what are the questions.. ask and you will know

Two pieces of advice up front... Don't be afraid to try anything and don't let rude or unkind comments stop you. In my experience most of the people here are supportive and encouraging... If you ask for help with specific issues you'll be surprised how many realy talented artist will offer their help. The "nasty" ones tend to weed themselves out if you don't react to them, and they are few and far between. It takes a lot of courage to put your work out for the world to see. So with out specifics to offer advice on all I can say is... be brave... be bold... and don't give up!

Thanks for replying. BTW I just started a thread here: http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?thread_id=2819801 Regarding the specifics: 1. The skin looks very rubbery. Is realistic skin produced via nodes, a good UV texture or a combination of both? Can the default Victoria texture be realistic enough or should I purchase a premium one. 2. The eyes are looking quite cartoonish. Again, how can they made more realistic? I have many other concerns, such as shaping and hair but I want to get these issues sorted out first.

we are all "learning".. 1st. learn the lights.. they matter a lot on how realistic the picture looks.. 2nd. learn the "Materials" section works.. you will find adjusting the lights easiest there.. also you can change textures in there.. and last(not the last you'll learn, just my last) lot's of people here are very nice.. and check out the free stuff section at the top of the banner.. but don't get too much stuff right away be selective.. or you'll forget where things are in the program.. also.. keep trying.. Monica..

First, don't go out a buy other textures YET, you can get some extremely beautiful ones FREE here in the freebie sections, just narrow your selection down to Poser/V4 etc. This list of textures is not inclusive and are examples of beautiful ones. UnDinas-graphic.com, SahaFashion_marissa, Adara_Nikisatez, Towernet. Skin nodes are great, however as a beginner, no because you will get that sick sinking feeling in your stomach that you will never every be able to do anything like what BB does so well. Eyes can be a problem because of the burned in reflection photos that could give you that cartoonish look. However, you can use the basic eyes without any reflection and experiment with Diffue_Color, Specular_Color, value and size, transparency on the Iris, pupil, cornea, sclera, eyeSurface. Start out by zeroing out every thing, then enter one and color white in the diffuse_color for each of the above parts of the eye, that will get you the basic eye. Then play around with Specular color value and size on each eye part etc. Lighting is about 75 percent of a great realist rendering IMVVHO and that takes some time with simple experimenting. You can nodify everything-some are great others are simply terrible so I suggest that you leave everything as simple as possible UNTIL you get the above down. Head shaping, get the V4 DAZ head and body Morph++, they are great and easy to use (simple dial flipping) and you can get at least a 1000 different face and body shapes and they work on The Girl, Aiko, and all the other freebies from DAZ. Jan

I think these guys have pretty much summed it up for you, but just to stress a few points and put things in lay mans terms. You do not need to buy textures right now, i survived for about 2 years on freebies until i gave in and bought the v4 elite textures. But as far as creating photos that look photorealistic, the textures you use are of minimal importance until you learn proper lighting. you can go out and buy the most expensive textures out there, but if you use the same lighting tecnniques that you use now they will still look like crap. On the flip side of that statement, if you use great lighting on the textures you have now they will look 100 times better. In summation, realistic images are all about proper lighting, and good shaders, but mostly lighting. Im beginning to ramble here so im gonna end by saying, Dont try to learn everything now, youll jsut end up with a huge headache and burnt out, take it slow image by image, and if you see another image that you really like, message the artist and ask what tecniques they use. Good luck in the future!

pay attention to eyes. They alsways seem to be a problem. I would also suggest you find a freebie clothing item , and cover or replace the skin texture with the bikini. There is a sample resolution nude skin in the textures library.

I agree with iridebikes6663. I spent a couple of years hunting down freebies while trying to make heads or tails of poser. So no need to buy anything just now. And freebies are plentiful, both textures and light sets. Try sharecg for starters. I agree with all of the above about lighting. If you're going for realism, you have to learn about light and shadow, just like in real world photography. Poser default lights are decent enough to study. I suggest checking out the render settings. Your render would be better if you used some raytracing which simulates the bounce of light rays. Click render (on the top menu) then render settings. Move the thingie to the right till raytrace comes on. More bounces = more realism but also longer render time. Play around with it. Try also rotating your character and moving the camera till you get the shadow you like. I also agree that most of the community are very willing to help. Browse the galleries, find the artist, site mail them and ask how they did it. Most likely they will reply. Good luck and dont give up if it doesnt look right. :)

Great advice above here :)Keep clicking until you like it, and have a good time learning!! And Welcome to Rendo :)!!

Don't use the proposed render settings. Always use raytrace to have better shadows even with standard lights. Also with low-res textures, use the phyton included in poser to remove the texture filtering.

I wasn't expecting advice this good so quickly. I have used some of the advice and produced and uploaded a new image: http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/index.php?image_id=2158222 Thank you all so much.

Se estiver usando o Poser 8 comece com a iluminação padrão, render final, passe para o manual e desabilite as sombras. Muitas texturas sofrem enormes deformações com a luz. Não se apresse. Comece a fazer suas cenas, pois frebees existem muitos. Deixe fluir seus sentimentos. Cada um tem seu próprio estilo e técnicas. Bem vindo a RR Seu equipamento também é importante, pois ele pode estabelecer limites If you're using Poser 8 start with standard illumination, final render, proceed to the manual and disable shadows. Many textures suffer enormous deformations with light. Don't rush. Start making your scenes, because there are many frebees. Let your feelings flow. Each has its own style and techniques. Welcome to RR your equipment is also important as it can establish limits

If you're using Poser 8 or Poser Pro 2010 you'll eventually be dealing with Gamma correction so now is a good time to develop good habits in the material room. Never set Diffuse or Specular above .8 or you'll be looking at over exposed images. BillBaggin's threads will give you the best information you can find on how to use the material room if you can tolerate the rude people arguing with him. 99.9% of them will be wrong when it comes to materials knowlege.

Everyone here has offered great advice- just remember that you'll have to have a lot of patience- you'll never learn it all overnight! I've been playing since 2003 and still learn new things all the time! Lighting is very important, texture quality is important. Your computer and it's power can be important. You'll develop your own style- I personally admire people that can put many elements in a scene and make it look good- I tend to lean towards a simple background myself since when I try for a complete scene, it never looks to my liking. As said previously, there are some great freebies out there- don't jump into buying stuff unless you've got a lot of restraint or a lot of money (I have neither, but this is my one major hobby)! ;o) Just keep at it, ask when you need to, take a break when you need to. Best of luck! :o)