Well after a few years off I've decided to get back into 3D. (Mostly for my kids so I can teach them to model, compose, and render.) I upgraded to Poser 11 Pro and dusted off an old file I was playing with. I tried rendering in the new Superfly renderer but results were, well, odd. Can someone point me to a decent resource for transitioning materials from Firefly to Superfly.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/94978394/Firefly%20vs%20Superfly.png

As a side note the sword has a weird triangle artifact that doesn't render in Firefly. I don't think it's a back facing poly. The sword does render much crisper in the Superfly renderer. Actually edges in general look better.

If you follow some of the Renderosity tutorials, Superfly is defined with examples of Material Room configurations and renders. If you are a Blender user, the cycles rendering is not such a mystery but, as a new or returning user, you'll need to learn what each node does and how to implement them. IIRC, Blender Guru does break down these new nodes and their function. However, you can still use the old PoserSurface for rendering in Superfly, you just need to simplify the Material Room for each object in your scene. In your render, there is an active ambient channel on the PoserSurface which is causing the skin texture to glow very brightly. This hack is no longer necessary, that needs to be turned off. The sword has a reflection map associated with it, which is also no longer necessary; reflective surfaces can now reflect surrounding environment with a proper skydome in place.

Interesting. Thanks. You've given me a place to start fiddling.

A good way to determine if old material nodes are compliant with the current Superfly connection, enter the Material Room and examine the connection between nodes. Any dash lines will indicate a questionable connection and should be modified or deleted. Also, Snarlygribbly has a small app called EZSkin2 which will standardize any skin texture to work correctly in Poser 11 Firefly or Superfly renders. Use it all the time. Recently released EZDome creates the lighting environment using HDRI very suitable for P11 Superfly.

Also, when you render ... the "balloon" in the upper right of the screen will turn orange if there is an error in the render and if you click it it will show you where that error is.

Think of Firefly as being a loving but over protective parent, moving to another render engine is like one's first day of school, some re-calibration of reality is required. Recommend focusing on the lighting first. Use a simple sky dome + one infinite or area light, Snarly's ezdome is ideal for this. For materials the physical root node is a lot simpler to use than the cycles one (also more accurate) so the better one to start with, don't need to understand PBR just don't change the specular value. Once happy with the lighting, experimenting and using the cycles nodes should be more straight forward. Smith Micro have a video on their Youtube channel where they discuss using Physical root node but also includes some info on the problems of using FF mats in superfly.

It seems Superfly needs a whole lot of in depth knowledge to have good results. Only a few Poser users have actually proven, that Superfly gives more realistic looking results than Firefly. So, I'd go on rendering with firefly. If I needed to have top render quality in Poser, I'd better invest in OctaneRender.

-Timberwolf- posted at 8:03PM Sat, 11 March 2017 - #4299136

It seems Superfly needs a whole lot of in depth knowledge to have good results. Only a few Poser users have actually proven, that Superfly gives more realistic looking results than Firefly. So, I'd go on rendering with firefly. If I needed to have top render quality in Poser, I'd better invest in OctaneRender.

I understand where you're coming from because I've already made that mistake, you believe the source of the problem is superfly is an inferior product. You will spend $400 on new render engine and find it doesn't solve the problem. Save your money and spend time understanding how to use the technology.

I invested 400$ at times, when Superfly has not been in sight yet. So around Poser9 times. As I said: SF is fine, when you know, what you are doing, but it does take more time and effort, than other PBR renderer. SF is not inferior at all, but not a "click render and wow" solution either.

ironsoul posted at 9:24AM Sun, 12 March 2017 - #4299157

-Timberwolf- posted at 8:03PM Sat, 11 March 2017 - #4299136

It seems Superfly needs a whole lot of in depth knowledge to have good results. Only a few Poser users have actually proven, that Superfly gives more realistic looking results than Firefly. So, I'd go on rendering with firefly. If I needed to have top render quality in Poser, I'd better invest in OctaneRender.

I understand where you're coming from because I've already made that mistake, you believe the source of the problem is superfly is an inferior product. You will spend $400 on new render engine and find it doesn't solve the problem. Save your money and spend time understanding how to use the technology.

One different opinion and people get easiley snappy ;-) Is this about 3d software or am I on a religious cult site here? I can see why people are leaving Rendo.

Of course, 400$ is a lot of money though, so Reality is allways a good deal. https://www.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/reality-4-3---poser-edition/107744/

I've never managed to get good images with Reality/Luxrender. I do get good images out of Superfly.

I think that every renderer is a tool one has to learn to make it do what you want.

-Timberwolf- posted at 4:25AM Mon, 13 March 2017 - #4299182

ironsoul posted at 9:24AM Sun, 12 March 2017 - #4299157

-Timberwolf- posted at 8:03PM Sat, 11 March 2017 - #4299136

It seems Superfly needs a whole lot of in depth knowledge to have good results. Only a few Poser users have actually proven, that Superfly gives more realistic looking results than Firefly. So, I'd go on rendering with firefly. If I needed to have top render quality in Poser, I'd better invest in OctaneRender.

I understand where you're coming from because I've already made that mistake, you believe the source of the problem is superfly is an inferior product. You will spend $400 on new render engine and find it doesn't solve the problem. Save your money and spend time understanding how to use the technology.

One different opinion and people get easiley snappy ;-) Is this about 3d software or am I on a religious cult site here? I can see why people are leaving Rendo.

I wasn't trying to be a troll but say if the motivation for choosing another render engine is that the other render engine will be somehow be simpler then that can lead to disappointment, each render engine has its problems and all path tracers share certain limitations. For example converting Poser materials will always require some work. No objection with other render engines and with Octane have been following how people use it with interest. I apologise if you felt jumped upon.

-Timberwolf- posted at 1:58PM Mon, 13 March 2017 - #4299181

I invested 400$ at times, when Superfly has not been in sight yet. So around Poser9 times. As I said: SF is fine, when you know, what you are doing, but it does take more time and effort, than other PBR renderer. SF is not inferior at all, but not a "click render and wow" solution either.

Hi there

All my renders which I posted over here in Gallery etc or other forums are made with SuperFly,some are are made with FireFly,but still think SF is good step in right direction If its harder understood,hard to say,its not harder than any other renderer which is available on the market,previously I've used mostly Poser only for posing and exporting all my files to 3DS MAX where I rendered my scenes,after I tried SF I'm no longer exporting my scenes and rendering them in 3DS MAX,there is no reason

I still use 3DS MAX for making own scenes and own props etc and all my freebies are made in 3DS MAX,I use as well DS,but only as my exporting tol for exporting the G3 figures to Poser and render them there in SF

You want one click render and or one click art,there is no simple solution,maybe DS is easier for you there,but not for me and many people over here

Hope this helps

Thanks,Jura

Jura, I looked at your gallery and obviousley you know, what you're doing. Great renders, bravo.

Before with Firefly I had to put in alot of work to get some good renders. Now with SF i more or less get instant result when rendering and together with Snarlys EZDome it's very close to the Make Art Button. hehe.

-Timberwolf- posted at 4:40PM Mon, 20 March 2017 - #4299136

It seems Superfly needs a whole lot of in depth knowledge to have good results. Only a few Poser users have actually proven, that Superfly gives more realistic looking results than Firefly. So, I'd go on rendering with firefly. If I needed to have top render quality in Poser, I'd better invest in OctaneRender.

Pretty much this, besides, in my machine it takes forever to render in Superfly, and the final render looks really bad :(