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Look at the top-most "final color render". This is where most Poser artists STOP working...
But if you spend a lot of time on the scene, making props and doing textures to make a good Poser picture... this is actually where my tutorial STARTS.
Go back into Poser and render out shadows separately so that you have more control over them in the post-production process. The most important part of your 3D render is the model and scene. But many Poser artists forget about the second most important part which is Lighting. And with light come shadows. Lighting and Shadows are the number one drawback to most Poser artwork that I see. Hopefully my little walkthrough can help "shed some light" on Shadows and how to use them to make a good Poser image into a great Poser image.
I came up with this idea based on the production process used for rendering at large production studios where they render the shadows and specular lighting as two separate renders after an initial colored "no shadow" render with only displacement and bump maps turned on. Then they literally layer the three renders together in post production.
I believe the "Shadow Only" rendering option became available in Poser 6? Maybe Poser 5? with the Firefly engine. If you are using a version of Poser 4 or older, then you will NOT be able to follow the methods mentioned in this walkthrough.
THE TECHNIQUES DESCRIBED ARE THE OPINION AND ONE METHOD USED BY THE ARTIST. THIS WALKTHROUGH IS NOT A SINGLE SOLUTION FOR EVERY SINGLE POSER POSTWORK PROCESS.
This is NOT a step by step tutorial, but a simple walkthrough of the process I went to get from FINAL RENDER, through PHOTOSHOP COMPOSITE to the final image.
This walkthrough is NOT FOR BEGINNERS, but it is for Moderate level Poser artists, and Moderate level Photoshop artists. I do not give any interface or how-to's in this tutorial for either program. If you don't understand what is in this tutorial then you are a BEGINNER and should familiarize yourself with both programs before you'll understand what this walkthrough shows.
And for those that do get it... let me know if you actually learned anything from this and give me any advice on how to make a better walkthrough or tutorial. This is my first ever and it may not communicate everything in the clearest manner.
`ChewedKandi has certainly gone out of her way to keep the vector community on the right path. Always making sure that her talents are infinitely scalable, Sharon has put her bezier curves to excellent use, and firmly anchored herself as an inspirational leader. We're absolutely delighted to bestow the Deviousness Award for June 2013 to `ChewedKandi. Congratulations, Sharon! Read More
Sta.sh
Though I might tweak it slightly, and turn IDL on (instead of Ambient Occlusion) for the shadow layer. I'll do two versions and see how it looks.
Thanks for this!
Also, if you TURN OFF SHADOWS when rendering a color image, your render will be faster.
Then turn shadows on, but render shadow only... it will take time because it has to build the shadow maps, but it will eventually render.
Good luck and let me know if it works for you!