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Using HDR Lighting With The DAZ Studio WorldBall (And UberEnvironment2)
Okay, I've got the Cinderside HDR BETA lights working in DAZ Studio 4 via the UberEnvironment2 (I simply deleted the WorldBall IBL and WorldBall Sun lights from the scene). So basically the WorldBall is just providing the background and the shadowcatcher groundplane. A long way to go yet, but I think I'm happy with the principle.
My original HDR TIF files (generated from HDRShop v1) just didn't seem to be working with UE2, so I used the 'HDR -> TIF' converter that's included with the UE2 and tried the HDR TIF output from that. Bingo!
My first couple of sucessful test renders attached:
- the ONLY lighting is UE2 with the Cinderside HDR BETA converted to HDR TIF.
- I used 'Indirect Lighting With Directional Shadows', Intensity Scale 250%, and all other UE2 settings at default values (I think?)
- it's very dark but I'm guessing that can be improved by knowing exactly which dials to adjust!
- The lack of hair is because Omnifreaker warned that transparencies really hit the render time (I tried it... and after a couple of hours cancelled the render!)
- Some curious shadowing on my warrior girls legs - possibly I didn't clear the bump strength to zero.
If anybody else is considering investigating using HDR lighting with the DAZ Studio WorldBall I'd suggest trying UE2 (comes free with DS3Advanced and DS4Pro).
Links to help you quickly get up to speed on UberEnvironment2:
- OmniFreaker’s UberEnvironment2 wiki
- adamr001's 'Learning UberEnvironment 2 Return To Topic' thread.
- this ‘How to use UberEnvironment2 with your own HDR pictures ’ RuntimeDNA thread
Last post for today (with any luck!)...
E17 Danny's Island As A WorldBall Environment Set
Available from:
- ShareCG - Dannys Island WorldBall Environment Set
- Renderosity (soon)
Danny Gordon's 'Tropical Island Evironmental map' (from Renderosity Freestuff) fitted to the WorldBall by yours truly.
The usual 360deg azimuth / +-90deg elevation environment set consisting of:
- A latitude/longitude mapped background image (4096x2048 JPG)
- An angular mapped light probe image (1024x1024 JPG)
- A latitude/longitude mapped reflection image (1024x512 JPG)
Poser/DAZ Studio WorldBall users see the Readme for the datablock to add to the WorldBallData.txt file.
Also suitable for use with anything else that uses latitude/longitude or angular mapped environment images.
Happy rendering!
Pete Williams (aka 3dcheapskate)
8th August 2013
Are you a Poser user, fed up with that 'Please locate WorldBall.lt2' issue?
Simply delete the 's' from 'Lights' in line 327 of WorldBallSetup.py - I got the pathname incorrect! (Thanks Vaskania for spotting that!)
Incorrect:
Correct:
I'll be including a corrected version of the script when I next update the Poser WorldBall, but I don't have an ETA for that. If anybody's not happy manually editing the file I can post the corrected script file somewhere in the meantime - just let me know.
Edit 16Aug13: Version 3 ZIP for the Poser WorldBall, uploaded to both Renderosity FreeStuff and ShareCG, fixes this. That's the ONLY change in version 3, so if you've manually corrected it already there's no need to download this update. Alternatively you can download just the updated Python file from the Renderosity WorldBall thread (I can't upload it here).
E18 Dannys Alien Desert WorldBall Environment Set
Available from
- ShareCG - Dannys Alien Desert WorldBall Environment Set
- Renderosity FreeStuff soon
Danny Gordon's 'Alien Desert Environmental map' (available from Renderosity Freestuff at
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/freestuff/details.php?item_id=71974) fitted to the WorldBall by yours truly.
N.B. This set has a low resolution (2000x1000) background, but also includes HDR lights for Poser and DAZ Studio (as well as the normal lights, not instead of!)
The usual 360deg azimuth / +-90deg elevation environment set, consisting of:
- A latitude/longitude mapped background image (2000x1000 JPG)
- An angular mapped light probe image (1024x1024 JPG)
- A latitude/longitude mapped reflection image (1024x512 JPG)
Poser/DAZ Studio WorldBall users see the Readme for the datablock to add to the WorldBallData.txt file.
Additional HDR lighting support included for DAZ Studio 3/4 (requires UberEnvironment2) and Poser8+ (possibly Poser7+?) - see ReadMe for details
Also suitable for use with anything else that uses latitude/longitude or angular mapped environment images, though you might be better off downloading Danny's original freebie - more formats!
Happy rendering!
Pete Williams (aka 3dcheapskate)
14th August 2013
Notes from the readme on using the HDR lights...
Using The HDR Lighting With This Set In Poser
Poser 6 doesn't support HDR lighting, but Poser 8+ does (not sure about Poser7). You can either use the HDR datablock from the ReadMe, or set it up manually (very easy!):
- Load the Worldball with the 'E18 Alien Desert (Lo Res)' set. Also load a simple figure or prop so there's something in the scene when you render!
- Go to the Material room with 'WorldBall IBL' selected and select the Advanced tab.
- In the 'Image_Map' node click 'Image_Source', browse to 'Runtime\Textures\3DCheapskate\LightProbes\HDRI\', and select 'E18AlienDesertAM1024.hdr'
- The default settings for the 'Light' node seem fine (Intensity=1.0, IBL contrast=3.0). If it doesn't look right when you render play with these settings.
- Go back to Pose Room, select the 'WorldBall Sun' and set it's intensity to zero (with HDRI you shouldn't need the sun), or delete it.
- You'll need to set up shadows and/or AO for the IBL. Using depth-mapped shadows and AO (strength=0.7) seemed reasonable to me as a starting point...
Using The HDR Lighting With This Set In DAZ Studio
You can apply the HDR TIF to the 'WorldBall IBL', and it'll sort-of work (you get the right coloured lighting from the right directions), but it's probably not using the HDR properly (and even if it is there's no way to adjust it or set up AO and/or shadows).
If you want to use HDR lights with the WorldBall I'd currently recommend using the UberEnvironment2 (included with DS3Advanced and DS4Pro).
- Load the Worldball with the 'E18 Alien Desert (Lo Res)' set. Also load a simple figure or prop so there's something in the scene when you render!
- Delete the Sun and IBL as the UE2 replaces both of them (but don't touch the Worldball and Ground - you still need them!)
- Load the UE2 (you'll probably find it in your DAZ content folder under 'Light Presets > Omnifreaker > UberEnvironment2 > !UberEnvironment2Base.duf' or similar)
- Make sure the UberEnvironment2 is selected in your scene and then load one of the preset lighting sets from the same folder (e.g. 'Set HDR KHPark.dsa' - it doesn't really matter which because you'll be replacing it with our HDR. This is just to make sure the UE2 is set up correctly first!)
- Go to the scene tab and delete the 'Environment Sphere' (it's parented to the UberEnvironment2) - it's unnecessary.
- Select the 'UberEnvironment2' again from the scene tab. On the Lights tab find 'Lights > Basic > Color' and change the image map - you need to select the TIF file from here 'Runtime\Textures\3DCheapskate\LightProbes\HDRI\UE2\E18AlienDesertLL128INVblur.tif'
- Render. Your props/figures are now being illuminated by the HDR lighting. The render will very probably be really flat, or really horrible and blotchy! You need to set the lighting mode and quality to get good results, and you need to understand how to use UE2 to do that, but in brief:
- Set the highest quality using 'Set Quality 4xHi.dsa' from the same UE2 folder. Warning - the higher the quality, the slower the render.
- Set lighting mode to 'Occlusion with directional shadows'. Warning - this option takes the longest to render.
Poser WorldBall 'please locate WorldBall.lt2' issue fixed (Version 3 upload to Renderosity FreeStuff and ShareCG just to resolve this issue) - see post #93 above for full details.
Using UberEnvironment2 Instead Of WorldBall IBL - A Note Of Caution
I've suggested in several earlier posts here that for DAZ Studio users, using omnifreaker's UberEnvironment2 instead of the WorldBall IBL is a sensible option if you want to use either ambient occlusion or HDRI lighting (or both).
However, there are some major issues with UberEnvironment 2 - see this 'UberEnvironment2 - Can Anybody Explain The Result Of This Simple Test?' thread for more information, a known solution (IBL Transformer), and ongoing attempts to understand exactly what the known solution actually does!
The most important observation for using UE2 in place of WorldBall IBL is that you must not plug a JPG image into the UE2 Light > Basic > Color channel. You must use a correctly prepared TIF (I'm working on creating those for all released environment sets).
The second, and probably even more important, observation is that even with a correctly prepared TIF the lighting will be wrong! Currently IBL Transformer appears to be the only generally accepted solution for getting UE2 to behave correctly.
However, without IBL Transformer this simple workaround appears to me to create roughly correct lighting. Although it is almost certainly NOT correct it seems good enough for worldball purposes. Using a correctly preapared TIF simply set both UE2 X-Rotate and Y-Rotate to -90°. Or you could use a pre-adjusted TIF and leave the UE2 untouched - I'm looking into that option too)
WorldBall Environment Creation Helper Scripts
For anybody who's tried creating their own environment map/light probe sets (see the last part of the OP) I've finally gotten round to doing a couple of scripts to automate the two most tedious and error-prone parts of the procedure.
1) A Terragen Classic script file to automate the generation of the six cubemap renders.
2) A Windows batch file with ImageMagick commands to automate the combination of the six cubemap renders into a single vertical cross image, including extension of the edges into the black areas to avoid edge lines appearing when you convert to other formats.
I've also included an 8 page PDF that explains in a fair amount of detail what each script is doing - so you should be able to make an informed decision as to whether you want to risk running my script on your system! ;o)
ShareCG: http://www.sharecg.com/v/74415/view/8/Script/WorldBall-Environment-Creation-Helper-Scripts
Renderosity: awaiting approval
so... hm. *cough*.. in case someone's interested, here a tiny contribution to 3Dcheapskate's awesome Worldball..
not much, not most important, just a little idea i had and used for myself, so i thought i could share it too ^_^
and mention it somewhere in the freepozitory ~
Icons for Worldball - sharecg or Icons for Worldball - rendo
Preview Icons For WorldBall Environment Sets
If you only use the worldball occasionally it's very easy to forget what the different sets actually look like. portisHeart (aka manekineko) came up with a beautifully simple solution, a subfolder called '!Previews' with a small thumbnail of each environment set - see previous post.
If you use the worldball and sometimes don't remember what a particular environment set looks like I'd definitely recommend downloading these preview icons. The links are in the previous post (#98), but I thought I'd add the promo image as well!
ShareCG: Icons for 3Dcheapskate's Worldball
Renderosity: Icons for 3Dcheapskate's Worldball
Thanks portisHeart!
E19 - 'Sea Dawn' WorldBall Environment Set
A generic 'dawn at sea' type background.
This set includes a preview icon to go in portisHearts !Previews folder - see posts 98/99 above). (I've decided to include preview icons in any future environment sets)
ShareCG: Sea Dawn WorldBall Environment Set
Renderosity: (awaiting approval)
Ok, I finally caught up with this. Updated the base scripts and downloaded the environs I didn't have. Since becoming a Poser user, I have some tips to make this behave more like Terradome (and less of a pita to setup).
These instructions are for Daz Studio. Poser doesn't have the preview issue, and I can't figure out how to parent a light to a prop (I know it's possible, but apparently I'm an idiot lol).
After loading the environment, parent the Worldball IBL to the Worldball prop, and parent Worldball Sun to the IBL, so you'll have this:
-Worldball
---Worldball IBL
-----Worldball Sun
Now you can use Y-Rotate on the main prop, and the lighting will match the rotation of the map (it was irking me to have the sun behind a building, yet the light on the front of it).
To see the sky in the preview, click on the Worldball prop and go to the surfaces tab. Add the Ambient map to the Diffuse channel, leaving the diffuse strength at 0%. Now you can see what you're doing. If you want, you can alter the diffuse strength to brighten up the background/sky. I find 0% diffuse causes it to come out a bit dull and muddied.
Also, just for the fun of it, if you have Furify (or any fur shader really), use a white one on the ground prop and change the diffuse color to green. Boom, instant grass.
thanks for the new set, Pete! :)
and thx for your appreciation of the icons, even including the idea in your new projects! i just... *blush* ~ <(^x^)>
I suppose I should really take another look at these scripts - there's a few little improvements that should be quite easy to make... :)
Although the Poser Reference Manuals (6, 8 and 9) state that you can parent lights to other scene elements, I recall reading elsewhere in the manual (but can't find the reference) that it ONLY applies for spotlights / point lights. You cannot parent distant lights or IBL lights to other scene elements - i.e. the worldball IBL/Sun can't be parented to the worldball prop in poser. I tried it and it doesn't work. But see post 105 below for an easy workaround.
I suppose I should really take another look at these scripts
Although the Poser Reference Manuals (6, 8 and 9) state that you can parent lights to other scene elements, I recall reading elsewhere in the manual (but can't find the reference) that it ONLY applies for spotlights / point lights. You cannot parent distant lights or IBL lights to other scene elements - i.e. the worldball IBL/Sun can't be parented to the worldball prop in poser.
Aha! That might be it then. I double checked the Terradome and the Sunlight is a Point light so that's why it's parented. It does have IBL/Spec lights which are Diffuse IBL and Infinite, which aren't parented.
Mystery solved then. lol Thanks
Temporary Poser Workaround To Parent Sun/IBL To The WorldBall
Semicharm pointed out a work-around over at ShareCG for parenting the IBL/Sun to the Worldball in Poser. I should be able to do it in the worldball loading script, but not sure when I'll get round to updating that.
Meanwhile it's easy to do manually from the Poser UI (I tried it in Poser 6). In the 'Properties' tab for the Worldball Sun change its type from 'Infinite' to 'Spotlight' - the 'Set Parent' button near the bottom of the properties tab will now be enabled, so click it and set the Worldball as its parent. Then change the type back from 'Spotlight' to 'Infinite'. Do the same with the Worldball IBL (except you change it from 'Diffuse IBL' to 'Spotlight' and back to 'Diffuse IBL'). Now if you rotate the Worldball the Sun and IBL should rotate with it.
(P.S. I'll have a look at the DS version too)
...oh drat - it looks as if that Poser workaround mucks up depth-mapped shadows ! Looking into it further...
Sorry, I got a bit confused, forget what I just said! It seems to work okay if you do it manually from the UI and change it temporarily to a Spotlight. (It's only if you change it temporarily to a Point light that it screws up depth-mapped shadows)
Decided to ditch the idea of parenting the lights and tried linking the WorldBall rotation dials to the lights instead. So far so good. Also, I hopefully found the solution to the lighting color bug. :D
Heh, heh... If you're talking about the pink sun / green IBL that wasn't actually a bug! ;o) - I deliberately made the lights those colours by default (i.e. from the LT2), as it makes it very easy to tell whether the script has changed them to the correct lights for the selected background.
The real problem that I never resolved (and still have no idea about) is why you need to render and rerun the scripts (in Poser 6-8) to get the lights to show correctly...
That's what I'm talking about, and I figured out how to fix it so that the lights show right the first time. You need to set intensity and color via the light parameters, Poser doesn't always read the light's material properties correctly. I sent you an email with the details.
Going off at a tangent again, I've just been advised of a...
Just Discovered That A Poser Diffuse IBL Cannot Be Rotated
Just discovered another spanner in the works, this time regarding Poser Diffuse IBL. Quote from he who knows*:
"There is no point to parenting an IBL. If you thought the IBL image is anchored by the orientation of the light, that is incorrect. The IBL is always oriented the same way. The center of the IBL image (U=.5 V=.5) is pointing along the +Z axis, and up in the image (U=.5, V=.75) is always up in the real world (+Y)."
I checked (a very wise man once said - "never believe what anybody tells you, even me, until you've proved it your own satisfaction") and it's true. So it looks like you HAVE TO use IDL (InDirect Light) and not IBL (Image Based Light) if you want to rotate the WorldBall in Poser. Or you could use BagginsBill's EnvironmentSphere freebie instead ! ;o) (Note: IDL wasn't introduced till some time after Poser 6, so Poser 6 users are stuffed!)
(I thought of maybe applying a U_Offset to the IBL's Image_Map node, but since Poser Diffuse IBL uses an Angular Mapped image it wouldn't work)
*see BagginsBill's response to my 'How To Parent A Diffuse IBL And An Infinite Light To A SkyDome Prop?' query over at the Renderosity Poser forum
I never gave that much thought till you mentioned it, and sure enough, moving an IBL doesn't do squat! I also didn't realize Poser's IBL actually used an angular format because the included images used a different format (equirectangular?). Using that sort of format instead could technically be "panned" but it wouldn't be particularly accurate. I guess the idea of moving the lights with the ball prop is officially dead. Thanks for looking into it. This has been really informative nonetheless.
BTW, did you get the code I emailed you? Not the attachment, but the code in the email itself.
WIP - Poser WorldBall Fixes Progressing Well...
Thanks to semicharm we now have fixes for a number of bugs in the Poser WorldBall - currently working on putting everything together and testing. Some of the bugs are old ones, while others are newly discovered.
Here's a list of the bugs/problems that we think will be fixed:
Two known issues from the readme (you did read that of course, didn't you?):
"5) When you run the 'WorldBall Setup' script in Poser 6/8 the colour/intensity of the lights may be wrong. The workaround I found to resolve this is to do a render and then re-run the script. The script should prompt you with this workaround as necessary.
6) When you run the 'WorldBall Setup' script in Poser 8/9 the 'Light Controls' widget on the Poser UI may not update. Simply nudge the camera trackball to force the Light Controls to update. The script should prompt you with this workaround as necessary."
The sun isn't parented to the worldball. (note to self - must ensure that worldball is zeroed before parenting!)
The uploaded worldball geometry is wrong! (Its faces are outward-facing, but they should be inward facing) (note to self - still need to verify that the background doesn't flip)
The worldball geometry is too sparse (only 256 faces).
Outstanding problems that MIGHT get fixed:
The middle two issues from the readme:
"3) If you use the orthographic views (top, front, left, etc) the preview will probably be completely white/black because the camera is outside the WorldBall. Simply make the WorldBall invisible temporariliy.
4) If the preview suddenly goes completely white/black while you're moving a camera then you've most likely moved the camera outside the WorldBall. Simply adjust the Scale value for the WorldBall to make it bigger (I usually double it, or if it keeps happening I multiply it by 10)."
The worldball geometry has a radius of 1 Poser unit (8 feet), and when it's loaded it's default scaling is 1000% (i.e. radius 80 feet). Curiously this scaling appears to be the cause of the rectangular depth-mapped shadow if you parent the sun to the worldball (see the How To Parent A Diffuse IBL And An Infinite Light To A SkyDome Prop? Renderosity thread if you want all the gory details!). Having such a small worldball also means that the the cameras are very likely to be /move outside it. Simply making the worldball geometry much larger may resolve known issues 3 and 4. (Making the worldball larger by scaling it is likely to cause the rectangular depth-mapped shadows problem) But making the worldball too large could mean that it gets clipped...
Outstanding problems that will NOT be fixed:
The IBL is not parented to the worldball. As mentioned a few posts above a Poser Diffuse IBL CANNOT be rotated. Using IDL (InDirect Light) instead is an option, but NOT in Poser 7 or earlier, or in the original Poser Pro (they did not have IDL)
The first two known issues from the readme:
"1) If you get a 'Can't open script for reading (PEPythonEngine::DoScript())' message (or similar) when you try to run the 'WorldBall Setup' PP2 file then you've put the PoserPython scripts in the wrong place. Check the notes under 'Installing The Package' above.
2) If you put the PoserPython scripts and PP2/LT2 files in different runtimes then Poser may have problems finding the PP2 and/or LT2 files (even with correctly mapped runtimes). If this happens Poser will take a long time looking for the files when you call the script, and will eventually give up and ask you to manually locate them. This only happens the first time you run the script after opening Poser... but it happens every time you open Poser."
These are dependent on putting the files in the right place, and the way that Poser searches for files.
WIP - I've Also Started Looking At A DAZ Studio WorldBall Update To Parent The Sun/IBL
This looks fairly straightforward. So it may be worth trying to sweep up some of the Known Issues from the readme...
"1) You don't see any background in the preview. You have to render to see it.
-This is because the image is applied to the Ambient Colour ONLY in order to prevent any scene lights from affecting it.
-(If you want to see the background in the preview you can connect the background image to the Diffuse Colour as well, but remember to disconnect it for the render)
2) In the preview the global illumination appears as a small point light at the origin providing very little illumination. You have to render to see the proper effect.
-This is because I used a ShaderBuilder dzPointLight as the basis for my diffuse IBL, and I haven't worked out how to change the preview light.
-(More information about my attempts to create a DAZ Studio version of the Poser Diffuse IBL light in my 'Shader Mixer (DS3+4): How to make a very basic diffuse IBL?' thread here http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/20391/)
3) Sometimes the groundplane doesn't seem to work as a a shadowcatcher when you render.
-I've no idea why this happens, but manually deleting the four WorldBall items (WorldBall, Ground, Sun, and IBL) and rerunning the script usually seems to resolve it.
4) Sometimes the IBL doesn't seem to work when you render.
-I've no idea why this happens either, but manually deleting the four WorldBall items (WorldBall, Ground, Sun, and IBL) and rerunning the script usually seems to resolve it."
...if anybody has any bright ideas about these, then now would be a good time to speak up!
Cheers,
Pete
Edit: I also uploaded the incorrect geometry with the DS version, so the update will include the corrected geometry.
Edit 2: also need to check the issue in post 116
Thank you. Im going to give this a try in DS46
I've used it with no problems (other than those noted in the readme)in DS4.6.1.17 64-bit (I'm not quite up to date).
But I had a PM over at DA that somebody was getting a blank window after selecting the environment set. Apparently modifying the script to remove the checks for already loaded worldball items resolved the problem for them.
I'd be interested to know if anybody else has had this problem since I've never seen it.
P.S. Just added 'WIP' to the start of the headings of the recent Poser/DS update posts just to clarify that they're not ready yet...
Haven't really looked at the DS version yet. The project I've been stuck on requires Poser.
Poser WorldBall Version 4 Available (7th Aug 2014)
(Special thanks to Semicharm for doing most of the hard work for this update)
Fixes the problem of the background not appearing in the preview pane.
This update is basically a corrected WorldBall geometry plus a a modification in the script to work around a PoserPython problem
The Good News:
- Fixes the problem of the background not appearing in the preview pane.
- It MAY also resolve known problems 5 and 6 (light colour/intensity being wrong and the Light Controls widget not updating) - please let me know if either of these problems recur.
{Edit: I've had feedback that problem 6, Light Controls widget not updating in Poser 8/9, still occurs. Nudging the trackball still seems to be the recommended workaround.}
The Bad News:
- We ran into some bizarre problems trying to link the rotation of the Sun to the WorldBall, so it's still not linked. Still working on this.
- A Poser Diffuse IBL is always at a fixed orientation, and thus CANNOT be rotated.
Other changes:
- You'll now get an extra dialogue letting you set the GROUND prop's display style to wireframe if you use it with 'ShadowCatch Only'.
- I've also included manekineko's preview thumbs for the basic environment sets (more info here http://www.sharecg.com/v/74465/browse/11/Poser/Icons-for-3Dcheapskates-Worldball )
Downloads
Updated files only (WorldBall.pp2 and WorldBallSetup.py) - for people who already have version 1, 2, or 3:
- ShareCG: http://www.sharecg.com/v/77010/view/11/Poser/Update-Files-ONLY-Simple-Poser-WorldBall-Ver-4
- Renderosity: TBA
Full WorldBall Version 4 - for people who haven't already got an earlier version:
- ShareCG: http://www.sharecg.com/v/69279/gallery/11/Poser/Simple-Poser-WorldBall
- Renderosity: http://www.renderosity.com/mod/freestuff/?item_id=71505
(N.B. If you already have the Poser WorldBall installed but for some reason you want to use this Full WorldBall Version 4 please note that your WorldBallData.txt file will be replaced the default version. So please back that up first, and copy it back after installing)
Simple WorldBall Updates To Avoid Using The Wrong Version In Your Software
I use both Poser and DAZ Studio, and find that I often load the wrong version of the WorldBall and spend a while scratching my head before I realize what I've done...
So to avoid that happening any more I've updated the icons (should've done that a long,long time ago!), and added a couple of simple scripts so that the user is alerted when they load the wrong version of the prop.
Download available at:
ShareCG: WorldBall Updates To Help Avoid Using Wrong One
Renderosity:
So Why Hasn't There Been Any Progress Over The Last Several Months?
Over the past week or so I've been rummaging through my development runtimes to see if there's anything that can be released without too much effort.
I realized that I've been using an unreleased version 5 of the Poser WorldBall, which includes all the stuff semicharm did (or inspired me to do). I also realized that the DAZ Studio developmentversion I have always crashes (I added a few lines of script to parent the sun to the worldball, and just cannot track the problem down - "WARNING: ReferenceError: getNodeParent is not defined” for DzDistantLight::getNodeParent() ??"). No, I haven't been using DAZ Studio very much over the past year. I really do need to start playing with it again - I found that using Poser/DAZ Studio on a 50/50 basis was the easiest way to see that they're both superb programs, but both of them have their own problems. Helps to prevent falling into one of the 'XYZ is better'camps! :D
I never released Poser version 5 because I never got a tkInter or wxPython UI working - it still uses the standard PoserPython dialogues, so there's quite a long sequence of dialogues (around 5-10?) to load the Version 5 Poser WorldBall. But since it works perfectly I'll be uploading the existing Poser version 5 in the next day or so.