"FlyerX" <fly### [at] yahoocom> schreef in bericht 
news:46741223@news.povray.org...
> Thomas de Groot wrote:
>>
>> 1) Bump mapping:  When applying an image map as bump map to, e.g. a 
>> cloth, one may often want to scale down (or up) the bump map in order to 
>> obtain the desired effect. In Poser, this is done by changing the U_Scale 
>> and V_Scale of the bump image map in the Material Room. However, this 
>> scaling is not taken on by Poseray and, to obtain the desired effect, one 
>> needs to add manually a scale parameter to the map in the exported 
>> xxx_POV_mat.inc file.
>
> I may implement scaling into the basic materials in the next version but 
> now you can go into the POV-Ray tab and copy the material into the text 
> window and edit the bump map UV scaling there as a transformation. The 
> copy command is in the POV-Ray tab as insert->materials->copy from basic 
> tab.
Oh! That is nice indeed! I realize that there are many Poseray features that 
I have never used yet! Excellent solution.
In a general case, I think that one should always consider the necessities 
to edit the model to one's needs.
>
>>
>>
>>
>> 2) Bump_size: By default, Poser defines a white background parameter in 
>> the Material Room for all the used image maps. This has unexpected 
>> consequences when using a bump map, even if the used image has 
>> traditionally black as background and white as foreground. Poseray 
>> translates the bump sizes into negative values which may disconcert at 
>> first, but renders correctly in POV-Ray. However, the values are very 
>> high (e.g. -20, or -50) for some reason (even if the bump strength in 
>> Poser is set to 1.0) and they may have to be changed to more conventional 
>> values manually.
>
> I will look into this. Since I do not have Poser 7 I assumed bump_size 
> behaved the same as in Poser 6.  You can scale the imported bump size in 
> the Poser scene import options. The default value is what Poser 6 uses.
> I noticed some inconsistencies between the bump_size implementation using 
> different models and whether the bump map was an image or a proprietary 
> BUM file.
Yes, this seems to start with Poser 7. It took me a while to realize what 
happened. Even so, I am not entirely sure what the role of the background 
color is really, only that it matters in the way Poser renders it itself. 
Also I became convinced only yesterday of the need for negative bump_size 
values to obtain the correct result in POV-Ray.
>>
>>
>>
>> 3) Procedural textures: Procedural textures in Poser are only shown in 
>> Poseray (and exported to POV-Ray) as pigments and finishes. This is 
>> understandable as the procedural parameters used by Poser may not be 
>> easily translated into POV-Ray code. When using procedural textures in 
>> Poser, best is to find an equivalent POV-Ray texture and use that 
>> instead.
>
> I agree. Would be nice if Poser could bake and export its procedural 
> textures. This and strand hair are features that makes Poser less portable 
> to other applications.
Yes, that would be nice. Strand hair in particular would be important, in 
the same way as dynamic clothes is.
>
>>
>>
>>
>> 4) G2 hair: Poser 7 introduced G2 figures and also G2 conforming hair. 
>> For many reasons G2 hair is more realistic than the conforming hair in 
>> Poser 6. However, when exported to POV-Ray through Poseray, the result is 
>> rather disappointing. I discovered now why this is so. G2 hair uses a 
>> bump map for displacement mapping. Why for displacement is debatable as 
>> the hair mesh is fine but not particularly so. Better is to use the map 
>> as a bump map. The results are much better. However, there is a problem 
>> with G2 conforming hair and Poseray. First, the hair geometry (in the 
>> example I used at least) has its morphs centered on the neck body part of 
>> the hair figure. In Poseray the neck of the human figure AND the neck of 
>> the hair figure are translated into one single mesh geometry group. 
>> Second, and as a consequence probably, the displacement map for the hair 
>> group is not loaded. While the material maps for the hair are properly 
>> loaded, the bump map is not. When adding the proper bump map in Poseray 
>> and exporting to POV-Ray, the results are excellent.
>>
>
> I will look into this since I have one of those G2 models with hair. Maybe 
> I could route the displacement call into the bump map automatically. I 
> will add this to the manual in the export to Poser tutorial section.
After I sent this post, I found out that the hair object I used for the 
comment above is a bit atypical compared to other G2 hair figures (or props 
as the case may be). I have not tested all the G2 hair however, and it may 
be that for the G2 Jessie for instance, or all the *long* hair, the morph 
building is identical. So, the solution might be a bit more complicated...
>
>
> Thank you very much for your feedback.
Well, I thank you very much indeed for a great product that is really 
invaluable for crisscrossing amongst applications! That is also one of the 
reasons I take the time to stay alert to possible improvements and to note 
down what I believe might be worthwhile to the community.

Thomas

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