The P2L FAQ
FREQUENTLY-ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT POSE2LUX
[Q] Can I use a skydome in my scene?
[A] Yes. Skydomes can be handled in two different ways. If you are using Bagginsbill's EnvHemisphere or EnvDome then you can simply apply the 'Skydome' material from Pose2Lux's 'Special' library. This causes Pose2Lux to ignore the skydome's geometry (i.e. it is not rendered at all) and make an IBL instead from the image map attached to the skydome. If you want to use a different skydome then it should be set up as an emitter. On the emitters screen check the 'Use texture map' box and set all sliders to maximum. You may need to adjust exposure/gain settings in Luxrender after exporting.
[Q] How do I use a Portal?
[A] Add a single sided square from the Poser primitives folder to your scene. Resize it and place it where it is needed in the scene (usually over a window). Ensure the front side is facing the direction in which you want light to be propagated (e.g. into a room). Then run Pose2Lux and assign the 'Portal' material to the square. Also, make sure one of your lights is designated as the Sun (on the Lights screen).
[Q] How do I implement a depth of field (DOF) effect?
[A] First of all, ensure that the focal point in your Poser scene is where you want it. The Camera properties panel has a focus_Distance paramter you can to change the focal point. You can see the position of the focal point by activating the Focus Distance Guide from Poser's Display/Guides menu. Then, in Pose2Lux, check the 'Use Depth of Field' box on the Camera screen. Adjust the DOF effect by varying the fStop value. A small fStop number will have only a little of the scene in sharp focus. A high fStop number will have more in focus.
[Q] Why do I get strange results with the 'Hybrid' renderer settings?
[A] The hybrid rendering technology is still in its infancy and remains under development. Results from its use will be unpredictable for a while, but Pose2Lux has implemented support for it so that users can benefit from the new technology as soon as it becomes reliable.
[Q] Can I set up a template for the materials for a particular figure?
[A] Yes. In Poser, rename the figure that will act as the template to 'PL2_GENERIC'. In Pose2Lux assign Lux materials to PL2_GENERIC owner (but not any other owners). Then chose 'Save scene materials' from the file menu. Note that Pose2Lux only saves materials for which a Lux equivalent has been assigned. To subsequently make use of this template, ensure that you have checked 'Show only selected figure' on the Materials screen and that a row for the figure is selected in the list. Now, when you 'Load scene materials' the materials associated with PL2_GENERIC will be applied to the currently selected figure, regardless of its name.
[Q] How do I make an emitter?
[A] In Poser, set the ambient value to something other than zero. The Ambient Value will be used as the base 'gain' value. Set the Ambient Color to the colour you'd like the surace to emit. On the emitters screen in Pose2Lux you can then refine the parameters for the emitter further.
[Q] What is the 'Textures' folder for on the Paths screen?
[A] It is intended to be used for saving any textures explicitly referenced by XML material library files. Authors of the XML files can use the parameter 'USE_TEXPATH' to refer to the textures folder when referencing texture maps in teh XML code.
[Q] When will be available in Pose2Lux?
[A] Pose2Lux has a documented roadmap for development: v0.4 Advanced support for Poser's Skin and Velvet nodes v0.5 Basic material editing facilities v0.6 Better support for import of XML files (e.g. merging with and/or overwriting existing (built in) libraries. v0.7 Embedded preview mode for editing of materials v0.8 Facility to save material library to XML file v0.9 Advanced material editing facilities v1.0 Alpha release
[Q] Why are some features mentioned in the manual missing in the P6 verson?
[A] Two features are missing. Poser 6 did not have enough support for XML for the Material Library import to be implemented. There may be a fix for this in time. Also, I have been unable to find any way in Poser 6 to identify the folder from which Pose2Lux was launched. This means that the automatic loading of settings does not work. I don't know if there's an easy way around this.
And other questions/answers gleaned from threads...
[Q] What would be the best settings in a shader for a figure or prop? What nodes should be left out to get the best results?
[A] You're better off with simple, Poser 4 style shader setups. Because Poser shaders won't transfer over to Luxrender, it doesn't matter to the exporter what your Poser shader setups are since you will need to change them to something Luxrender uses and understands. Because the exporter doesn't really understand nodes attached to Alt Diffuse and Alt Specular, those are best left empty. It can always be overridden in the script though. Also, you might want to make sure that ambience is turned off on any material zone that you don't want to glow. The exporter sees ambience as a light source and will make that material an emitter. Emitters can be adjusted directly in the exporter on the emitters panel.
[Q] How many paths can Pose2Lux deal with? Does it only work on one at a time, or can texture file be in different paths?
[A] LaurieA: I just set mine to my external runtimes folder, which contains ALL my runtimes. So far, Luxrender has been able to find everything.
