Nikon D5000 then 'cause now I can make my own environment maps !!

You will need correct materials though, especially when you work with direct light only. Speculars won't work with IDL, since it is indirect DIFFUSE light. Your materials will need some low-powered reflection for a nice shine. 

Did you  learn a bit about the shader nodes already?

at some point one recommends that somebody describe to them in detail, using several imgs (as above), how to fake (or simulate) indirect specular in recent poser version(s).

http://www.runtimedna.com/forum/showthread.php?64164-RENDER-V4-with-SSS-Fresnel-Reflection-amp-Dynamic-Hair.

http://www.runtimedna.com/forum/showthread.php?64003-SSS-and-blur-reflection

http://www.runtimedna.com/forum/showthread.php?63210-Faster-and-better-blurred-reflections

I don't know if "faking speculars" is a good expression for that. After all, speculars are faked reflections, which are nessesary because normal lights aren't visible. 

BB explained how to get a working glossy material at THIS THREAD. It does have reflection, so it works in IDL.

*Edit:

BB did beat me on this, crosspost. 

Yes we used to fake speculars. Now I'm doing them for real.

Bakkti,

I found the thread "A Dummies Guide to Indirect Lighting in Poser 8" from when IDL was first introduced. Many of the parameter exact values are different a little from the first time, in terms of what values are good and what are a problem. But for the most part, everything in that thread still applies. You should be able to learn a lot from there.

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?thread_id=2778431&page=1

I'm really interested about the sponge :D

Good Lord ... !!

You guys have really come through here and given me a lot more than expected - and especially you, bagginsbill. Thank you so very much for everything and for making me understand what can be achieved with IDL with some knowledge and experimentation. What you have contributed with is much more than I could have hoped for.

Now perhaps it would be a good time to explain myself a bit. When i "left" Poser, when it was in its P4 incarnation, I put everything I had into Photoshop instead. In due time I ended up doing beauty retouching work in the schools of Gry Garness and Amy Dresser and others alike.

Nowadays I still do Photoshop work but only what I myself find interesting enough to do. So now it's time to get to grips with Poser again and this time with a much better end result. The focus is to get as good a base image as I possible can with my (yet) limited skills, in terms of skintones and shading and from there take it into Photoshop to continue the magic. And of course, the better the base image the less I have to post edit in Photoshop.

I found the thread "A Dummies Guide to Indirect Lighting in Poser 8" from when IDL was first ...

And I give you a very special thank you for that, bagginsbill ! Oh yes - with that and other info having surfaced, I will have some serious evening reading to do for sure.  :) 

Did you  learn a bit about the shader nodes already?

Yes, bantah. In a fashion - but far from what I need to. So there's some catching up to do there too...  :)

THX ;)

Can I have a copy of the brain cell that contains all this node wizardry? Thanks for posting the Styrofoam recipe it is very close to the sea foam I wan to make.