Anyone know of any tuts out there concerning creating a decent water surface in Poser? I'm talking about fairly large bodies of water, such as a river or lake.

I've tried using a ground plane and connecting a grayscale jpg image (2d texture node) to the bump connector on the surface node - it works ok for small water surfaces like water in a bathtub, but is pretty ineffective for large surfaces.

I've tried playing a bit with 3D texture nodes as well, but haven't seen anything I like yet....

I'm using PP 2012.

You mean like this?

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/index.php?image_id=2270014&user_id=362711&np&np

Yep - just like that, Robyn! I'm blown away by that image!

That's pretty much what I'm looking for - maybe a little more turbulence.. I'm wanting to create a river scene for a series I'm running.

Sooooo..... How did ya do dat??

On a side note, I have Antonia, but haven't played with her yet - she looks beautiful in your image!

Thank you, Rod...

That water is a shader. Bagginsbill published it here. It's not difficult to use at all.

Sweet!

I should have known BB would have a shader for that...

Thanks a million, Robyn! Now I have yet another shader to play with!

This one I use a lot, Rod - it gives an outdoor scene dimension and atmosphere:

Here it is

The thread you want for lake or river is the one Anthanasius showed.

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?message_id=3568991

Thank you so much, Robyn, Anthanasius, and Bagginsbill! You rock! Thanks for the link, also, BB!

Now, I've got more fun stuff to experiment with and learn..

And those renders just blow me away! Hard to tell what's real and what's virtual...

Could either SSS or IDL (PoserPro2012) be used to further improve the effects?

I'm not sure that SSS works well for a volume that is not actually bounded by the SSS material.

Traditionally, the water is just a surface layer of polygons, not a closed manifold.

But you could try it.

IDL has little influence on our perception of what is below the water, which in itself is usually small anyway. If we're talking about deep water, IDL would have almost nothing to say about it.

Shallow water would be influenced, in that the bottom is lit by the sky. If that is a large contributer it would matter a lot. But it's not like you see that kind of detail for the most part.

Look in my render of water under a bridge above. Can you see below the surface? There is some detail there. How much is wrong or right, in your opinion? I happen to remember I did that with IBL, not IDL.

Quote - How much is wrong or right, in your opinion? I happen to remember I did that with IBL, not IDL.

I am sorry, I am only a beginner here. I think your examples are astonishingly good! I am currently at the stage of trying to following those excellent threads. Like yourself, I like the Maths aspect of Shaders. However, I am trying hard to understand all your examples. And at the same time learning all the proper terms and expressions.

(I referred to IDL and SSS because I am wanting to use Poser2012's features; perhaps mistakenly believing (from other threads) that I should avoid IBL.)

too slushy?  i shoulda used the smaller displacement value.

Increases the scale on the fractal sum node in all three dimensions.

Also what are you poser display units set to? Mine are inches. When you copy my ".05", you better be in inches. If you're in feet, then you did 12 times the displacement than I did.

Quote - Also what are you poser display units set to? Mine are inches. When you copy my ".05", you better be in inches. If you're in feet, then you did 12 times the displacement than I did.

good point!

i wonder what it would look like set to 1 or 2?  Can it look like river rapids?

I'm really looking forward to toying with the possibilities this weekend.

note to tim above: IBL is still o.k., e.g. HDRI can be used in a form of IBL.  what I avoid is AO, which was associated with IBL in poser 5 or 6 (obsolete) because versions prior to poser 7 hadn't any GIVariables, hence no way to calculate IDL occlusion shadows.

my poser units were set to Feet.  doh