Can Poser drape-map / mask a model's reflectivity ? Options seem to be spherical and ray-trace.

https://www.renderosity.com/freestuff/items/89317/psyche I was trying to adapt this nice model. The OBJ was 'grouped', but only called one material, perhaps expecting a drape-map. Sadly, Poser does not seem to support reflectivity the way it does bump/height, transparency, ambiance etc.

Eventually, I 'hacked' the OBJ using Wordpad, editing / inserting 'usemtl' so each named group called a material of that name. A lot of trial renders followed, as I tried to persuade the 'mirror' material to actually reflect well...

Current recipe: Diffuse, Highlight, Ambient all black. Reflection white + RayTrace, Reflection value 1.0000, Background black, Quality 1.0000, Softness 0.0000, RayBias default 0.0250

Lots of lighting, lots of Pixel Samples. More lighting, yet more pixel samples. After multiple 'local' trial renders to frame LF, I set Superfly 256 Pixel Samples, Progressive, 64 Vol Bounces and Buckets, Job queued to network render 'Box', done in 3½ hours. Sorta-okay, but...

Hmm... .

You dont need a reflect node with Superfly, that's Firefly. Use a physical surface root and set metallic value on mirror material to 1.

While you can hack an obj as you've done it's better, in this instance, to just import the obj into a modeler and assign desired material regions to desired polys. The process in most modelers is to select specific polys and assign material. I suppose you can go through the trouble to create alpha masks to apply different material properties to different parts of a single material, which I've done quite a bit in Firefly, usually for different specular effects for makeup etc, but really it's much easier with your example to just set up the relevant material groups. You can also do this in Poser with the grouping tool but it's easier in my opinion to do it in a modeler.

The most important part to note, you must have an environmental background for a reflective surface to realistically reflect. You can use a skydome, a room prop, or six primitive rectangles to represent a darkened room. In the example posted image, the lighting is way too strong for LF to adequately appear in the mirror reflection. You also have a very reflective surface that is bouncing light back to the model hence the washed-out appearance. The other issue that might be a factor is the type of skin shader applied to LF and the bathing suit, are they adequately optimized for Superfly rendering? Your render time seems to be very excessive, and although mirrors do require a higher sampling rate, going overboard is just wasting processing calculations.

Thank you Primorge and Hborre. I have a problem with non-CAD modellers such as Blender, its BFA fork, Hexagon, Bryce, Wings, Carrara etc etc, whose quirky, and oft-procrustean UIs usually give me a prompt migraine. Also, their Booleans are, at best, a tad exasperating...

I have just spent an hour fruitlessly scouring Poser manual, Poser room help and Poser menus for this fabled 'metallicity'. Upside, by serendipitously right-clicking in 'wrong' place, a context-sensitive menu appeared and, following your bread-crumb trail, I found it.

Okay, I've iteratively wrangled lights, but this 'metallic' mirror only needed 32 pixel samples, was already doing well after half a dozen. Still, going to be a serious pain plugging ported models' metallicity maps into format. Learning curve launched...

Thank you again...

I have just spent an hour fruitlessly scouring Poser manual, Poser room help and Poser menus for this fabled 'metallicity'. Upside, by serendipitously right-clicking in 'wrong' place, a context-sensitive menu appeared and, following your bread-crumb trail, I found it.

Chapter 15, Pg.397 'Metallic' not 'Metallicity', as in

"You dont need a reflect node with Superfly, that's Firefly. Use a physical surface root and set metallic value on mirror material to 1."

Thank you. I did see that, I just did not see any way to 'summon the node-genie'. Until my serendipitous, context-sensitive right-click...

Now, thanks to your very welcome help, I have one foot off floor, onto the learning curve...