I would like to create a stlll frame of a poser figure against a prefectly homogenous background color. the background should include shadows on the ground and the figure in its actual colors, however, the entire background except for the figure and shadows should all be one homogenous color. I'd like to do this so that I can create a "blue screen" effect where I can use photoshop to remove the background, except for shadow and be able to place the figure inside any other picture I want. Is there a way to do this?

Thank you.

The best way in P12 that I can figure is to make your Construct a Shadow Catcher and set your render settings to render with a transparent background.  Export the render in PNG format and open it in Photoshop or any 3rd party graphics program.

Edit: I forgot to ask, Firefly or Superfly?

In Poser you can output a masked (aka 'cutout') PNG which has 'invisible' pixels for the background. it's then just a question of dropping these over a backdrop in a layered Photoshop file. As of Poser 12, "SuperFly now does background transparency" and also "shadow catching".

If you are making quick Preview renders (e.g. for a comic) then have the Shadow Map size on lights up to at least 1024 (default is 512), if not 2048.  This will improve shadow quality. Regrettably it seems there's no way for a Python script to tweak these dials up with a single click. There's no hook that a script can hang onto to change "Preview Shadow Maps Size" in Poser. They have to be increased by hand. I assume that's still the case in Poser 13.

There is however a Poser script, “Change Shadow Intensity of Selected Lights”, if they are too black. There are also "Scene shadow blurring scripts for Poser", which in one click has the lights use softer ray-traced shadows, rather than the default depth-map shadows. Check out the Poser-made comics of Brian Haberlin (Sonata etc) to see how he handles shadows from Poser figures.

There's also a "render each figure/prop separately" script than can be made to work in Poser 11 and probably 12 and 13. Theoretically you could then select / fill the rendered figure shape with black, skew and distort and blur it in Photoshop, and call it 'the shadow'. I think there are also several 'long shadow' actions in Photoshop that do something similar, having a PNG cutout cast a long shadow of the cutout's shape. The advantage here is that these can be somewhat adjustable in its placement behind the character. I think that Richard Rosenman has a free one, but I could be wrong. It might be paid.

Greenscreen would though be needed to make a 2D 'fish in a bottle' Photoshop layer set made of three renders. The front and back of the bottle, and the fish (or whatever you want... octopus, pickled gnome) in the middle. In which case you slide a bright green square into the centre of the bottle, and use Primatte in Photoshop to remove the greenscreen. You'd do this if you wanted to make a kit showing commonly repeating jars and bottles, and you didn't want to have to render each and every one.

Wow! I feel like there should be an easier more straightforward way to do that. Basically, I'd like to create a large collection of graphics that can be manipulated like this for a game I enjoy playing and modding. It doesn't seem like Poser lends itself very well to the sort of task I want from it. Yikes!

Why would Render with Transparent Background not work for what you need?

I don't know a simpler way to do it--check 'visible in Camera' for any background props, catchers etc., tick the Transparent Background' setting, render. Open resulting PNG in PS or wherever you are editing.

When you want to preserve the shadows in the rendered image, that will work.  However, the OP has not mentioned which Poser version or render engine is being used for the project.  It's difficult to provide an exact solution when you don't have all the information at hand.  And I wouldn't know what HartyBart is suggesting because he has entirely blocked me from viewing his comments.

@Gary - are you trying to set up a volumetric capture studio... a scene that will create a bullet time effect like in the Matrix movie?

Wow, that's such a great idea, thank you so much! Now I have to try this lol ... and YES!!! of course you can use Poser for this.

I think we can skip the whole blue screen effect if you use one of those HDRI dome thingies as a background and set the camera to travel around your character.

hborre posted at 3:53 PM Sat, 16 September 2023 - #4474681

When you want to preserve the shadows in the rendered image, that will work.  However, the OP has not mentioned which Poser version or render engine is being used for the project.  It's difficult to provide an exact solution when you don't have all the information at hand.  And I wouldn't know what HartyBart is suggesting because he has entirely blocked me from viewing his comments.

Sorry, using Poser 12, usually with Firefly rendering. Yes, I can use the transparent background but I'd like for there to be shadows present as though there is a background that the figure is standing on. That way I can paste appropriate shadows and all when I paste the figures rendered onto any scene I want.

In order to retain shadows, you may need to convert the construct to a shadow-catcher.  You will find that feature on the PoserSurface node or use the Material Room Wacro to activate the feature.