Hey guys,

I've used IDL lighting a couple times a while back and really like what I see when I rendered a small image.  But when I want to render something like a 2000x15000 image, it quites or the quality's bad no matter what the settings is.  So I tried "partial rendering till complete" (have to do that for some normal/IBL scenes already).

I don't really have a problem that I have to partial render to completion, my computer's not a great setup (dual 2.4Ghz, 32bit motherboard video card) so it's understandable, but for IDL scenes, the brightness actually changes each time I partial render which is a great disappointment.

I'm about to transfer all my 3D files/programs to my laptop which is a quad core 64 bit and a name brand video card (g-force or something) and am hoping it'll handle a full render with IDL lighting.  But my curiosity is this, does the brightness change in partial renders whether your system's a powerful one (something of a Poser glitch) or does it just do that when your system setup's not a very good setup?  I'm using Poser 9.

...wolfie

How is the light set-up when using IDL?  The IDL settings?  I've had very good results with sized A4 and larger using IDL when I work with one or two lights and tweak the IDL in the material room.  Both in Poser 10 and PP10.

Here is a great thread and tut you can use too, to tweak lighting with IDL.  

http://forum.runtimedna.com/showthread.php?70674-Lighting-amp-Rendering-in-Poser-Part-One

You see changes because IDL is using monte carlo (random, not repeatable) sampling techniques, combined with irradiance caching. IC dramatically decreases render time in exchange for accuracy. The degree of inaccuracy is adjustable (and so is the render time), but it's always there.

If you have tons of CPU power and all day to render, you can try turning off IC and increasing the IDL number of samples, so that the mathematical approximation (you probably call it a render - LOL) converges on the same values every time.

Keep in mind, Bernie, that Poser only uses the video card for Preview.  The actual rendering is strictly CPU and RAM.  Poser 9 will limit you memory-wise because it's only 32-bit. Try checking the Seperate Process box in the Render tab of General Preferences and see if it can get through the big render...

Sorry I haven't replied yet, I'm transfering everything from the main computer to my laptop, with just a 32gb flash, it takes a very long time, especually putting things on the flash from a 32bit computer LOL.

Will then start playing around on my laptop and see what you guys are talking about :)

...wolfie

I move stuff between machines via Windows' networking...

Quote - I move stuff between machines via Windows' networking...

I'd have done the same thing, but when I tried to set it up, it failed, then asked a couple of friends & was told that I can't network a WinXP (main computer) with a Win7 (laptop).  It would've been nice though!

...wolfie

Actually, you can network XP and Win7 but it is a bit more involved and not guaranteed to work all the time.  IIRC, I got it to work once and haven't been able to repeat since then.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/networking-home-computers-running-different-windows#networking-home-computers-running-different-windows=windows-7