The above render is an example of what to expect when you match IBL light data to background.  Both are HDR's from P7, one image used as background, the other, a light probe of the same image, for the IBL.  Andy is the P8/PP2010 mannequin as the stand in 3d model.  The only illumination in the scene is coming from the IBL set @ 55% intensity.

*Quote: For Will and Penny, enter the Apply Rules for their VSS, and disconnect the *eyeball* node from the Template Eyewhite  rule.  Reload your original characters, and then reapply VSS.*

Hborre, thanks for figuring that out, however, as usual I do have a couple of questions if you don't mind..... 

1.) You said enter the Apply Rules, did you mean Shader Rules? I ask because there are only two nodes in the Apply Rules (see screencap). 

2.) Once I make the change, do I re-save the VSS prop to be used separately from the one I use now for Kids 4, or can I use the same one for both Will & Kids 4?

Hey BB, thanks for jumping in on the HDRI topic, way over my head so I'll be watching to see the next few posts with great interest. Once we've got that figured out, it may mean that I might need to change my HDRI test settings from what I've posted above.

Many thanks hborre!

MM

Sorry, I meant Shader Rules.  My bad.  You can save the new VSS modification and use it for both only if you disconnect the offending nodes.

Ok, I must have messed up somehow.  here's a screencap of the nodes.  Pretty sure I disconnected the correct one.  I also saw that the *lenscovering* rule was still connected, but left it alone. Then I tried disconnecting, but same exact results.

Strange, the screencap looks ok but not the render. Previously both showed the white eyes.  Here's the screencap.

Here's the render.  Same results with or without the *lenscovering* rule connected.  Wasn't sure if I should have disconnected it so I just tried it both ways.......should it be disconnected?

Using the same VSS shader with the *eyeball* rule node disconnected doesn't seem to affect the Kids 4 figure's eyes.  Here's a render.

Quote - In Poser, the source of HDRI lighting would be provided through IBL, or Image Based Lighting.  This will establish your overall global illumination.... 

Thanks for the quick response. It all seems to make sense. Hopefully all our output will be as good as match as your test render :-)  I'll ask mm to post a few of our test renders for comment once the modeling of the sets in trueSpace are complete. Thanks for the help.

MM, in evaluating the VSS set up pertaining to the P5 kids, the lenscovering really does not impact the eyes tremendously.  There is a slight change, but nothing significant.  The problem occurs with their eyewhite material zone which contains no image map.  Since VSS for eyewhite rely on an image map, and does not find one when synchronized with the P5 kids, it introduces all the nodes, but no map for your preview or render.  For just the P5 kids, disconnect the eyewhite rule from the Template eyewhite, then synchronize.  Unfortunately, you will need to apply VSS to P5's and save separately from Kids 4.

Breech_Block: glad it clarified the issue.  Hopefully the effort will be well-worth it.

Ok, tried disconnecting the eyewhite rule, ok in preview but not in render.  Here's the render.

Here's the node setup I used for the VSS.  Although I disconnected the *eyewhite* rule, I do still have the *eyeball* rule disconnected and the *lenscovering* rule connected.  Maybe I should re-connect the *eyeball* rule back the way it originally was, and disconnect the *lenscovering* rule?

Ok, update.......I was thinking about what you said about no image map, so I tried disconnecting all the nodes connected to the Copy Template Eyewhite.  Don't know if I was supposed to do that, but it looks like the white eyes are gone.  Here's a quick render, going to do a bigger area render again to get a better look, not liking what the eyebrows are looking like in this one.

Here's the rule nodes I disconnected.

Here's a larger render area. Looks like the darkness near the eyebrows is just from the shadow of the baseball cap.

Much better result.  It becomes problematic when different models do not conform to similar material mapping.  When BB created VSS, he tried to encompass the most common material zones transcending the various model types.  In this instance, who thought that the P5 legacy figures contained different node arrangements and naming conventions.

Well that's good to hear, I just took a gamble and disconnected everything.  Still facing one problem though, and that's having both the P5 Will and Kids 4 in the same scene. Just tried that and even though I had already run the VSS that is tweaked for Will, when I ran the other that is for the Kids 4, it also synchronized the Will figure over again, because Will's figure name is currently setup to match with all the other kids for the other VSS setup. 

This gets a bit confusing, but I'm guessing I'll have to change the figure name for Will so it doesn't match the Kids 4 name rule I created.  Also, should I just delete the name rule in Will's VSS?? (see pic)......Is there a way to just change the name, or does it need to be deleted and replaced with something like P5 ?   I'm thinking if I name my figures P5 Will and P5 Penny then the Kids 4 VSS will ignore P5 figures, and the P5 VSS will ignore Kids 4 figures, correct??

Just tried this on my own.

I first changed Will's figure name. Then I loaded the original VSS prop, created a new figure rule* to match the new name for Will, disconnected the nodes associated with the eyes, then saved the new vss prop.

I loaded Will, loaded his VSS prop, synchronized, then deleted the prop.

Then I loaded a Kids 4 figure, loaded the Kids 4 VSS prop, synchronized.

The render shown looks ok as far as the eyes so I assume what I did worked. Only thing is the skin tones do look a bit different from each other.

Yep, looks like that worked.  The skin discrepency will be dependent on the texture map type used for each model.  There is no direct way to change that aspect, other than loading an entirely different skin map, which is almost nonexistent for Will and Penny.  Using VSS, you can change the color tint to impart a different skin color altogether without changing maps. 

A quick and simple way to control skin color tinting in VSS is to use the Color_Tint node located to the extreme left side of the material room.  In the render above, I used one VSSProp, changed the Shader rule to target each particular child, then used my default  and modified settings to each.  Again, I used only one VSSProp and the same skin texture for each.

As you can see, one child has gotten into some really bad candy, while the other appears quite normal.  The insets in the image show the modifications.  Notice, green boy still has some reddish tinge to his skin, indicates he is human after all.  If I wanted to modify that tinge, then I would alter the SSS node (unseen) color to give him an unearthly appearance.  But I am getting ahead of myself. 

I going to flag this for nudity, just in case someone takes objection.

Lol, gotta watch that candy they get for trick or treats!  :-)

So it looks like that PMC color tint node controls the color for the entire figure. I suppose you can get some very "alien" results by playing around with that.  Good to know in case we ever do a film with aliens. Nice to make a guess and see it work, I surprised myself, lol.  I really appreciate all your help and and the help of everyone else here who has been so patient with me in figuring all this out, many thanks, couldn't have done it without all the support.  Guess it's not over yet, on to the next challenge! :-)

Btw, never did ask what your 3D interests are, do you work on your own films or animations? Any projects going on at present?  Are you just using poser or do you work with other programs as well?  I myself got into 3D only a little over a year ago when I met BreechBlock on the TS forum. He has taught me a great deal and has given me a much better understanding of 3D and filmmaking, still a long ways to go though!  At the time I was just looking to see if I could create a short animated piece and didn't realize just how much was involved, I do now!  My primary function for the team is composing the necessary music and audio special fx for our films as I've been a musician for over thirty years. I've always enjoyed composing film-style music in my home studio. I feel like a fish out of water sometimes with this 3D stuff, but having a lot of fun learning it.

This I do as a hobby, although I have been dabbling more in the tech aspect than creating art.  I do scientific biological research for a living and a very, very long time (need to count the rings, lol).  Pretty good figuring things out and troubleshooting.  It comes naturally.

Well that certainly is an interesting career.  I have a brother-in-law who is a biologist.  I also have an old musician friend from high school who is a research scientist in Boston. In recent years he was responsible for discovering the breakthrough gene that is possibly responsible for Alzheimer's.

From the renders I've seen you post you should be using your skills to produce some art or animation.  Either way the skills are not going to waste, as I'm sure many here appreciate the knowledge you're sharing every day.

I just deleted all the lights in my scene and used the HDRI render settings as shown above (page7), and rendered two figures in a walk cycle as 30 separate PSD image files.  This is a sample of one of the rendered images. I'm not understanding this HDRI stuff too well.