Well said Eric!!!

Why struggle trying to paint a little bush in a canvas landscape with a single camel's hair when you can take a fan brush and make the same bush in a fraction the time Ack! Because you ruin your fan brush and the result looks like crap! People can tell when you spend your time to do a piece well. The Photoshop analog of a fan brush is not an image-brush, the Photoshop equivalent of a Fan brush is Gaussian Blur. That's wha t afan brush is for. I'm all in favour of using your tools as they are available, but don't go using the blatantly wrong tool for the blatantly wrong thing! EricofSD: the science/art thing is why I really wish I had some sort of browser plugin that would automatically blank out all fractals. I like pictures made by a person -- I can't stand swirly moss made by an equation.

Hmmm maybe it's just me but the reflection in the mirror seems all wrong to me, considering the angle of the mirror...?!? It's showing the figure's backside when it's not behind her at all.

Eowyn: I agree To calculate the correct angle to take a reflection render from, determine the angle that the camera's line-of-sight makes to the surface of the mirror, then make that negative (or subtract it from 360, same thing). For instance, if the camera's line of sight is at a 45 degree angle to the mirror, the reflection camera should be placed at a -45 degree angle (AKA a 315 degree angle) to the mirror. With a mirror that's actually got a pand of glass in it, when rendering the actual view place a copy of the mirror right behind it the distance of the thickness of the glass, with all the materials transed out except the glass, and the glass set to a bright ambient blue or green for easy selection in Photoshop. This will create a 'bluescreen' effect behind the mirror. When the reflection render is shot, remove the copy of the mirror and shoot through the glass. Anything on the glass like dust or scratches will then let you line up and scale rhe render perfectly. If the mirror is perfectly clean or there is no actual mirror surface, you have to use the edges of the mirror itself. Remember that a mirror will reflect within it the frame of the mirror itself.

My style is to do combinations of layers--usually fractals, with the Poser render, plus any postwork for hair or clothes. Layers and how they can effect each other is one of the blessings of Photoshop..I don't know what I'd do without it...!

Actually, I cheat on these, but not all that much ;-) The mirror is actually pretty far behind her (maybe 6 scale feet), I use a 200mm lens in Poser, which minimizes depth. When I do the "mirrored" view I spin the camera around to the back, and have it look "through" the mirror, then I delete the mirror. Then I might "cheat" a tiny bit for better artistic layout, but it actually is pretty close. Mirrors are just hard to figure!

Jim, _dodger has a point there and I'm thinking that there's a few more calculations to include. I'll see if there's time for a tut and do a new thread. Mirrors are easy to do if you set up the render right.

Gee, I don't need to do no calculations, I used to be an ENGINEER, I've got a calibrated eyeball! ;-) Might help others, not similarly gifted, though!