Support for dynamic hair has been planned since day one. Since I'm a single developer I have to put all my ducks in a row and process them one by one. Right now I'm working on bringing the latest Reality version to DAZ Studio. At that point both versions, for Poser and Studio, will be at the same level and have the same features.

Once that is done I will add support for dyn hair.

Cheers.

That is indeed good news. I look forward to use them.

Thank you for the update.

Hi.

Thank you for your comment about Reality.

Hiding lights in Reality is done in the same way that you do it in real life...

You might wonder what that is. The answer is... you move the lights out of the frame :). The idea of invisible lights is a bad habit perpetuated by some 3D software and has no reason to be with a physics-based renderer. 

In fact, if you have visible lights in the scene and they should not be there that is a sign that your lighting scheme needs to be changed. 

Every photograher deals with the same issue and I can assure you that they don't erase the lights in Photoshop. 

If you have specific examples I can help you with the modifications but lighting in Reality and LuxRender is done in the same way that is done in real life, which makes it predictable and realistic.

Hope this helps.

Great. In any case you can send me the scene and I should be able to find out what happens. You can find the email address in the Reality User's Guide (aka the RUG :))

Cheers.

Hi.

Can you send me one of the scenes that is causing this issue?

Also, can you list all the products that you use in it?

Thanks in advance.

Bagginsbill is absolutely correct in his assertion and that fact is what prompted me to write Reality.

Lighting is 80% of your image and without realistic lighting it's very, very hard to achieve beliavable images.

The size of a light determines also the softness or harshness of the light. I see often that some people think that the harshness of the light depends on the brightness or the distance of the light to the subject. Both options are not correct. The harshness of a light depends on its size in relation to the subject. A large light generates soft shadows and a small light generates sharp shadows. 

Now, a light becomes larger in relation to the subject as the light gets closer. That's the only effect that the distance causes and it's usually the opposite of what is thought by artists who don't have photography experience.

In addition to those factors the color temperature of the light has to be beliavable and the exposure of the frame has to be set correctly. Let's take, for example, a scene set a midday, full sun. How do we control the brightness? In real life we cannot "dim the sun", that's an absurdity. Still, ask 10 photographers to shoot that scene and you will see 10 different exposures. Exposure is the way we control how much light we let go inside the camera. Not having that control is another limitation for the 3D artist.

In the pursuit of photo-realism the closer we are to the conditions of real life, the easier our job is.

Answering your question on why Poser doesn't have physical lights, the situation evolved over the years. Poser, like the majority of 3D programs developed in the past 20 years, uses a biased rendering approach. Biased rendering was designed to deal with the processors and technology available 10, 15 or 20 years ago. There were no expectations of photo-realism from the 3D programs back then so creating an infinitesimmaly smal light was no concern.

Cheers.

Quote - @Paolo
Cheers, I'm using 3.0 so that's likely it then!

I've found the download link, but should I just replace the files with whatever I download, or do I have to unregister it before I do that?

You don't need to unregister but do not replace the files. Completely delete the Reality directory and then copy the new one. There is an upgrade guide included with 3.1.

Cheers.

IBL is a property that is always available in Reality. It can be enabled or not. If it's not enabled it doesn't do anything. IBL in Reality is much more sophisticated than what is available in Poser so that's the reason why it's available at all times. You can enable IBL in Reality without adding any IBL light in Poser.

Since there is no infinite light listed in the light editor that explains why Lux doesn't see it. It also tells me that you are using Reality 3.0. You should upgrade to 3.1, it'sa free and it fixes several issues, including how infinite lights interract between Poser and Reality.

Add a top mesh light to your scene and render. You will get a nice default illumination which is much, much better than the infinite light.

I use an infinite light in Poser to see the scene but I never use it for rendering.

Hope this helps.

Hi.

Please avoid using Infinite lights with LuxRender. They are artificial constructions of biased renderers and render just the most horrible light in a physics renderer. Use a mesh light instead.

Regarding your issue, I would have to see the scene. Is it possible that the light is not enabled in Reality? Verify that the checkbox for it is checked. 

But, for the love of everything that is sacred and beautiful in 3D art, do not use infinite lights :)

Cheers.

That's very nice Jan. 

Thank you!

Hi Scott.

We provide free customer support for all our customers directly. You can contact me via email at the address listed in the Reality User's Guide :)

If you send me an email I will send you a fix for that issue.

All the best.

Keep in mind that Poser interpretes displacement in a peculiar way. Black is no displacement. In many other programs black is negeative displacement and medium grey is no displacement. I don't know how ZBruse uses disp maps so you need to check what conventions it uses. If it considers medium grey "no displacement" then you have some conversion to do.

Cheers.

Hi.

Those other products are optional add-ons for the Studio version, you don't have to worry about them.

All that you need is in Reality 3 for Poser. You will have to download LuxRender, which is free and is available form my website. The link is in the Reality User's Guide, under the installation instructions. Other than that you just need to read the Reality User's Guide and do some practice :)

Thank you for your interest in Reality.

Hi. 

The software is delivered as a download, it's availabler immediate after you finish the order.

I don't understand the reference to Studio. Reality 3 for Poser integrates in Poser and it's available from http://www.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/reality-3-for-poser/98576/

There are two separate versions of Reality: one for Poser and one for Studio. You purchase the one that fits your environment of choice. In your case it's Reality 3 for Poser .

You don't need to buy anything else. The programs comes with extensive documentation that you can also view online at http://preta3d.com/reality-documentation

There are also video tutorials available from our YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/PretA3D

You don't need to use nodes, the Reality material editor has been designed to avoid nodes and it's much simpler than the Poser material room. As with any software you need to learn the basics and spend a little bit of time with it but Reality converts your Poser materials automatically. Most of the times you get excellent results without changing the materials.

Hope this helps.

Hi.

You cannot move the camera in LuxRender. You work in Poser as you are used to do. 

Cheers.