Don't know, if i drag these two pics in Photoshop, it tells me both are RGB.

Quote - Translucence post is here, btw, but no pictures. A little hard to follow that way.

http://www.runtimedna.com/forum/showthread.php?t=26024&highlight=translucence&page=2

Whichway

Weird, 'cause i can see pictures...

It could also be great to have a GI cache like in Vue. I mean you run the IDL calculation, and it's stored somewhere. So the next render will use that IDL pass. And you re-calculate it if you changed something in your scene.
How does it sound?

Quote - The link is interesting but it depends on using the BaginsBill environment prop which is something I never figured out and I am not sure that it applies to interior scenes which are about 95% of my render scenes.

I guess it states that AO should not be used with IDL but I am still not sure about IBL and IDL.

The EnvSphere is really easy to use, nothing complicated about it. You load it, load an equirectangular image on it and you're done :)
It's first use (pre P8) was to simulate an entire environment with a pic that surrounds all your scene, but now with P8 and IDL it participates in the global lighting and illumination.

AO should not be used with IDL indeed.

And i could have done the exact same render with an IBL and IDL instead of the EnvSphere, though i would have lost the sky, and i should have added it in post. The EnvSphere avoids that extra step.
Bagginsbill said in other threads that IBL, when used with IDL, does the same thing as the EnvSphere. The IBL will project the probe image on a virtual sphere (with virtual, understand that it is not present in the scene) that will acts exactly like the EnvSphere by using this image in the illumination.
Bill shortened this idea by saying that if you want to use a light probe image for the illumination, use IBL, if you want to use an equirectangular image for the illumination, use the EnvSphere.

For an interior scene, the EnvSphere has no utility, nor has an IBL. Except if the room that surrounds your character has any opening (a window, an opened door etc).
Of course you could still use them (EnvSphere or IBL) to 'fake' a room for instance. Though the IDL will have no walls for the light to bounces off.

Wait till i post some P8 renders ;)

If your talking about artifacts using GI in DS3Adv, as you have control over biais parameter, you can deal it without any problem :) I find raytracing in DS excellent. I hope some more parameters will be added to the IDL system in P8 in the future.

I've tried both programs and i'm still not sure if we can compare them.

I mean, P8 use Indirect Lighting, DS3Adv has it too, though i haven't been able to use it because of the looonng render times with IDL in DS.
Butn DS3Adv has GI which does directional shadows. It's a plus as P8 can't.
The render times using GI are more than acceptable, faster than P8 IDL in fact. The 64 bits UI in DS is super stable and very responsive. The last three renders in my gallery are DS3adv renders and you can see DS made a good step beyond realism.

On the other side, i like P8 IDL too. Longer render times, yes, but different results. Also, it's brand new, expect some perfecting in near future.

Quote - So really that 65% IBL is acting as an omni fill, which is the kind of thing (imo) that you shouldn't really require under GI, except maybe for simulating sunlight.  For indoor lighting imo it will always look wierd.

If i'm not wrong, BB said in another thread that using his environment sphere OR using an IBL light with IL enabled was more or less the same thing.
He said the IBL acts differently when IL is on, it projects the map on a 'virtual' sphere that surrounds the scene, the way his env sphere works.

Quote - As others said, keep your walls, which I understand you did. Just saying it again for other readers.

As to IBL versus EnvSphere, they're actually the same thing. Poser 8 deals with IBL differently when IDL is enabled. Effectively, the IBL image is mapped onto a giant sphere that surrounds your scene.

The only difference really is this: what do you have? If you have an equirectangular image, then use the EnvSphere, because it will provide matching lighting and scenery. If you only have an angular map image (IBL light probe style) and no scenery, then skip the EnvSphere and just use the IBL.

Good info there! I was actually doing some tests to determine what was the difference between the two (env sphere and ibl) when using IL :)

AO on lights is disabled automatically when using IL. Not AO on materials (in case it's useful to build shaders out of it). You have to disbale the AO nodes on materials by yourself if there are some in your shaders.

And i think all the surrounded pieces of geometry are including in the IL calculation, as it is how it works in other softwares that use IL. But note the *s  ;)

Ok Ok i get it, only 4 and above LOL

It will accept any version serial :)

I too had serious problem trying to download the two content packs (tried 12 or 15 times...)
Now i'm trying again using the DownThemAll plugin with Firefox, and it seems to go more smooth (an average of 220Ko/s for both files at the same time).
Though i keep my fingers crossed until the end :/

Quote - The shader I provide with my Environment Sphere has always made it self-lit. The Ambient channel is only one of several ways to accomplish that. I plug the image into Alternate_Diffuse (after some nodes process it). Same thing.

Oh, so i just have to let it like that and it will be taken into account when using GI?
And does using HDRI instead of jpg with the env sphere will provide better accuracy?

[quotewith indirect illumination?
Change it's ambient colour to 1 (or more). And of course, make sure there is something in the ambient channel.

Oh so to use the env sphere to illuminate the scene, i just plug the image in the ambient channel, change the ambient value and voilà?
But what about if we use a HDRI instead of jpg? Or is it better to use a jpg?