Thanks to the very nice people at CP I've now got Poser 9. So I'd like to try out the new lighting feature, which according to the ads allows a mesh/material to become a light and actually emit light. Or more precisely I've made a freebie which has different parts, which are designed to either glow or emit light. The idea being you' can use the actual model to light itself. Theres some pictures below to show what I mean here. But I don't know how to set up the P9 lighting to make it work. So could anyone help here ?

Pinky - you left the lens cap of your mind on again.

piccy 2

Pinky - you left the lens cap of your mind on again.

piccy #3

Pinky - you left the lens cap of your mind on again.

Finally heres an overview of the main room on freebie. Theres another area, but I'll save that for later.

Pinky - you left the lens cap of your mind on again.

I'd be making an image file with those bits that are meant to glow in the image, and with the rest black. I'd material group the mesh so that those bits corresponding to "glowing points" used that image. Then, just set the ambient_value to > 1 (diffuse_value to 0) and your lights will glow and emit light if that value is set high enough.

Monterey/Mint21.x/Win10 - Blender3.x - PP11.3(cm) - Musescore3.6.2

Wir sind gewohnt, daß die Menschen verhöhnen was sie nicht verstehen
[it is clear that humans have contempt for that which they do not understand] 

Metaphor of Chooks

it looks good IMVHO.  causing a posersurface to emit light is easy (poser 8 or later), but the tricky part is the aura, an area of atmosphere around the light that picks up the light colour with rapid falloff.

 

     Sparky, I've found that if you keep the ambient level down to a realistic soft glow, the mesh doesn't cast enough light.  You could jack up the ambient, but then instead of a soft glow, you'd get searing burnt-out white.

     My suggestion is to use modest ambient for the glowy parts, but to add unseen IDL emitters.  In a modeler, select the glowy polys and extrude them out slightly, so that they will overlay the visible glowy panels, and be far enough offset so that the emitter's high ambient doesn't blow out the visible soft glowy panel's color.  Save out each of the emitter overlays (some may be combined, if they'll use the same material settings or they are mapped without overlap).

      Import the IDL emitter overlays into Poser.  Crank the emitter's ambient up (try 7-15 for starters).  Untick the "casts shadows" box and untick the "visible in camera" box.  With these settings, the emitter will cast light (if IDL is engaged), yet the emitter itself will remain unseen.

     Here, Andy's laptop monitor screen is casting light, using an unseen emitter:

     The Matrix version:

     For an aura, I make a bubble/dome extending out from the visible panel, and use a double edge-blend node to control its transparency.

aurae around paper lanterns:

      I have some material setups which will make the glowy panels (and their emitters) flash like a strobe in a flash-flash-flash...  flash-flash-flash...  pattern, and another which will gently pulsate on-off, with optional color shifting if desired.  I'll log onto my workstation later and pack them as mt5 files.  You may use them in your freebie model.

     If it would help, I could make a sample panel with these features, which you can reverse-engineer to adapt the method to your model.

Poser 12, in feet.  

OSes:  Win7Prox64, Win7Ultx64

Silo Pro 2.5.6 64bit, Vue Infinite 2014.7, Genetica 4.0 Studio, UV Mapper Pro, UV Layout Pro, PhotoImpact X3, GIF Animator 5

damn man you are good :)

OS: Windows7 64-bit Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2430M CPU @ 2.40GHz, 2401 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)  6GB Ram
Poser: Poser Pro 2012 SR3.1 ...Poser 8.........Poser5 on a bad day........
Daz Studio Pro 4.5  64bit

Carrara beta 8.5

Modelling: Silo/Hexagon/Groboto V3
Image Editing: PSP V9/Irfanview
Movie Editing. Cyberlink power director/Windows live movie maker

"I live in an unfinished , poorly lit box, but we call it home"

My freestuff   

 link via my artist page

Thanks for the responses everyone. seachnasaigh - that looks perfect for whats needed! So yes your kind offer of a test panel would be perfect. Thanks for that. Certainly agree about how the mesh would affect the lighting as well. So on things like the roof lights, I've made the lights fit within a frame which I assume would make them "constrain" or "direct" light a bit. Or on the 2nd picture the light next to the 1st aid box stands proud, so would spill light everywhere. As I'd like to get this out there for everyone to enjoy, I'd rather not go back and add areas to act as emitters. But on the next models I'll be making, like with this weekends easter freebie, I will add this as it makes a lot of sense. Plus it fits with how I make stuff. Thanks again and looking forward to seeing the test panel. Though just one thing, can you include some screen shots of how to make stuff glow as I'm not that hot on using the P8 plus material tab.

Pinky - you left the lens cap of your mind on again.

     I was just working on the demo panel!  ^^     When finished, it will have IDL emitters and aurae around the lights, and I'll pack it into a zip.  That way you can see each material and how each prop's parameter characteristics are set.

     I'll include a P8/PP2010 version and a P9/PP2012 version, with a "readme" explaining what the differences are, and why they different.  P9 can use the P8 method, but P9 can get better results -results which P8 can't match- if you take advantage of P9's new options.

     Yes, a light panel set within a housing will cast light in a constrained pattern.  I'll have a monitor screen on the demo panel, and the monitor will be housed within a bezel.  I can add a ceiling with a countersunk light.

     I can make some mat room screenshots, with labeling to clarify what's going on.

Poser 12, in feet.  

OSes:  Win7Prox64, Win7Ultx64

Silo Pro 2.5.6 64bit, Vue Infinite 2014.7, Genetica 4.0 Studio, UV Mapper Pro, UV Layout Pro, PhotoImpact X3, GIF Animator 5

That sounds great - thanks!

Pinky - you left the lens cap of your mind on again.

The problem that comes, as I've recently discovered, is when/if you go to animate.  To put it simply ... "IDL+Shadows+Animation in Poser = Shadow Spazz/Noise". :(  IDL in Poser looks great and is easy to achieve an control, but I haven't found a solution to the Shadow-Spazz issue other than doing separate render passes.

Best,
Tim 

@timoteo1 I'm not really sure what you're referring to, but my PoserPro Ref manual in the IDL section (ch 19 pg 401) says:

Animation Considerations: When rendering out an animation while using IDL, make sure that multi-threaded rendering is not being used (set Number of Threads to 1 in the Render tab of the General Preferences dialog). If you leave the setting at 2 or higher, your renders will come out jittery, as the shadows and lighting will not line up from frame to frame.

Perhaps that can be of help.

- - - - - 

Usually I'm wrong. But to be effective and efficient, I don't need to be correct or accurate.

visit www.aRtBeeWeb.nl (works) or Missing Manuals (tutorials & reviews) - both need an update though

     Here is a test render of the demo panel.  No Poser lights are on.  The indicator lights are animated (strobe, pulse, or color shift), as are the "chaser" strip lights.  The spotlight cones have animated haze.  There is an aura around the lights when they are lit up.

     All of this is done in the material room, so the end user of your model will not need to do any keyframing.  Also, I used matrices, instead of using an AVI in the movie node, so the materials will run regardless of whether the system is 32bit or 64bit.

     Click on image to enlarge:

     Cameron is cranking out animation frames now;  I'll try to post a SWF when it's done, if the materials come out well.

     I still need to make material room screenshots and label them.

Poser 12, in feet.  

OSes:  Win7Prox64, Win7Ultx64

Silo Pro 2.5.6 64bit, Vue Infinite 2014.7, Genetica 4.0 Studio, UV Mapper Pro, UV Layout Pro, PhotoImpact X3, GIF Animator 5

Very cool, Seach ... great idea with the matrices vs. the avi's!

 

Artbee:  Hi, thanks ... but I spotted that a while back and actually found that it didn't really make a difference ... in fact, it was my experience that it (inexplicably) made things slightly worse.  Although it could just be the nature of IDL and Irradiance Caching in Poser that makes the results different every time.

See my thread here for further discussion on the topic.

 

Best,
Tim

     Thank you, Tim.  ^^  If I get the posting right, clicking on the image will open a ShockWave Flash animation showing the animated materials.  No Poser lights are on.

.     I would like to rename some of the nodes, but I'll have to load the scene file into an older version of Poser to use that Python wacro.  Then I'll take mat room screenshots, and label them in a photo program.  With the addition of a "mini user's manual" readme, it'll be ready to pack up.

Poser 12, in feet.  

OSes:  Win7Prox64, Win7Ultx64

Silo Pro 2.5.6 64bit, Vue Infinite 2014.7, Genetica 4.0 Studio, UV Mapper Pro, UV Layout Pro, PhotoImpact X3, GIF Animator 5

That's great!  I especially like the oscillating volumetric light coming from the ceiling.  It's really cool when you think about the fact there aren't any "real" lights being used.  

it looks good, seach.  how did you do the aura around the light panels on the wall?

     Thank you, Timoteo and Miss Nancy.   The aura around the lights on the wall are modeled as a bubble surrounding the light.  It's important to smooth off corners in order to use the double edge blend node method, because it emphasizes eccentricity - tight bends and sharp corners are more visible than gently curved areas.  The monitor aura is much the same as the aura for the block lights.

     I've gotten the nodes neatly arranged and renamed for each type of material;  now I need to apply them to the other lights/emitters/aurae, with appropriate phase shifts.  I'll post material room screenshots as I get them done.

Poser 12, in feet.  

OSes:  Win7Prox64, Win7Ultx64

Silo Pro 2.5.6 64bit, Vue Infinite 2014.7, Genetica 4.0 Studio, UV Mapper Pro, UV Layout Pro, PhotoImpact X3, GIF Animator 5

seachnasaigh - I was just hoping it might be possible to light a few bits without using any poser lights. Never thought posers lighting could be that adaptable. Certainty never considered animating lights. So I'm seriously impressed here. Just hope when I add the lights I get it right and can do your work justice. Also thanks for the info about AVI's and 32/64 bit versions, didn't know there was a problem there. Finally quick question, when you say material room does this mean I can simply drag/drop your materials from the library pallete onto parts of the model. I'm not that hot on the material tab, normally stick with bitmap textures only for app compatability.

Pinky - you left the lens cap of your mind on again.

     Hello MrSparky!  I'm just getting back in from doing real life tasks, and now am rebuilding the RAID mirror (the motherboard has a glitchy HD socket and drops port 0 occasionally).  I'll have dinner while the mirror rebuilds, then back to it.

     Most for-purchase AVI packs use a compression codec, in particular, it's generally a 32bit codec.  If your 64bit computer doesn't have -or can't run- that codec, then the AVI won't work.  You can load the AVI into a video editor, and re-save it in a different codec, or without compression if it's small enough, and then use it.

     Besides a complete demo prop, I will include mt5 material files which the pack will unzip to the material part of your runtime library.  To apply such a material, enter the material room, and select your model's material zone.  Double-click the library mt5 file (or drag-n-drop directly from library palette to the item/zone in the scene), and you're done.  I'd be glad to help you with any particular project you've got going.  The sreenshots of the material room and object parameter settings should help.

     It is possible to light the scene with no Poser lights on, but to get natural specular highlights and such, I much prefer to use both self-illuminated meshes (for the myriad little lights) and use a few Poser lights in the scene to get best results.

Poser 12, in feet.  

OSes:  Win7Prox64, Win7Ultx64

Silo Pro 2.5.6 64bit, Vue Infinite 2014.7, Genetica 4.0 Studio, UV Mapper Pro, UV Layout Pro, PhotoImpact X3, GIF Animator 5

     I only have to make readme files and then extract/pack the demo prop set zip.  ^^     Meanwhile, I'll begin the explanation.

     Overall, we'll use three categories of props:

• visible light - this simply may be material areas of your model, or they may be separate meshes
• aura - a "bubbled" mesh surrounding the light
• IDL emitter - usually an offset/scaled copy of either the light mesh or the aura mesh 

     These are three separate props because the object parameter properties (visibility and casting shadows) must be set differently for each category.  I'll make screenshots showing these settings.
     This is the basic double edge blend setup with which to texture an aura.  The edge blend node is sensitive to the angle at which the camera views a given polygon, so it tends to make sharply curved areas very visible, whereas flatter areas tend to fade into transparency.  So, form your aura mesh so that it is a rounded bubble surrounding the light piece.  Be sure to shut off the specular (value=0), otherwise your mesh may look like clear plastic.

     This is a doll textured with a double edge blend aura:

.     This is the basic double edge blend node setup...

.     This material is a strobe light which flashes three times, pauses, and repeats.  For animations, there is no need for keyframes;  the animated material works by running off of the frame number variable node in the material room.  Look at math function node #7; see the "16" value?  That sets the length of the repeat cycle.  So here, it repeats every sixteen frames.

.     This material pulses gently on/off, waxing and waning in sine wave fashion.  Frequency adjustment (a relabeled math function node) sets the length of the repeating cycle.

.

Poser 12, in feet.  

OSes:  Win7Prox64, Win7Ultx64

Silo Pro 2.5.6 64bit, Vue Infinite 2014.7, Genetica 4.0 Studio, UV Mapper Pro, UV Layout Pro, PhotoImpact X3, GIF Animator 5

     Object parameter properties:

     For the visible light props...

     If you are using a one-piece wall with the lights just being material zones of that one prop, then leave the default "casts shadows" ticked.

     For the glowing aura prop surrounding the light...

     Un-tick "casts shadows".

     For the unseen IDL emitter prop...

     Un-tick both "casts shadows" and "visible in camera".  Visible in camera is only available as of P9/PP2012.  The demo panel prop set includes two pieces which demonstrate why this is a big improvement over P8/PP2010.  With these settings, the prop will not be visible itself, but it will cast light in IDL.  Whereas the visible light prop must be limited to a gentle ambient value to keep it from blowing out to white, the unseen emitter prop can have it's ambient cranked up as needed to cast as much light as you need.  You are not limited to 0-1.  I believe Poser tops out at an ambient value of about 30 or 32, so if you type in 135, it will still be reckoned as about 30.

Poser 12, in feet.  

OSes:  Win7Prox64, Win7Ultx64

Silo Pro 2.5.6 64bit, Vue Infinite 2014.7, Genetica 4.0 Studio, UV Mapper Pro, UV Layout Pro, PhotoImpact X3, GIF Animator 5

     Nested IDL meshes, as seen in a modeler (Silo).  The solid-looking innermost mesh (red truncated cone) is the visible light mesh.  It fits very closely over the navigation light part of the existing model (John Hoagland's Viper MkII).  The dark shadowy bubble surrounding is the aura mesh.  and just outside is the unseen IDL emitter (yellow wireframe).  Note the softly curved shape of the aura (the dark transparent shadow mesh), because of the double edge blend node's sensitivity to shape.  Click image to enlarge.

.

     I also made VisLight, aura, and emitter props for the cockpit monitor and engine exhaust...

click picture for large still frame:

.     Click picture for ShockWave Flash animated demo:

.     If John Hoagland gives permission, I'll release this IDL prop set as a smart-propped P9+ accessory for his Viper model (you'll need to have his Viper model).

Poser 12, in feet.  

OSes:  Win7Prox64, Win7Ultx64

Silo Pro 2.5.6 64bit, Vue Infinite 2014.7, Genetica 4.0 Studio, UV Mapper Pro, UV Layout Pro, PhotoImpact X3, GIF Animator 5

     Another Silo modeler screenshot.  The yellow-highlighted meshes are IDL emitters which are within the camera's field of view, yet are unseen by the camera - remember the unticked visible to camera box in the emitter object's parameter properties?

     This is a wonderful thing.  Why?  Because the amount of IDL cast by the spotlight emitter inside the light housing is quite limited, even with ambient=30, because of its small surface area.  But those star-shaped slices in the spotlights' cones have a lot more surface area from which to emit light.  They can have a pretty modest ambient value and still light the scene.  The reason for having a stack of several is so that if anything is placed inside the cone, even the upper surfaces (head, shoulders) will receive light.

Now, lay this cone aura and star-slice emitter assembly down 90 degrees, and you have a car headlight. :D  Oh, the reason that the aura cones are fluted instead of being simply a circular cone is because the double edge blend will show as streaks ("godrays") of light.  ^^

     Not obvious at first, but there is another piece, the "wall" surfaces (just three rectangles) on the near side of the little set.  If it were not for P9's visible to camera box being unticked, these wall panels would block the camera I used for the demo shots earlier in the thread.  This prop is another unseen IDL emitter.  And it has a lot of surface area indeed.  So much so that even with the ambient dialed down to a small fraction of 1, it emits the background lighting for the scene, and does so evenly and without splotches.  :)

     The moral of the story is:  use large emitters at lower ambient value when you can, and with P9 you can hide them in plain sight.

Poser 12, in feet.  

OSes:  Win7Prox64, Win7Ultx64

Silo Pro 2.5.6 64bit, Vue Infinite 2014.7, Genetica 4.0 Studio, UV Mapper Pro, UV Layout Pro, PhotoImpact X3, GIF Animator 5

     I'm trying to upload the zip to my 4shared account;  that site is really slow this morning.

     If you can get/make an AVI which your OS can read, then you simply use the movie node to drive the ambient channel.  If not, this shows how to use a matrix image to provide an animated material.   I made a 4x4 celled matrix of a radar scanner.   The math nodes read one cell of that image per animation frame.

.     The area blocked off in orange is not relevant to the matrix;  it just tweaks the appearance of the image.  The stack of math nodes boxed in magenta steps from cell to cell in a row;  once a row is finished, the math nodes boxed in green step down to the next row.

      This next material combines a matrix (of turbulent haze) with the double edge blend nodes to make an animated aura for the spotlight "cones" or light shafts.  The added image map of a gradient which fades to black at the bottom makes the light shaft aura fade away the further it is from the spotlight.

.     Another combination, this time of the triple-flash strobe with the double edge blend nodes, to create the aura for the flashing navigation lights on the Viper's wing tips and for the aura of the blocky indicator lights on the wall of the Sci-Fi panel.

.

Poser 12, in feet.  

OSes:  Win7Prox64, Win7Ultx64

Silo Pro 2.5.6 64bit, Vue Infinite 2014.7, Genetica 4.0 Studio, UV Mapper Pro, UV Layout Pro, PhotoImpact X3, GIF Animator 5

     This runtime zip contains the demo sci-fi panel and some sample mt5 material files which you can click to apply to your own model's mat zones. 

     EULA:     unlike most of my freebies, I will allow you to copy/use these materials -including the texturing images- and the meshes (the bubbled aura meshes may be useful) in your own freebie and commercial projects for redistribution.  Copyright seachnasaigh 2012

     40.2 MB runtime zip:     Sci-Fi P9+ IDL demo panel

.     P.S.  If you have trouble downloading this zip, let me know;  I could maybe break it into 3-4 smaller zips.

Poser 12, in feet.  

OSes:  Win7Prox64, Win7Ultx64

Silo Pro 2.5.6 64bit, Vue Infinite 2014.7, Genetica 4.0 Studio, UV Mapper Pro, UV Layout Pro, PhotoImpact X3, GIF Animator 5

     Correction:  In my explanation for the 4x4 matrix, it should say that the math nodes boxed in green step from cell to cell in a row, and that at the end of each row, the math nodes boxed in magenta then step down to the next row.

.     Also, here is the material for the color-shifting lights on the sci-fi panel.  Like the pulsing light, it converts frame number to radians and drive a sine wave node, but instead of the sine wave output driving ambient value, here the sine wave output drives the hue channel of an HSV (huesaturationvalue) node, thus changing the color.

.

Poser 12, in feet.  

OSes:  Win7Prox64, Win7Ultx64

Silo Pro 2.5.6 64bit, Vue Infinite 2014.7, Genetica 4.0 Studio, UV Mapper Pro, UV Layout Pro, PhotoImpact X3, GIF Animator 5

Awesome, thanks Seach!  Can't wait to check this out ... hopefully this weekend I'll have some time.

     Thank you, timoteo1, and you are welcome!

     John Hoagland has graciously given permission for the Viper P9+ IDL light kit, and provided a link where you can get his Viper MkII base model.

     Another material which I thought might be useful is the text-crawler sign, as you might see in an airport, train station, or cinema.  I used one on a movie theatre in the TinkerBell's Drive-In Cafe' playset.  I'll make a generic sample model.

Poser 12, in feet.  

OSes:  Win7Prox64, Win7Ultx64

Silo Pro 2.5.6 64bit, Vue Infinite 2014.7, Genetica 4.0 Studio, UV Mapper Pro, UV Layout Pro, PhotoImpact X3, GIF Animator 5

     I made a long box to use as a "text crawler" sign.  Because I UV mapped it with minimal distortion, the template is just a strip along the bottom of the standard UV 0-1 space square.  My template was 1024 pixels wide, but I made the text objects 2048 pixels wide.  Remember, not all of the text is on screen at any given time.

     Use the frame number variable node to nudge the U offset, and the text will slide leftward.  I also tiled a honeycomb pattern (320 times) to give the text a pixelated look.

.     ShockWave Flash animation of text crawler sign:

.     This enlarges to a still frame render to show pixelated text:

.     Runtime zip of the text crawler sign here.    

     Copyright 2012 seachnasaigh.  EULA:  The text crawler sign is intended as a tutorial prop.  You may copy the materials and use the meshes and the texturing images in your own models, including for redistribution, both freebie and commercial.

     The following images demonstrate the restrictions on P8/PP2010 IDL light casting objects, and the advantages in using P9/PP2012 for self-lit objects.

     This is the P8 version of a lightsabre;  the aura is ghosted,  the blade within is solid-shaded, and I have selected (yellow highlighting) the IDL emitter concealed just inside the blade.  This way, P8 renders will show the blade, and the IDL effect of the emitter, without the emitter itself being visible.  However, the emitter's surface area is small, so it's cast light may be splotchy and insufficient.

.     Compare this to the IDL emitter on the P9 version;  the emitter is about three times the diameter of blade, and so has much more surface area from which to cast light than the P8 emitter.  We can get away with having the P9 emitter "exposed" well outside of the blade because of P9's visible in camera box, which we'll un-tick for the emitter. 

.     Another refinement was to re-form the aura with undulating waves, so as to make the aura's visibility more consistent.

.     Here's a render of the P8 lightsabre...

.     And this is the P9 lightsabre...

.     P9 Lightsabre in runtime zip.  Copyright seachnasaigh 2011.  EULA:  This model is free for both personal and commercial renders.  Do not redistribute.

.     Laser beam with "hit" burst at the end, in pz3.  Copyright seachnasaigh 2011.  EULA:  This model is free for both personal and commercial renders.  Do not redistribute.

.

.

Poser 12, in feet.  

OSes:  Win7Prox64, Win7Ultx64

Silo Pro 2.5.6 64bit, Vue Infinite 2014.7, Genetica 4.0 Studio, UV Mapper Pro, UV Layout Pro, PhotoImpact X3, GIF Animator 5

     Ooops.  Wrong file.  The laser beam (and hit burst) prop -in runtime zip-  is here:  laser beam prop  

     Use a weak point light near -but not at- the end of the beam.

Poser 12, in feet.  

OSes:  Win7Prox64, Win7Ultx64

Silo Pro 2.5.6 64bit, Vue Infinite 2014.7, Genetica 4.0 Studio, UV Mapper Pro, UV Layout Pro, PhotoImpact X3, GIF Animator 5

Thank you so very much for this. Lot's of stuff to study here.

seachnasaigh - thanks and my apologys for not replying. Late last week I got whacked by a nasty virus (the non computer kind), foolishly went out at the weekend. Took our grandaughter out to a local light show. She got some great shots, but I'm now really paying the price for it. So now way behind with everything right now. But I have downloaded your file and as I'm quarentined for at least a week (literally -not kidding there) I will be trying to catch up on this project and other poser stuff. Especially like as what you've done with the mtl collection, that drag n drop ability should making do this very easy and I'm really greatfull for your help here. Once I've added the materials I'll upload it so everyone can have a play. Plus once I've cleared the decks a bit, I'm also tempted to make a creature like the squid one above and use your files to try and make light up. BTW - No way could I have done this without your input. So thanks again here it's beyond appreciated.

Pinky - you left the lens cap of your mind on again.

opps. photo is here.

Pinky - you left the lens cap of your mind on again.

Of course there is also this thread that had a long discussion, a lot of theory and info about it: http://forum.runtimedna.com/showthread.php?63342-Light-Emitting-Objects/page9

Attached Link: http://www.poserdirect.com/stuff/files1.zip

seachnasaigh - given this a try and I think I'm missing something simple. Most likely something that when you tell me the solution I'll go DOH! :) As you can see from the piccy here, applying the 'light-material' isn't a problem -just dragged and dropped - and it clearly lights up. But if theres lights in lights in the scene or not, the lights on the model don't light the scene. Trying to get something your spotlight effect on some parts. if that makes sense. Heres an example. So quick question is what am doing wrong here and how can I fix it? Do I need to add extra parts to that model that kinda thing. The link above is to a sample PZ3.

Pinky - you left the lens cap of your mind on again.

Attached Link: http://www.poserdirect.com/stuff/thefac_01_p4_beta.zip

Heres the render settings used if that makes any difference. Plus heres a copy of the complete model I'm using (link above). Note to anyone browsing the thread, this model is only a beta version. While I think the paths are OK, it's not been tested properly, no documentation, and this link could go dark soon. Plus if you download now you'll miss out on the cool lighting stuff and maybe some more bits. So please don't download it yet, it's gonna be free anyway.

Pinky - you left the lens cap of your mind on again.

Attached Link: http://www.poserdirect.com/stuff/exhaust.zip

Also another thought here, based on seachnasaigh's rather cool viper exhaust. I was wondering if it would be possible to create something like this for real world jets. **Obviously I'm not asking seachnasaigh to do this. But the concept and some basic files are here if anyone wants to try and improve this idea. (link above).** So I looked up some photos of fighter jets from my photo library. My thinking here is something like that needs 3 parts/zones, which like your thrust "cage" would fit slighlty on the edge and a little bit inside the exhaust. Firstly a cylinder for the glowing light created by the thrust. Maybe stretchable so you can choose the length depending on the model. For example Apollo rockets have a longer thrust length than say a euro-fighter. Second part is a cone with the tip facing outwards inside the 1st cylinder to simulate the after burners. This would be set slighlty away from the actual exhaust because real afterburners work by injecting fuel into the hot exhaust gases. An effect you can cleary see on photos. Obviously it would need to be a graduated light from nothing to yellow. Would also need to be made invisible as not every jet makes 'cones'. Finally another stretchable cylinder, this one sits over the other two and might not use light. Instead this one being used for the exhaust/smoke trail.

Pinky - you left the lens cap of your mind on again.

     Note:  that is indeed a good thread, 3Doutlaw.

     MrSparky:  your room appears to have the visible lights, but no IDL emitters.  Or perhaps you don't have IDL engaged in the render settings - click the circular "radio" button to manual settings, and when that version of the render settings window appears, click acquire from auto.  PP2012 would also have a setting in the right column for gamma correction;  tick it to engage it, and the gamma correction factor should be 2.2

.     Poser's IDL does not respond in realistic proportion to a softly glowing object (the visible light panel in your scene);  you must also use a much brighter unseen emitter to compensate;  if you can use a larger surface area emitter, so much the better, as this will even out the lighting.

     I'll nose through that zip file and see what's going on.

     I like the idea of the central flame cone for the jet exhaust;  that has potential.  It can be part of the same prop as the jet blast/smoke trail "aura", but a different material zone.  It will still need a separate unseen IDL emitter (also with two material zones, for cone and trail).  Give me a bit of time to experiment on materials...

Poser 12, in feet.  

OSes:  Win7Prox64, Win7Ultx64

Silo Pro 2.5.6 64bit, Vue Infinite 2014.7, Genetica 4.0 Studio, UV Mapper Pro, UV Layout Pro, PhotoImpact X3, GIF Animator 5

Oh, snap.  When I open the pz3, it asks me to find CCWall3.obj;  Try saving the wall (include all attached separate props) as a prop, then using RunZip to pack the prop (if you have RunZip).  Otherwise, you can use Poser's Python script to gather a scene inventory, and pack that.

 

     Ooops. Just noticed the other zip in the second post.  Stand by...

     Aaargh.  The thefac zip shows as corrupted and I can't open it.  Update:  it did make a runtime folder;  but I don't know if parts/textures are missing.

Poser 12, in feet.  

OSes:  Win7Prox64, Win7Ultx64

Silo Pro 2.5.6 64bit, Vue Infinite 2014.7, Genetica 4.0 Studio, UV Mapper Pro, UV Layout Pro, PhotoImpact X3, GIF Animator 5

     Nike!  Got the sci-fi wall scene loaded up. :D  OK, you have the softly glowing visible lights, but you need the unseen IDL emitters (must be a seaparate prop!), and aura props would be a nice touch, though not needed.

     Give me a bit of time and I'll post a wireframe screenshot of where the emitters should go.

Poser 12, in feet.  

OSes:  Win7Prox64, Win7Ultx64

Silo Pro 2.5.6 64bit, Vue Infinite 2014.7, Genetica 4.0 Studio, UV Mapper Pro, UV Layout Pro, PhotoImpact X3, GIF Animator 5

seachnasaigh - thanks for the feedback about the room. Heres a new zip..... http://www.poserdirect.com/stuff/thefacbeta.zip ...tested and it downloaded/installed OK. It's been zipped with an older version of winzip on a PC. Which I know can cause problems with macs. IDL certainty is NOT set in the render settings. I'll try that tommorow, I'm using P9. Not 100% sure if P10 is still installed. Also do you know if debut has this feature? As for the actual model, theres no IDL emitters on the actual model or materials. Not sure how to add those. Instead I've created materials on the parts that are meant to emit light/glows and given a name so the artist knows thats a lightable part. It's something I've been doing for ages now so the poser models can be used on apps like vue. Which allows a single "shader" to be applied to a poser materal. But, and please correct me if I'm wrong here, with P9 do I have to add an extra mesh thats then defined as the emmitter and another mesh thats used as the aura? Re - the aura. Thanks for the thoughts there. Thats only a very rough piece if you need something else made just shout. PS - whats RunZip?

Pinky - you left the lens cap of your mind on again.

spark, the glowing panels may light up surrounding objects better if one uses hdr images or hdr colours on the panels, if one uses HSVTM rather than gamma in render settings and if the area surrounding the panel is bounded by front/back walls and floor/ceiling (enclosed room or long corridor).

     Miss Nancy, I'm making a containment box, with the near wall missing to allow for the camera;  this wall has been replaced with a low-intensity (but large surface area) emitter, so that issue is covered.

     Could you elaborate on using high dynamic range images (how to?  benefits of?)  Sounds like something I should be using. :P

 

     Sparky, you won't see the IDL tick-box in the render settings until you go to the manual settings.

     Your visible lights look good, but yes, it needs extra pieces for the emitters and aurae.  I already have them modeled up, UV unwrapped, and parented to your model.  I'm experimenting with an animated procedural material for the aurae.  Cameron is grinding out a test render now.

     Oh, and RunZip is one of D3D's Poser utilities.  Basically, it's a zip/unzip app, but one which is specialised for packing Poser content.  It cleans file paths, gathers all dependent files (texture images, OBJs, morphs) automatically, and generally automates what would otherwise take several tasks to accomplish.

Poser 12, in feet.  

OSes:  Win7Prox64, Win7Ultx64

Silo Pro 2.5.6 64bit, Vue Infinite 2014.7, Genetica 4.0 Studio, UV Mapper Pro, UV Layout Pro, PhotoImpact X3, GIF Animator 5

hdri has 32 bits per channel, whereas ordinary jpeg has 8 bits per channel (RGB).  hence in poser, hdri is much brighter light source than jpeg texture, with greater range between darkest and lightest colours.  to boost brightness of simple colour, increase value of light-emitting channel. simple colours burn out in poser GC renders if value is too high, but some colours won't burn out in some HSVTM poser renders.  boosting value of jpeg will make it brighter in poser, but it won't have wide range of brightness.

Miss Nancy...interesting idea there and being a photographer I can see how that could help and work. Greater tonal range as well. Indeed converted a few renders myself for fun, even got some examples somewhere on this forum. Though from SM's comparision chart it seems thats only possible in PP2012 and PP2010 :( Then again it's not a biggie to get around. Most cameras don't automatically create HDRI in-camera anyway, it's normally a post-shot process using 3-5 images in something like Photomatix. Even there, and especially with incamera HDRI, one issue is slight motion between the shots. Either where the camera or something in shot moves. something you can see on many HDRI images by looking at leaves at the end of branches. An effct thats often compounded if ND grads/long exposures are used. Which is obviously something that renders don't have. So you can use this to your advantadage. Render once, adjust the gamma/contrast etc etc on copys of the renders, then chuck the lot into your HDRI app. Voila, one HDRI image! OK. it's not a 100% true HDR image, which might get the purists choking on their coffee, but really who cares. If you need something in a certain style you need it, doesn't matter how it's done, it's about getting the results. For example, a while back I rendered out some high quality car models in vue. Done on a totally white background using metalic shaders and GI or GR lighting. Bit of gamma correcttion, added some bokeh and them mixed these renders with some photos. Most folks, including many self-styled experts, couldn't tell what was a photo and what was a 3d model! seachnasaigh...thanks for the tip on the render settings. Also had a feeling it needed more bits for the emitters and aurae. can these be built into the model during construction phase rather than having to create/add something in poser later on? Oh, and RunZip... Do you mean this one? http://www.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/runtime-zip/50761 Don't have that, though do have D3D's excellent embedgeom for stripping out OBJ's from the CR2. Thats a brillant tool, cleans up the mesh as well.

Pinky - you left the lens cap of your mind on again.

Anyone else unable to download that demo-panel zip file?  I get a message stating that the file was removed from the website.

Intel Core I7 3090K 4.5 GhZ (overclocked) 12-meg cache CPU, 32 Gig DDR3 memory, GeoForce GTX680 2gig 256 Bit PCI Express 3.0 graphic card, 3 Western Difgital 7200 rpm 1 Tb SATA Hard Drives

Quote - Anyone else unable to download that demo-panel zip file?  I get a message stating that the file was removed from the website.

     Odd.  I see it in my 4shared album.  In any case, what I posted should be a direct link (you don't have to find the correct button on another web page;  a prompt box comes immediately).   Hmmm.  Tried a different zip and the link is also dead.  I think the problem is with 4shared;  in any case, I don't know how to fix it.  I could try sending it by e-mail, if you want to site mail me your addy.

     In other news, I realized that I had overlooked the green soffit light and the light inside the pipe chase of Sparky's beta piece.  I have added IDL pieces for them, and Cameron is working on test renders now, to get the material settings dialed in.  I'm hoping that the animated procedural aura works!

     This is frame 016 of Sparky's beta.  There are no Poser lights on.  Cameron is working on the animation test now.

.

Poser 12, in feet.  

OSes:  Win7Prox64, Win7Ultx64

Silo Pro 2.5.6 64bit, Vue Infinite 2014.7, Genetica 4.0 Studio, UV Mapper Pro, UV Layout Pro, PhotoImpact X3, GIF Animator 5

     Click image to run ShockWave Flash animation test of Sparky's beta wall.  No Poser lights are on.

.     I've packed the IDL prop set into a zip, mrsparky, but I guess you'll need to send me a site mail with an e-mail addy, since 4shared seems to be bollixed.

Poser 12, in feet.  

OSes:  Win7Prox64, Win7Ultx64

Silo Pro 2.5.6 64bit, Vue Infinite 2014.7, Genetica 4.0 Studio, UV Mapper Pro, UV Layout Pro, PhotoImpact X3, GIF Animator 5

yes, sparky, some recent version(s) of poser can export renders as hdr or exr images, but most recent versions (e.g. poser 8, 9) can use hdri as illumination sources in renders.

p.s. when a jpeg texmap brightness is increased by using an hsv node, it can have the same effect in total range as an hdri, but it introduces a step function into the colour gradients.  hence the brightness is increased for illumination purposes, but the lighting detail (the total information available to FFRender to calculate IDL) is far less than an hdri. 

seachnasaigh - thats looking amazing there chap! Really like the flashing light on the sign, think that gives it a real this is "broken" feel to the set. Not something I'd thought about, but it really works. Also thanks again for this, looking forward to getting your demo bit back and seeing how it works on a pratical level. So yes please IM me a link to it. Then I can bash on with finishing this off and releasing it. Think a lot of folks will be impresed with what you've done here. Nancy - ta for that info. Could you post some renders to show us what the improvements are like?

Pinky - you left the lens cap of your mind on again.

     It might be worthwhile to try the "pulsing" for the rescue sign (I applied pulse to the light in the pipe chase chamber).  Check your forum mail for the zip for your CCWall3 beta IDL mods.

     If anyone wants try a new link for the simple demo panel, here it is but I don't know if my 4shared album is working.  This zip is only 5.36 MB because I realized that the flame matrix image was an uncompressed PNG and weighed in at 29 MB!

Click image to -hopefully- start download

.  If 4shared pops up a web page saying that the "file has been deleted or violated TOS", then forum mail me with an e-mail addy.

     As of now, I just tried the hotlink and it's working.

Poser 12, in feet.  

OSes:  Win7Prox64, Win7Ultx64

Silo Pro 2.5.6 64bit, Vue Infinite 2014.7, Genetica 4.0 Studio, UV Mapper Pro, UV Layout Pro, PhotoImpact X3, GIF Animator 5

seachnasaigh - thanks sent you an IM.

Pinky - you left the lens cap of your mind on again.

     The hotlink problem may have been due to me using spaces, underscores, hyphens, et cetera in the filenames.  I have renamed the zips and re-uploaded them.  These are the new links:

Sci-Fi IDL material demo panel - SciFiDemoPanel

P9 IDL light kit,  for John Hoagland's Viper MkII

text crawler sign

Laser beam

LightSabre

     Apologies for my incompetence!

Poser 12, in feet.  

OSes:  Win7Prox64, Win7Ultx64

Silo Pro 2.5.6 64bit, Vue Infinite 2014.7, Genetica 4.0 Studio, UV Mapper Pro, UV Layout Pro, PhotoImpact X3, GIF Animator 5

haven't got corridor scene, but I tried it with tomcarscene.pz3 (one of bill's freebies) and I was wrong.  using 32-bit hdri as sole illumination in poser produces render that is almost the same as using 8-bit jpeg that was produced from same hdri.  some negligible differences, as shown below.

Fascinating isn't it? I was going to speak about this, but I really don't have time.

What does that say about the HDR image you started with? Can you think of a case where the JPEG version will have to come out differently?

There are actually three important differences you have to think about, and realize that not all matter all the time:

1. Direct viewing - what do you see when the camera "sees" the sphere

2. Indirect viewing (reflections) - what do you see when a reflection, particularly a weak one, is showing you the image

3. Lighting - what impact does dynamic range and precision have on diffuse lighting

I'll give you a hint - on item #3, almost nothing - zip - nada - doesn't make any difference - 8-bits is enough to carry the day, so long as you multiply it so that the peak value for sunny sky areas is way above 1.

---

Renderosity forum reply notifications are wonky. If I read a follow-up in a thread, but I don't myself reply, then notifications no longer happen AT ALL on that thread. So if I seem to be ignoring a question, that's why. (Updated September 23, 2019)

yes, #3 confirmed.  I recall there was something analogous with light probes or IBL, where you (bill) and/or mec3d (catarina) showed that a lo-res image would suffice.  in this one I multiplied the jpeg by 2.2 to get it to approx. the same brightness as the hdri (dosch-extreme-hi-res), which was 6250X3125 and in photoshop showed a range from (0,0,0) to <(20,20,20).  it seems many of these hdri don't have a good range.

For those folks struggling with 4share, and with seachnasaigh's permission, I've added his freebies to my site. I've also downloaded his ccpanel demo, so I'll be trying to finish off the sci-fi set freebie over the next week. Nancy - thanks for posting those pics. Looks OK, though like the default Vue lighting, and other HDRI renders there seems to be a grey cast. All which says I'm not not real. In vue thats easy to fix by changing a setting from grey to slighlty off white, can the same be done in poser?

Pinky - you left the lens cap of your mind on again.

yes, sparky, several ways to make poser renders less gray.  please post a screen shot of the vue setting you wish to emulate in poser.

Nancy ...heres a older one.. http://www.poserdirect.com/images/freebies/robomodbig.jpg seachnasaigh.. Thanks chap think I've got it figured now in terms of whats needed mesh wise...see piccy..is this correct ?

Pinky - you left the lens cap of your mind on again.

     The separate piece organization looks right.  But the shape of the aurae concern me.  Are the aura meshes just symbolic, showing that they are a separate prop?  The double edge blend node method for making an aura will perform terribly on those rectangular shapes.  The cones would do well.

     Look at the wireframes of these demo test shapes, and then look at the aura render.  Notice the effect that shape has on the aura appearance, and note that the aura will always be smaller than the mesh, because the outer edges disappear.

.     .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~   [boring technical stuff]   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     The second edge blend node makes areas of the mesh which are nearly orthogonal (as seen from the camera's perspective) fade out;  on a sphere, this means the center will be transparent, and the sphere becomes visible as you look toward the outline edges.

     The first edge blend node, daisy-chained into the second, makes areas which are highly oblique to the camera disappear.  On the sphere, that means that the outer edges go transparent.

     What's left?  The areas which will show most strongly will be those which are halfway between - where the angle of the camera's view to that point on the surface is about 45 degrees.

     So, the visible portion is a halo, with soft edges.  Both the center and the perimeter of the sphere fade to transparent.  The great benefit of this is that you don't see the shape of the mesh, and that it automatically adapts as you change viewing angle. 

     What you want for your circular ceiling light shafts is a cone (as you have).  For the rectangular lights, the aura must match the rectangular shape right where it begins (at the light), but then soften the shape as you extrude outward to an oval cone.  The easiest way to do this would be to create an ellipse near the floor.  Note the number of sides.  Now cut the edges of the rectangle (up near the ceiling) so its perimeter has the same number of edges.  Select all the perimeter edges of both ellipse and rectangle, and bridge.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~   [/boring technical stuff]   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     Here is such an aura;  rectangle at ceiling, ellipse at floor:

.     ..

     If that doesn't make sense, send me the ceiling & floor, and I'll whip them up.

      Ideally, a static prop will have four pieces:

• The main set;  it will have the default properties, casts shadows, etc.
• The visible lights;  these will not cast shadows.  In the case of your extruded RESCUE letters, this would allow you to put an emitter inside the visible letters, which would be an improvement over the overlaid piece which I made.  Not necessary for your ceiling lights, since they won't be in a position to cast awkward shadows, but it would make it easier to "turn off" the lights.
• The unseen IDL emitters;  these will neither cast shadows nor be visible in camera.
•  The aurae;  these will not cast shadows.

     Parent the VisLts, aurae, and emitters to the main prop.

     Every moving part which has a light, such as your sliding door, will consist of the same four-prop arrangement.

Poser 12, in feet.  

OSes:  Win7Prox64, Win7Ultx64

Silo Pro 2.5.6 64bit, Vue Infinite 2014.7, Genetica 4.0 Studio, UV Mapper Pro, UV Layout Pro, PhotoImpact X3, GIF Animator 5

     How about using the double edge blend method on the aura cones for the circular lights, and using ye olde transmapping for the aura of the rectangular lights?  I tried this and it came out satisfactorily.

.     ..

     The haze can still be animated.

Poser 12, in feet.  

OSes:  Win7Prox64, Win7Ultx64

Silo Pro 2.5.6 64bit, Vue Infinite 2014.7, Genetica 4.0 Studio, UV Mapper Pro, UV Layout Pro, PhotoImpact X3, GIF Animator 5

seachnasaigh once again a big thanks. Think I'm slowly getting closer to understanding how this all works. Especially the IDL side of it. Also see why you need to use roundish shapes as well to form the lights shape. Didn't realise IDL was needed for this to work, but after seeing your "box" arrangement I remember when P8 was released. In some of SM's P8 promos they used the set I created for that and I remember how that was lit using IDL only. In simplistic terms by 'bouncing' 'light' off things, hence the need for the 'box' to bounce off. So I've gone back to basics a bit here and started regigged the set a little. Instead of creating a 4 walled one, I've 'lost' a wall. Which didn't have much lighting anyway. Piccy (roof nobbled for reference - it will have one). Basically added some auras and emitters, as on the roof. 1 wall left to go so when thats done (be in the next few days) then I'll upload it so you can have a play with it. PS - just seen your second post. Maybe its the time here but I'm not sure what you mean by double edge blend method. Transmapping I get.

Pinky - you left the lens cap of your mind on again.

     The visible lights can be any shape.  The emitters can be any shape (including strictly convex n-gons).  The aurae should be shaped to fit at the light, but then segue into a "bubble" if using the double edge blend method.  You can use square shapes if using the transmap method.

    See my first post on this page for a "boring technical stuff" section discussing the double edge blend method for aura texturing.  The mesh should be rounded, but it doesn't have to be a sphere, cone, or cylinder.  Indeed, the shape can be quite complex.  Here are examples of a simple shpere forming an aura around a fireball, an entire doll textured with an aura, and a form-fitted bubble encasing a doll (Posette) and trailing behind her.

.  .  .

Poser 12, in feet.  

OSes:  Win7Prox64, Win7Ultx64

Silo Pro 2.5.6 64bit, Vue Infinite 2014.7, Genetica 4.0 Studio, UV Mapper Pro, UV Layout Pro, PhotoImpact X3, GIF Animator 5

seachnasaigh - thanks for posting those I've gone back and edited the model a bit more after reading your post above. Needs some textures adding, so I'll work on that and post it tommorow if time permits. Still battling the bug a little, but still gotta work as well:( Dang real life :)

Pinky - you left the lens cap of your mind on again.

Darnit you guys!  I'm trying to finish my work here and you guys got  me glued to this thread :) lol.  So much to learn here and I'm barely breaking Poser (thankfully I have P9) in simple material settings.

Hey, also thanks for the freebies, these are something I'm gonna be playing with and learning (when I finish my work) in the hopes of turning other things to lights.  MrSparky (yea, I remember, not MrsParky haha), thanks also that you'll be giving your finished product out as a freebie, I'll be keeping an eye out :)  Hope you feel better soon, buddy!

This thread bookmarked! Awesome job and discussions, guys!

...wolfie

       Heh, Heh.   I'm also trying to finish other projects.

     By the way, a basic philosophical reason that I tend toward the double edge blend node for making an aura:  unlike basic transmapping, the double edge blend method leaves a transparent "hole" in the center, so that the light-casting item is clearly visible, and this soft-edged clear center follows the camera, so to speak.  Thus, a candle flame can have a glow around it, yet the flame itself stands out clearly, regardless of the viewing angle.

     One of my works-in-progress is the Lothlorien playset, with terrain, trees, etc.

.

       Another is this wee little harbor, intended to be some subsidiary harbor of the grey havens from Lord of the Rings.  The last two shots show the mouth of the mermaid cave and its interior.

.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . 

     After those, a P9+ IDL rebuild for TinkerBell's Drive-In Cafe' with improved "filler" neighborhood buildings which will be self-illuminated.  The cafe' itself will get lots of IDL rebuild attention.

.  .  .

Poser 12, in feet.  

OSes:  Win7Prox64, Win7Ultx64

Silo Pro 2.5.6 64bit, Vue Infinite 2014.7, Genetica 4.0 Studio, UV Mapper Pro, UV Layout Pro, PhotoImpact X3, GIF Animator 5

     The mystery of the failed download hotlinks has been solved.  (Thanks to mrsparky for your insight!)

     My 4shared album is a paid account;  indeed I paid extra for the optional premium service so that everyone could just click on the link and the little save/run prompt box would be the only thing which pops up, no wading through ad-laden web pages.  Well, 4shared has unilaterally changed their terms.  Now, if someone wants to download my freebie, they must register at 4shared and log in to do so.  Needless to say, I won't be renewing this account come December.

     Recommendations for a service which offers direct link downloading (no ads, no redirects to web pages) are welcome.  I'm willing to pay for such an account.  I'm in Ohio, USA.

     Recommendations for the less convenient services (shareCG, et al) are also welcome, since I may not be able to find a direct-link service.

Poser 12, in feet.  

OSes:  Win7Prox64, Win7Ultx64

Silo Pro 2.5.6 64bit, Vue Infinite 2014.7, Genetica 4.0 Studio, UV Mapper Pro, UV Layout Pro, PhotoImpact X3, GIF Animator 5

Wow, those are some interesting props you got!!

This share site's the very best one there is, in fact, they have no stupid ads at all even if you're browsing there (but there's nothing to browse lol).  https://letscrate.com/

I don't know what the price is now, but they had this deal a couple years back that if you paid $25, you had a life time membership with, I believe, unlimited uploads/downloads.  The links to your freebies are odd looking, so it may scare prospect downloaders, but I've never had anyone question me.

I hate the way 4shared changed, I used to like it without all those stupid buggy very limited download speed plus the neisence ads that the other servers have, but now 4shared is catching on to the crap.

Good luck, friend, hope you find a great place, if you do, let us know!

...wolfie

seach, I don't know if any of these sites allow direct links, but some free online storage:

• google drive (5 GB)
• dropbox (2 GB)
• iCloud (5 GB)
• skydrive (7 GB)
• box (5 GB)

Darnit you guys! I'm trying to finish my work here and you guys got me glued to this thread :) lol. So much to learn here and I'm barely breaking Poser (thankfully I have P9) in simple material settings.

Don't panic :) I'm still learning as well!

Hey, also thanks for the freebies, these are something I'm gonna be playing with and learning (when I finish my work) in the hopes of turning other things to lights.

Well hopefully in the next few days you'll have this one for your collection. Then if it's not too time comsuming to do. I might starting adding this feature to any new stuff I knock out. But I doubt I'll redo older anything as I don't like going back to old stuff. The only exception will be for my hairdressers set, as I designed that with P9's lighting in mind.

MrSparky (yea, I remember, not MrsParky haha),

LOL!

thanks also that you'll be giving your finished product out as a freebie, I'll be keeping an eye out :) Hope you feel better soon, buddy!

Thanks!

Pinky - you left the lens cap of your mind on again.

Attached Link: http://www.poserdirect.com/stuff/ppsetv2.zip

seachnasaigh - before the reply...new file for you to try... http://www.poserdirect.com/stuff/ppsetv2.zip yea I can see the logic of using double edge blend over transmapping.

With transmapping it's often hard to get a good smooth gradient, instead it's usually quite hard edged. Indeed on things like dusty car windows with window-wiped areas, I find you need use both transmaps and playing around with texture strength levels.
One of my works-in-progress is the Lothlorien playset, with terrain, trees, etc. Nice work, epecially the last few images with the lit building. Very close to a long exposure photo.
Poser Project wise from here....
this one
Airport,
1 for MJ,
A commission piece of the trailer seen in the background when that book-booking US preacher is on TV.
Plus 2 long term projects, 3dscanner stuff discussed in the zbrush forum and some work on new ethnic figures.
Sadly poser stuff doesn't pay well, so to support that it's everything from...
Hotel web sites with photography and CRM/booking systems
. Event photography season starts soon.

New web-store for a sculptor/designer who works with recycled metals and african/chinese artists and some hotels sites.
Favourite though is a long term one where I've been asked to create content and install some pro-quality solid-state media players. Seriously cool kit with IR units and sequencers that can trigger stuff like LED lighting or animatronics. Also hoping to make holograms using poser and some 3d projection mapping.
PS sorry to read about your hassles with 4shared. I'd try dropbox as a lot of folks are raving about or a simple cheap hosting package and settig up a basic site. can help with the latter if needed.

Pinky - you left the lens cap of your mind on again.

     I've been busy with mundane chores.  I just got the ppsetv2 unpacked, and I'll try to nose about in it today.  ^^

Poser 12, in feet.  

OSes:  Win7Prox64, Win7Ultx64

Silo Pro 2.5.6 64bit, Vue Infinite 2014.7, Genetica 4.0 Studio, UV Mapper Pro, UV Layout Pro, PhotoImpact X3, GIF Animator 5

I've been busy with mundane chores. I just got the ppsetv2 unpacked, and I'll try to nose about in it today. Cool, though please remember no rush. Like youself, been tied up all day with non poser work, now totally kanakered!

Pinky - you left the lens cap of your mind on again.

     For me, It's been working on the El Camino (circa 1972) and the older Jeep (circa 1979).  Got them both running now.

     I only have about half of the lights done, but here is the prototype Facility so far;  no Poser lights are on, it's all self-illuminated with IDL.

.

Poser 12, in feet.  

OSes:  Win7Prox64, Win7Ultx64

Silo Pro 2.5.6 64bit, Vue Infinite 2014.7, Genetica 4.0 Studio, UV Mapper Pro, UV Layout Pro, PhotoImpact X3, GIF Animator 5

I subscribed to this very interesting thread earlier, as I've been trying to get to grips with using IDL properly... just to say, very nice work so far.... thanks.

Cheers ;-)

seachnasaigh - thats flipping amazing! Never though the new one could look that good. Really looking forward to getting my grubbies on this to have a play!! Also think a lot of people are really going to enjoy all the hard work you've done on this one. PS by jeep you mean real cars?

Pinky - you left the lens cap of your mind on again.

it looks great, seach!

     Thank you, friends! 

     I mean real (greasy, rusty) vehicles.

     Some progress on the Facility;  I've been working on wall 1.  The TV monitors still need the aura fitted, and the animated scanning static line for them didn't show at all in the test animation, but that's easy to adjust.  I didn't know what you imagined for the "dome" screens on this wall, so I just put something on there. Let me know if you had a specific purpose for the wall 1 dome screens.

      Click image to run the flash animation.  Again, no Poser lights;  the playset is self-illuminated using Poser's IDL.

.

Poser 12, in feet.  

OSes:  Win7Prox64, Win7Ultx64

Silo Pro 2.5.6 64bit, Vue Infinite 2014.7, Genetica 4.0 Studio, UV Mapper Pro, UV Layout Pro, PhotoImpact X3, GIF Animator 5

Love the way the "radar" light works in the animation, that's really fantastic on a whole.

mean real (greasy, rusty) vehicles Nice! ...The TV monitors still need the aura fitted.. B*gger. Forget about those. Sorry about that. ..and the animated scanning static line for them didn't show at all in the test animation, but that's easy to adjust.... Is that a .gif animation or video? I didn't know what you imagined for the "dome" screens on this wall, so I just put something on there. Let me know if you had a specific purpose for the wall 1 dome screens. Nothing on the dome at all, it's just a small light to give some illumination to the desk area.

Pinky - you left the lens cap of your mind on again.

--------- *I Love the way the "radar" light works in the animation, that's really fantastic on a whole.* Pretty close to realistic as well! The quickly grabbed photo below (taken today) shows the op's room of HMS Dragon. This ship is a brand new type 45 destroyer and has only just come into service. The real light sources in that room are.. From the right a small corridor lit by small 1ft sized lights spaced around 3ft apart. From the top only 1/2 of the rooms lights turned on. From the left theres a doorway leading to a small area and in that area theres a door to the outside. I've seen the same room when it's "gone dark" on her sister ship Daring. Thats the only light in the room is from the screens and very small desktop/reading lights, and then the feel and colour is nearly identical to seachnasaigh's .SWF file. Though no photos of that, not allowed back then.

Pinky - you left the lens cap of your mind on again.

BTW - purely for interest. Heres a shot of a bridge control panel on HMS York, a type 42 built in the 1980's. Bit of a difference in the tech :) Plus below is a panoramic sweep of HMS Dragon. Just click the link (NOT the image) to view it full size. Note this is unprocessed it's literally straight from the camera.

Pinky - you left the lens cap of your mind on again.

Attached Link: http://www.poserdirect.com/images/printfolio/big/dragpano.jpg

Use link not image to view full size... After loading on some browsers you might need to zoom in.

Pinky - you left the lens cap of your mind on again.

(GeneralNutt)

Quote - Love the way the "radar" light works in the animation, that's really fantastic on a whole.

:D  Thanks.  ^^  It was an afterthought, but easy to do.  The solid color needs some "noise", though.  I'll work that in.* 

(Mr Sparky)

Quote - ...The TV monitors still need the aura fitted.. B*gger. Forget about those. Sorry about that.

     Oh, not at all;  I simply was tired and ended work for the night.  I already have a "bubbled" aura mesh for square panels, just need to scale it and tilt it to fit.*  ^^

(Mr Sparky)

Quote - ...and the animated scanning static line for them didn't show at all in the test animation, but that's easy to adjust.... Is that a .gif animation or video?

*    * Neither, actually.  It's just a simple fuzzy line image map, but I move the V offset with the frame number.  I just need to dial up its strength a bit.

material set up for the scanning static line on the monitors - click image to enlarge

.

(Mr Sparky)

Quote - I didn't know what you imagined for the "dome" screens on this wall, so I just put something on there. Let me know if you had a specific purpose for the wall 1 dome screens. Nothing on the dome at all, it's just a small light to give some illumination to the desk area.

     Oh, gotcha.  They'll be simple lights, then.  The aura haze will still be animated.

     Those rows of round lights and the four upright rectangular "screens" below confused me somewhat;  the visible light meshes are set back into the wall with about a foot of air gap, but the emitters were placed right at the outside edge of the wall.  In order for the opaque mesh -the wall- to shape the emitters' cast light, the emitters need to be set back into the hole.  I would think that the visible light meshes should be at nearly the same place, just offset front-back enough to avoid having two polygons in the same space - Firefly doesn't like duplicate polygons or edges sharing space.

     I'll work from this assumption this evening, and you tell me if you had a different idea in mind.  It won't take long to change.  Once I get wall 1 kit-bashed up, I'll send you what I have for wall 1 and the ceiling, so that you can make changes as desired.  Then I'll work on wall 2, and so on.

     Dragon's role is that of a destroyer, but she is as big as a WWII cruiser.  She looks under-armed to an untrained observer, but in truth she could kill a WWII heavy cruiser, and that from over the horizon.

 

     P.S.  Overlook typing errors.  I mangled my wrist wrestling with the truck's drivetrain, so I'm typing with a splint on my left wrist.  X(

Poser 12, in feet.  

OSes:  Win7Prox64, Win7Ultx64

Silo Pro 2.5.6 64bit, Vue Infinite 2014.7, Genetica 4.0 Studio, UV Mapper Pro, UV Layout Pro, PhotoImpact X3, GIF Animator 5

Firstly hope the wrist is feeling a bit better now. Thanks for the tip on the fuzzy line maps and yes I can see now how having two polys in the same space would affect the lighting. Offsetting is easy enough as well. ..Those rows of round lights and the four upright rectangular "screens"....the visible light meshes are set back into the wall with about a foot of air gap, but the emitters were placed right at the outside edge of the wall. In order for the opaque mesh -the wall- to shape the emitters' cast light, the emitters need to be set back into the hole. Which ones? Do you mean the ones on the ceiling or the ones on another part ? ...I'll work from this assumption this evening, and you tell me if you had a different idea in mind. If you mean the lights inside the grid. My thinking here was that area would just have a light inside to illuminate that area. But wouldn't spill outside very much. Hence no aura. Though if you wish to change anything feel free. Dragon's role is that of a destroyer, but she is as big as a WWII cruiser. She looks under-armed to an untrained observer, but in truth she could kill a WWII heavy cruiser, and that from over the horizon. Easily. I heard the two described as York is a bruiser with her muscles on display. Dragon is the quiet one, with an incredibly tiny radar signature, but has the power to create a "clean air bubble" over several 100 miles.

Pinky - you left the lens cap of your mind on again.

 I daresay it could be in the falklands in the wink of an eye!

Quote - Firstly hope the wrist is feeling a bit better now.

     Healing, thanks, but oh my, it itches!

** **    Check your e-mail for zips. :D  This is wall 1 as re-done.  Click image to enlarge.

.  Click for animation demo.

Poser 12, in feet.  

OSes:  Win7Prox64, Win7Ultx64

Silo Pro 2.5.6 64bit, Vue Infinite 2014.7, Genetica 4.0 Studio, UV Mapper Pro, UV Layout Pro, PhotoImpact X3, GIF Animator 5

Everytime I see the flashing lights on the right, I expect to hear "running" or some such.

I daresay it could be in the falklands in the wink of an eye! Yep and we've still got a working Vulcan bomber :) Healing, thanks, but oh my, it itches! snicker In plaster? Either way hope it heals soon. Check your e-mail for zips. :D ......... Got em - I'll open them up tommorow (2.30am here), have a play and let you know. Obviously a big thanks as well.

Pinky - you left the lens cap of your mind on again.

Bruce - please check your IM's. Also a quick one - do you think it would be possible to create an animated raster line effect (as on the classic leia hologram) on a whole figure using P9's lighting?

Pinky - you left the lens cap of your mind on again.

I think I seen a tutorial for that somewhere, maybe the node cult at RNDA.

(mrsparky)

Quote - ...do you think it would be possible to create an animated raster line effect (as on the classic leia hologram) on a whole figure using P9's lighting?

     Oh, my.  That's quite an idea.  Getting the hologram effect on a mesh would be (relatively) easy, including having it cast a bit of light.  The major problem would be to avoid an X-ray appearance, wherein one would see the doll's mesh underneath her hair and clothes, and for that matter, her eyeballs and teeth inside of her.

     Earlier in the thread, I posted an amber-colored ghost image of a doll using double edge blend node texturing.  I removed the offending interior body parts, and re-imported the modified OBJ.  But Leia's clothing needs to be opaque, and to keep Leia from showing through, my first thought would be to make a mesh similar to that required for 3D printing, removing all the polys which are not the visible exterior of the total assembly of doll, hair, clothes, etc.  Even this would still show Leia as a shell -the backfacing polys would be visible- rather than appearing as an opaque object.

     That's for the heads up, Gen Nutt;  I'll look for that thread, and I'll ponder on Mr Sparky's idea.

     Here's the HAL light, an animated procedural.

Poser 12, in feet.  

OSes:  Win7Prox64, Win7Ultx64

Silo Pro 2.5.6 64bit, Vue Infinite 2014.7, Genetica 4.0 Studio, UV Mapper Pro, UV Layout Pro, PhotoImpact X3, GIF Animator 5

The ghosting effect (where the back parts do not show but you can see through a figure or prop) is easily done. You make it invisible to raytracing and you refract to reveal what is behind. This was documented at RDNA years ago.

What you seek here with vertical lines that are straight and parallel and even with respect to the camera by applying something to a 3D model is not possible, though. Not with lights, and not with a shader alone.

Even if I could figure out how to do it (and I probably can't), is it worth the effort? Why not render the figure into an animation, then load the animation into a movie and make raster lines using math nodes, applied to the movie node. That would be very easy - similar to the TV raster lines I did with my artistic lens.

The difference here, why you cannot use the artistic lens, is you want it to only apply to part of the scene - the part occupied by the 3D figure. That's why it is really not possible using tricks I've published before. The lines would have to be generated on the lens - where the line is there, you would have to "see" the subject, and where the the line is not there (in a gap) you would have to "see through" the subject. With no access to internals I can't think of a way to do that.

If, on the other hand, you're OK with the lines not being straight, parallel, and even with respect to the camera, but rather with respect to some arbitrary orientation plane, then this is not so hard.

---

Renderosity forum reply notifications are wonky. If I read a follow-up in a thread, but I don't myself reply, then notifications no longer happen AT ALL on that thread. So if I seem to be ignoring a question, that's why. (Updated September 23, 2019)

     Thank you for that info, BB.  I wasn't aware of that technique;  I'll experiment a bit.  While it may not be feasible to get precisely what Mr Sparky wants, we can probably get a result that will be satisfactory.

     I saw three main paths to try:

•   alpha plane billboard, which would need to be kept nearly orthogonal to the camera (using point at?)
•   3D mesh with material room mojo to produce the hologram effect
•   projected light -using a movie as a light gel- onto a receptor mesh

     Since the alpha plane billboard is obvious and trivial, I assumed that Mr Sparky had the second method in mind.

     Meanwhile, I'm trying to figure out why a test animation showed a monitor apparently displaying cell 1 of a 4x4 matrix for four frames, then frame 5 for four frames, etc.  My immediate thought was a logic error such that the image map wasn't stepping from cell to cell each frame, but when I substituted a diagnostic matrix image -with the cells numbered and an alignment grid- and rendered out a "draft" test, the progression was correct.  Advancing frame by frame also shows the logic to be correct and working properly.  This is what's delaying the completion of wall 3, Mr Sparky.  But I'm working on it.

     If anyone wants to test this, give your scene 32 frames, set the frame rate to 4-6 frames per second, tick the "loop" dot, and un-tick the "skip frames" dot.

     This has 16 cells, so with 32 frames you can see if the matrix seamlessly loops both within the string of frames (at the 16-17 frame jump) and at the termini (the jump from frame 32 to frame 1).

.  .

Poser 12, in feet.  

OSes:  Win7Prox64, Win7Ultx64

Silo Pro 2.5.6 64bit, Vue Infinite 2014.7, Genetica 4.0 Studio, UV Mapper Pro, UV Layout Pro, PhotoImpact X3, GIF Animator 5

*Oh, my. That's quite an idea. ........is it worth the effort?.......* Sorry chaps, it was only a thought not a request :) Though I like what your doing here. It's something that came up yesterday during a discussion about the media player project I'm working on (page 3 of this thread - badly flip-mino grabbed image below). On saying I'll be using 3d/poser for some of the holograms, one of the chaps said he was thought they might look like that. My take was oh yea, that would be way cool as an intro before fading into the proper hologram! It's also sorta academic at the mo. Found none of the 15 units had CF cards installed:( Which screws up my plan to do the intial boring stuff of installing the units, multi-languages and wiring buttons. Though have got 1 unit working here, stomped a few codec/format issues. But really I wanna do the fun stuff :) Like a fully interactive "3d xray" machine complete with real time video mixing. Interfacing with RS232 switch controllers (the white box) and hopefully the poser holograms. Hence the leia question:) Plus I've been told if I can this get working, theres the possibilty of volunteer opportunitys at some other places. Which would be cool as I'd love to work on large scale projections and puesdo laser-mapping. Though whatever happens as I will be sharing what I've done as the project goes along. As I think this could also help showcase poser stuff as suitable for pro work. Not just my things but other peoples as well.

Pinky - you left the lens cap of your mind on again.

     The Facility is ready;  I'll be sending you an e-mail with attachment, Mr Sparky.

.  Animation test

Poser 12, in feet.  

OSes:  Win7Prox64, Win7Ultx64

Silo Pro 2.5.6 64bit, Vue Infinite 2014.7, Genetica 4.0 Studio, UV Mapper Pro, UV Layout Pro, PhotoImpact X3, GIF Animator 5

CooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooL!

Pinky - you left the lens cap of your mind on again.

Looks sweet!

Oh yes :) Been playing with it tonight, got a few bug squishys from my end to do and some promos, then I'll get this one up. Might not be this week due to other work for 2 days and my plank neighbour has flooded us yet again. So more painting :( BTW - seachnasaigh - please check IM.

Pinky - you left the lens cap of your mind on again.

Bruce....please check your IM's

Pinky - you left the lens cap of your mind on again.

"Dragon, you are weapons free - clear to launch!"

     For any P8/PP2010 users following this thread, here is a thread on IDL mesh light specifically for P8/PP2010. 

Poser 12, in feet.  

OSes:  Win7Prox64, Win7Ultx64

Silo Pro 2.5.6 64bit, Vue Infinite 2014.7, Genetica 4.0 Studio, UV Mapper Pro, UV Layout Pro, PhotoImpact X3, GIF Animator 5

I think we should say a big thanks to Bruce here. Especially as in a few days time you folks will get to play with his work!:) Just got to package up and it'll be ready. Also check out the new art installations on my site. I'm slowly adding new things to that and also discovering new techniques to improve stuff in poser. Like despite what some folks reckon it is possible to convert AVCHD video into AVI. In the past Poser has been limited to very few formats when importing, so typically video tends to be obviously 'video'. But with AVCHD thats a nice crystal-sharp format. Which when combined with stuff like background props, BB's skydome or using a framegrab to make IBL lights can really improves things. Indeed getting pretty close to Vue's environment lighting system. PS: MJ don't worry I've not forgotten your model either - this is also on the list of things to get out over the Jubilee Holiday.

Pinky - you left the lens cap of your mind on again.

I'll say thanks to the both of you. Thanks for the upcoming freebie, and for pushing the limits.

on the animated raster fx, my vote would be to composite it in a separate video layer, like lucas, then animate the lines and transparency fx in video editor.

GeneralNutt - Thanks and yes it's close. Just finished the promos (heres one) and will upload sometime tommorow. Apols for anyone waiting it's the usual 2.30am sparky finish and I also need to add something special to my store. So watch out for that as well!:)

Pinky - you left the lens cap of your mind on again.

     I like the added rooms and passageways; :thumbupboth:  that gives more flexibility for using the doors, and more leeway for camera placement.  I'm guessing that the video to which you referred is for what appears to be a large view screen on the foremost wall?

     I'm glad to see items released which exploit the new Poser features.  Oooh! - Shiny! :woot:    For users of versions prior to P9/PP2012, you can still use this set, with the following limitations on the special effects:

• P4/PP:  no IDL emitters, no aurae, no node-driven animated light textures.  Use Poser lights for the lit props.
• P5-P7 and Poser Pro:  you can use the aurae and all animated textures, but substitute Poser spot/point lights in place of the IDL emitters.
• P8/PP2010:  delete or make invisible (transparency=1, no specular) any exposed IDL emitters, such as the "lam" (spotlight cone laminations) emitters.  Use all the concealed IDL emitters.  Render with raytracing and IDL engaged.  If using Pro, engage gamma correction set at 2.2

Poser 12, in feet.  

OSes:  Win7Prox64, Win7Ultx64

Silo Pro 2.5.6 64bit, Vue Infinite 2014.7, Genetica 4.0 Studio, UV Mapper Pro, UV Layout Pro, PhotoImpact X3, GIF Animator 5

Nothing up yet - just quickly checking posts before todays jubilee photoshoots. I like the added rooms and passageways; that gives more flexibility for using the doors, and more leeway for camera placement. Thanks. That was the idea. Nothing more annoying than 'closed' sets. I'm guessing that the video to which you referred is for what appears to be a large view screen on the foremost wall? Or the starwars one ? If if irt's that, you can see how I plan to physically deploy that idea here... http://www.poserdirect.com/artinstall.html I'm glad to see items released which exploit the new Poser features. Oooh! - Shiny! Oh yes :) Especially this one, I think it's got some amazing possibilitys. x-files torch shots, glowing monster eyes, horrror, car headlights etc et. Though just remember this isn't a instant process, any IDL rendering does take some time. Mostly I'm well impressed with Bruces amazing work here. Without his help, no way would it look this good. For users of versions prior to P9/PP2012, you can still use this set, with the following limitations on the special effects: Thanks for those tips, plus I've found you can reuse the props on other things as well. Infact when I get some time I'm going to make a freebie poser version of the old classic MPC "Bionic Repair" kit, so you can try this yourselves. Picked up a copy of Arthur Ward's 'Classic Kits' yesterday and that model was in the book, and I thought that would be great for poser.

Pinky - you left the lens cap of your mind on again.

Pleased to say it's now avaliable! http://contentparadise.com/productDetails.aspx?id=21349 It'll be exclusive at CP for roughly a month to say thanks to their team for giving a free copy of P9. After that, it'll be avaliable at my site. Appreciate not everyone likes CP, but given the above it's only fair and exclusives are not unusual. For example the haunted house freebie was exclusive to dreamslayer for one of their contests. Plus don't forget I also often make stuff for various sites and other artists, so theres plently of stuff to go around.

Pinky - you left the lens cap of your mind on again.

piccy 3

Pinky - you left the lens cap of your mind on again.

I can only say many thanks! :biggrin: