some additions

Firefly...

Firefly came from (the aquisition of the Spain based) Reyes Infografica at the creation of Poser 5, together with some other modules like the Cloth simulator, the Sketch and Toon rendering, and more. Before that, those modules were available as plugins for 3DS Max (ClothReyes, DirtyReyes, ...). After that, some folks of Reyes Infografica continued with Virtual Fashion, while during the same period some others established Next Limit, currently well known for the RealFlow product.

This was all sorted out in the great "Cloth Room for Dummies" thread (say Oct 2010).

The REYES that Tempest is referring to, is an algorithm, not a product. And indeed, those Spanish guys implemented the same algorithm and incorporated the name into their company name. But there is no direct path from Tempest to FireFly, as far as I know. But I'm always open for more info.

Limiting Raybounces ...

Raybounces is the max number of surfaces a ray will bounce to or pass through. In the rare case of a large number of glass objects stacked behind each other, one need to large setting for this parameter. See illustration, done in Bryce (13 years ago, 1999), bouncing limit set to 24. You cannot do this in Poser, as its max is 12 (as the magnifying glass was made of two portions of a sphere, the olde Bryce version counted two surfaces in the middle of each).

Increasing the raytrace bounce limit will increase the lighting level in indoor scenes, where light from the outdoor skydome passes through the windows and light the room. Simple trial: just use 6 planes to make a cube, slide one plane to open the box a bit and put a skydome around, and the camera in the box. The point where side wall, back wall and ceiling plane meet is a great point for judging the effects. Then raise the raytrace bounce limit.

have fun

- - - - - 

Usually I'm wrong. But to be effective and efficient, I don't need to be correct or accurate.

visit www.aRtBeeWeb.nl (works) or Missing Manuals (tutorials & reviews) - both need an update though