[Poser 5? 6+] IBL Take #1

Ok, I don't claim to know everything, I just usually fiddle around and break shit until i think I figured something out.

IBL = Image Based Light(ing). think of what that means, lighting based on an image. .. with me so far?

You can use damn near any image to create an IBL. here are some examples.



To make an IBL light, you tic the "Diffuse IBL" option on the light's properties window:



you dont want it to cast shadows, you typically want it white ( coloring it defeats the purpose of using an image basically ) and the Intensity is the primary most important setting of an IBL light.

clicking Advanced Material properties ( highlighted above ) takes you to the material room:


Here are 2 examples of how IBL controls the lighting:


Using the " Grayscale Gradient Ball " 100% Intensity :


" Grayscale Gradient Ball " 50% Intensity:



Here's an example of another Image map in use.


If this doesnt make any sense, that sucks for you :P No really though. The best way to learn is to get your hands dirty. Make your own images, and try it out.

a key thing to remember about IBLs : it doesnt matter where the knob is on the light ball in Poser, the lighting direction and color is fed to poser by the image linked to the light. Shadow lights and Specular lights are separate lights needed to add the other elements to scenes.

I'll teach "specular lights" and "shadow lights" next, as they all go hand in hand with IBL

Specular Lights

Specular lights are just regular infinite or spot lights ( usually infinite ) with no shadows, a black diffuse color, and white specular color. the intensity of the light controls the strength of the highlights in your scene.

A specular light's material settings :

complicated eh?


The knob position on the light ball in Poser is important for these lights.

Shadow Lights

Shadow lights are fairly simple.

You want the specular material of it to be black, so it doesn't interfere with your specular lights.

you want the intensity of it to be 1% ( just enough to cast the tiniest of shadows )

you control the darkness/strength of the shadow with the "Shadow" setting on your parameters. 1 is default for lights. I pumped it up to 10 here, and you can see the faint shadow the ball is casting on the ground. Try setting this to 40-60, and you can see what kind of difference it will make