I've been curious whether users who upgraded from P7 to P8 thought the upgrade was worth it from an enhanced realism point of view for their renders. I have P7 and am quite happy with how stable it has become, but I would like greater realism in my renders. I use Bagginsbill's VSS and a lot of lighting tricks learned from this forum but I understand (perhaps incorrectly) that with P8 these will have to be tweaked for any further enhancement to be obtained. I'm wondering how hard that is and if it's worth it or not.

Thanks
Mark

 I'd say the big difference came when I upgraded from Poser 8 to PP2010 with its Gamma Correction.  But yes, I like the IDL in Poser 8 VERY much. Poser 7 is OK, Poser 8 is better and PP2010 is best. IMO.

The major light improvement in P8 is the introduction of Global Illumination, or IDL, as a standard package.  It thoroughly replaces the need for IBL, although some individuals have managed to intergrate both IBL and IDL together with satisfactory results.  A big factor, you can use ambient glow to effectively and correctly illuminate a scene without the benefit of external lights.  Yes, you would need to invest some time relearning the new process, but it will take no time at all and well worth the effort.

I was very pleased with the move from P7 to P8. I have just the vanilla version of Poser, but I'm satisfied for the most part. The IDL makes a huge difference as well as some of the other things mentioned.

This thread may also interest you.

Laurie

Much improved in stability, lighting and rendering.

It really depends on the user. If you can't achieve the realism with P7, chances are that you will not be able to do it with P8 either. Even though IDL if you learn how to use it, may enhance realism in your renders, but the key word is learn. IDL is not a one stop solution, you will need to invest time into it to get the best out of it.

So far, still the best realistic images shown in the galleries have not made use of IDL.

Moving from P7 to P8 will not enhance realism, unless you're willing to spent a lot of time learning the ins and outs of IDL.

Quote - The major light improvement in P8 is the introduction of Global Illumination, or IDL, as a standard package.  It thoroughly replaces the need for IBL, although some individuals have managed to intergrate both IBL and IDL together with satisfactory results.  A big factor, you can use ambient glow to effectively and correctly illuminate a scene without the benefit of external lights.  Yes, you would need to invest some time relearning the new process, but it will take no time at all and well worth the effort.

I read your comment hborre and went straight to the poser manual to find out about ambient glow but the search brings up nothing. It sounds an interesting effect that I have always done post render. Could you tell us something more about it please ?
Thanks in advance

IDL is a huge improvement and, once you've abandoned your P7 ideas about lighting and figured out how it works, it's actually a lot simpler because, with Inverse Square falloff (for spots and point lights), it's more physically accurate.

P8 has Tone Mapping - sort of a poor man's Gamma Correction - which also helps the realism (though you'll need to spend time learning this). In PP2010, which has proper Gamma Correction, you'll really start to get 'realsitic' results.

I'd strongly recommend getting hold of bagginsbill's EnvSphere and VSS shader system - they're free and immensely useful.

Quote - > Quote - The major light improvement in P8 is the introduction of Global Illumination, or IDL, as a standard package.  It thoroughly replaces the need for IBL, although some individuals have managed to intergrate both IBL and IDL together with satisfactory results.  A big factor, you can use ambient glow to effectively and correctly illuminate a scene without the benefit of external lights.  Yes, you would need to invest some time relearning the new process, but it will take no time at all and well worth the effort.

I read your comment hborre and went straight to the poser manual to find out about ambient glow but the search brings up nothing. It sounds an interesting effect that I have always done post render. Could you tell us something more about it please ?
Thanks in advance

You have to fiddle with the ambient settings in the material room, there is a lighting set by Colm over at RDNA (GI Studio) that makes exclusive use of this.

Thanks Bamboo Prince :)

Thanks for all the feedback. I shall ponder the issue some more....

Mark