I just ran into a few problems on an image rendered in Poser 7.  I've got the slider settings on automatic cranked up to a pro render (one tick away from the most far right setting).

1. The shadows are too hard and solid. I don't know what settings to change to soften them.

2. P7 is hiding antialiasing from me. The setting in the render menu is only for antialiasing the preview window. From poring through the manual, it appears that the only way to set antialiasing on a render is to do it from the animation menu which is a bit counterintuitive. Is that what's required? The only place this seems to be a big problem is when I rendered with depth mapping. Although the background is blurred, there are a number of jagged edges clearly visible. I can always render the background as a separate element that I can blur in Photoshop, but it would be nice to have Poser do the work for me.

3. Is there a Python script for centering two objects together? It is such a laborious process moving lights and cameras where I want them in a large image.

My visual indexes of Poser content are at http://www.sharecg.com/pf/rgagnon

Set shadow intensity in the light palette. Shadows are indiviually set for each light.

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gagnonrich

Point 1 - in my P7 (for Mac) it's the Shadow Blur Radius setting (for each light that is casting shadows).

Point 2 - in my Render Settings it's the slider bottom right labelled Post filter size and Post filter type (I generally use size 2, and Gaussian because I like the sound of it).

Point 3 - sorry, I know nothing bout that

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Point 3: Parent one object to another (light to a prop, for example). Set X, Y and Z to 0 for the parented object and it will move to the center of his parent.

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Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?message_id=3146482

 If you scroll down in this thread, there's some info about anti aliasing: http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?message_id=3146482

Quote - Point 3: Parent one object to another (light to a prop, for example). Set X, Y and Z to 0 for the parented object and it will move to the center of his parent.

Thanks.  This is a great tip.   I can't wait to try it with lights.

I've been putting lights inside of lamps and its a tough job to align manually.

Cheers,
Lara

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gagn, let them know if any of these tips help.  in general, don't change "post filter"
from 1 unless using textures that are very low-res or jagged.

I haven't had a chance to try these tips out yet, but will hopefully have some time tomorrow. Thanks for the helpful advice.

I was surprised that high render settings didn't automatically take these factors into account.

My visual indexes of Poser content are at http://www.sharecg.com/pf/rgagnon

yeah, from what I've heard, anti-aliasing was an old term from the late 80s, when folks were
using monochrome CRT monitors and trying to do smooth graphics.  FFRender was designed
to produce smooth edges on all objects in a scene, so that the user no longer hadda worry
about it.  IMVHO the term "anti-aliasing" has thus become somewhat of a misnomer
in regard to modern 3D apps, hi-res LCD monitors and OS with sub-pixel rendering.

AFAIK the usual way users get jagged edges on objects is when they export a render
with a blank background, then try to delete said background colour in APS or PSP.

The dpi of your output image matters where 'jaggies' are concerned. For posting in the gallery, I usually render my images at 120 dpi. For print quality images, you have to crank that up to 300 dpi which makes for a long render but produces a picture that will look really nice when you print via your own printer or take it to a photo processor for nifty things like t-shirt transfers.

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On the centering, try my SnapTo.  It's the script I use more than any other,
because I'm usually working in a large scene.

http://ockhamsbungalow.com/Python/SnapTo.zip

Also a variant

http://ockhamsbungalow.com/Python/SnapToCam.zip

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Antialiasing in P7 is controlled by the 'Pixel samples' slider --> "more sample per pixel provides greater geometry-based detail and antaliasing" <-- direct quote from the help tip on the bottom of the Render box.

I have found a setting of about 7 stops the jagged edges & isn't too soft.

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Antialiasing is not a throwback to the 1980s that doesn't apply anymore. On the contrary, it is extremely important in obtaining smooth edges and diagonals in renders. It's also of critical importance when it comes to clean alpha channels and compositing. It has nothing to do with auto smoothing of objects, such as that which Poser performs.

Dpi has nothing to do with antialiasing, or file size, or render time. This is one of those "facts" that keep getting passed around the Internet and only confuse people. Dpi is only relevant when printing. It does not affect how an image looks on screen or how long the render takes.

well, there you have it, rubi.  they don't call it anti-aliasing anymore.  they call it by various other terms now, depending on rendering app, e.g. "pixel samples" or "shading rate" in P7/PP, where
the CPU does progressively more calculations per screen pixel to make it look more accurate,
according to the optical properties of the posersurfaces and lighting. 

anti-aliasing was just pixel-averaging IIRC.

Well, the technique is still called antialiasing. Some programs will have it labelled as pixel samples or some such, but it is still antialiasing by another name.