That might work!  I know in Max VRay, we apply a VRay light motl material with VRay dirt in the map slot, switch off all the lights and then render it.  I Know renderes such as MentalRay can render out an AO pass on its own, but others need to be convinced to play nice.

I use 3ds max for my final rendering.  I am not sure how to do this in DS or Poser, but I thought that since poser can use AO that there must be a way to do it somehow.

Quote - The point-at a prop approach is the way to go, as those above me have said - one particular reason is that pointing eyes at the camera doesn't give the correct effect of looking into the camera that you might wish for.

I use a script written by semidieu over at RDNA which sets the prop's visibleInRender property to 0, meaning you can leave it visible in preview and never have it show up in a render. To the best of my knowledge, there's no way to affect this value from the Poser UI; you have to edit the PP2 file.

I can't find a link to the script right now, but it can be redistributed so let me know if you want a copy. It's very handy - I use it in more or less every scene that has a figure in it. :)  

I would definitely like to have a copy of that.  I am finding that I am getting more complex with the number of items in my poser scenes before I send them to 3DS Max and anything that helps with streamlining operations such as this are greatly appreciated!

I found what I was looking for.  I was used to the way that Max labels such things and was lost in POser trying to figure out how it was done.  But I would in the Object menu that there is a Point At option where I can select what I want the individual eyes to point at.  Works wonders!

Thanks!

Forgot one thing: have you tried rendering one of the included sample files with lots of plants and such?  See if they render differntly than you have been getting.

How much memory do you have?  What is the polygon count of your scene?  How complex are your materials?

Have you selected Global Radiosity as your lighting model in Spectral Atmospheres as your default?  That will royally jack up render times

Went from an 8600 GT to a pair of 9800GTXs in SLI and then up to GT240 with 1 GB RAM.  The 240 trumps the 9800s in SLI.

LOL.  I "commited" matrimony the middle of Ausgust myself!  :biggrin:  Thankfully she knew of my hobbies--or should I say obsessions--before clamping the shackle on me.  :lol:  Best peice of jewelry I ever wore!

Thanks for the replies, but I must not have been clear as to what I was looking for.  I am not trying to do water.  I was using that metawater material as an example of the principle I am trying to do.  What I am needing to know is HOW the material determines that something intersects with the surface and where to apply the foam texturing to.

I do not think there would be an issue opening the scene in 64 bit.  The only time I can think of that you would ahve an issue is 32 bit/64bit plugins: need the flavor you plan to use.  Otherwise, should not be an issue.

Quote -  Yes, you can apply a topical or vertical terrain function to a horizontal part of a terrain or vise-versa. There are tons of really great tutorials on the function editor and terrains at www.geekatplay.com here is a direct link to the ones I think would help...
[http://www.geekatplay.com/terrains/

](http://www.geekatplay.com/terrains/)[/quotPerfect, those geek-at-play tuts were what I was looking for.  Thanks everyone for the advice and clarification.  It is very much appreciated.

Very nice job.  Had t do the same thing for one of my folks' wedding photos for mother's day.  Personally, if my Ex asked me for this...well...I am not sure I could have been such a big man...I guess I COULD remove the horns and forked tongue if I really tried.  :glare:

OK, well, after playing aruond and doing some work on my own since getting the program myself.  I learned why I was not seeing the geometry from vue imported through the extreme plugin: I had my Max display drivers set to Direct 3D.  They needed to be OpenGL for the objects (terrain, plants, etc) to sho in the max viewport.  I will let every one know who well the Gnomon training is once I get to it.