Forum: Poser 12


Subject: Headlight vs Spotlight

JAFO opened this issue on Oct 19, 2022 ยท 11 posts


JAFO posted Wed, 19 October 2022 at 7:21 PM

 I've been developing a few lights you may be interested in.... Here's an example:


Pretty obvious which is which... Headlight left, spotlight  right...

The Headlight is represented with/by geometry mimicking a headlight with a bucket(Chrome) surrounded by an enclosure(mat black), and a lens (glass material with reflective and refractive caustics) of course  caustics need to be enabled  in render settings( adds about 2/10ths of a second to render time). The Headlight has a simple default point light enclosed in it set to 100% inverse square falloff the spotlight is bone stock(also set to 100% inverse square). 

Here's an example of the lights in use, Headlights on the truck(2) set to 100% and 6 Spotlights( 2 white, 2 blue, and 2 red) on the cop-car each set to 1000% just to get them to show up.... Yeah I know the manual says setting lights above 100% has no effect, but the manual is 100% WRONG...LOL...Another downside of using Poser Spotlights is that I had to turn the  sky off because the strobe lights traced red&blue  paths across it when animating. I tried setting distance falloff but found no joy...

Image is a wip preview(10samples), in early stages. Just a test, those headlights on the truck are way too bright, at 100%X2 brightness they out-shine the spotlights 1000%X6 brightness by probably about 100/fold..... I need that sky in my animation, its what inspired me to explore other options. Spotlights ain't working for me. Another advantage is the ease of placing the Headlights where you want them, and they are always visible and self illuminating, just place 'em and forget 'em... on the cop car I had to  a devil of a time just placing the lights, and had to create "glow in the dark'  materials  to make them visible behind the Spotlights.

What do you think?  Lets get real... Thinking a couple of the 'Poser Gurus' with their advanced knowledge could do some wonderful things with this... I'd be happy to provide the Spotlight scene.pzz (first image above) for further development if they're interested.

When I have time I'll present an argument for the ease of use of Poser cameras represented by 'Physical Cameras on Tripods' (geometry)  as parent, vs default cameras represented by...well... nothing....

Y'all have a great day.