Quote - > Quote - Well yeah, I realize that you have had strong convictions concerning figure design since the get-go (and I'm not debating that) but I just felt the material room and firefly woes in the thread (not specifically by you) just came out of the blue.

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Nah, I've complained heavily about the material room on many an occasion..lol. Nothing new for me ;).

I guess I was just in a terrible mood and I'm fed up is all. The material room, even after all these years, remains an enigma for me. And the complete and total lack of documentation other than a few lines that really explain nothing in the manual really doesn't help much.

Back to happy thoughts. Maybe I should just keep my thoughts to myself ;).

Happy rendering....

Laurie

Nah, it's all good. :)  I wasn't trying to single out anyone exclusively either.  It just felt like.. whoah where is all this coming from (as a general look at where this thread went).

Okay, here's my idea.  I think the Material Room and the Manual could use more "recipes".  In fact, there should be a materials "recipe book" included with Poser.  Something that gives you examples and breaks down "why" those particular nodes are used and connected the way they are.  That way people can LEARN why things go together the way they do.

Don't just give a sample library of metals and pearls and whatnot.

Sure, trial and error is another way to do it but the nodes can get very complex and after a while it just becomes a tangled mess.

I think the manual does now give a good overview but I would like to see recipes.

As far as the render engine goes.  I can get good results with IDL and a sphere (I use colm's set) or bouncing things off of planes and using a maximum of 3 lights, usually 2.  But maybe we need some better examples of that kind of thing and samples that aren't just "here are some light sets" but here is how you set it up.

I think some things lack guidance and people want to learn and that's what is frustrating.

Am I off base?

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