ForeGround Tool Thank you for purchasing ForeGround Tool. We hope you enjoy this product, and appreciate any feedback you may have. This pack is intended for use with Poser8 and newer. For the purposes of this guide, we'll be using PoserPro 2014, but there is nothing we'll be doing that can't be done in Poser 8 and above.  And initially, pretty much everything is in default, except Render settings. Once you've installed the product, your new ForeGroundTool items will be in: Runtime:Libraries:Props:MortemVetus:ForeGroundTool: Runtime:Libraries:Materials:MortemVetus:ForeGroundTool:   This pack is intended to add interesting foregrounds, without massive rendering overhead. Before we get started, we'd like to explain a bit about the ForeGround Tool filters and the way they interact with the camera. There are two significant factors that will affect the ForeGround Tool: the Focal Length of the camera, and the Aspect Ratio of the render window. Because we can't anticipate every setting of these that people will be using, we've set starting points, and we'll show you how to get the ForeGround Tool to fit just about any image. To begin with, we'll start with a blank scene and apply some filters to get used to the idea, and to manipulate the filters. So for a blank scene, the first thing we'll need to do is decide on our aspect ratio. The Aspect Ratio will determine which filter we use. We've included filters for four common aspects; 1:1 (Square), 3:4 (Portrait), 4:3 (Landscape), 16:9 (Wide Landscape). Common sizes for these aspects are as follows: 1:1 - 800x800 - Square 3:4 - 600x800 - Portrait 4:3 - 800x600 - Landscape 16:9 - 960x540 - Wide Landscape To set the preview size, first make sure the Preview window isn't docked. Click the little tiny square just under the close button to access the docking controls. make sure just 'Floating' is checked. Then click on 'Window' and select 'Document Window Size' at the bottom of the drop down. A new window will open to input the width and height of the window.

Image 1: Setting up the preview window

Now we've got our aspect determined, we find it's a good idea to set out camera Focal Length too. This can be changed after the foreground prop is loaded, and we've found that by starting at 55mm focal length, fitting the ForeGround Tool props is easier. We settled on 55mm because it's a nice neutral focal length - it works for both portraits and landscapes quite nicely.

Image2: Setting up the Main Camera

Now that we've got our preview window set up, we can either apply a filter and then build a scene, or we can build our scene and apply our filter after. For this example, we're going to apply a filter, and work the scene after. So because we set our preview window to 960x540, we want to select the ForeGroundTool 16-9 from our props library as shown below. All the filters load with a Vignette applied. We felt this was easier if adjustments needed to be made, because the edges are sharply defined.

Image3: Load the appropriate ForeGround Tool

In the image below, we've set a TerraDome2 scene up, with the Vignette filter still applied. We've pulled the camera back some, but we want a wider angle of shot. To do this, we need to reselect our Main Camera, and turn the Focal dial down. We're going to go to 35mm, which will give us a nice wide angle, without anything distorting.

Image4: ForeGround Tool loaded in default

Once we've turned the Focal down, we have a wider view, but our filter is now in mid air completely out of place, as we can see in the image below.

Image 5: Changing the camera focal length

To correct this, we need to select the filter, and increase the scale until it meets the edges of the window. For 35mm Focal, this is 157% scale on the filter. How much scale is down to what Focal length you use. 30mm would be a bit bigger scale then 35mm, and 40mm would be a bit less. This is why we left the Vignette on, so we can easily see when the filter reaches the edges.

Image 6: Resizing the ForeGround Tool to match the focal length of the camera

If we now go to the Materials library, we can select an appropriate foreground for our scene. In this case, we've applied '16-9Foliage2' and rendered it up, as we can see in image7 below.

Image 7: Foliage border around rendered TerraDome2 scene

So that's going for a wider shot, now we'll look at changing the focal length the other way, to something more appropraite to a portrait. To avoid distortion in a close up portrait, we want to set a high focal length. In this case, we're going to use 85mm. Since we're doing a portrait, we're setting a window size of 600x800, and applying the 3-4LensFilter. With the Focal of the main camera set to 85mm, we can see the  filter now looks way too large, in the image below. So large in fact, that it appears to have disappeared except for a tiny bit in the corners.

Image 8: Portrait aspect, at 85mm focal length with default Foreground Tool 3-4

To bring our filter into proper focus, we again need to go to the scale dial, and this time reduce the scale until the filter is re-aligned. For a focal length of 85mm on the camera, we need to reduce the ForeGround Tool scale to 64%, as we can see in the image below.

Image 9: Rescaling the ForeGround Tool to fit the focal length of the camera

In the image below, we've added Nymwei for V4, in the Regina Mortis outfit. We've also changed our background colour to black. As we can see, the Vignette blends the background to nice soft edges around the character.

Image 10: Portrait aspect rendered with a Vignette

So that covers altering the Focal Length of the camera. As noted earlier, the other factor that affects the ForeGround Tool is the dimensions of the Render Window. We realise that a lot of images won't conform to nice neat aspect ratios, so let's take a look at setting up the ForeGround Tool for a scene using a different aspect. In the image below, we've opened an existing scene, and as we can see the window dimensions don't match any of our presetr aspects. Looking at the shape of the window, we think a 16-9 filter would be closest, So we loaded that, then increased the scale until the edges of the prop have ALL reached the edges of the window. The horizontal edges sized up correctly first, then we continued scaling until the vertical edges also got to the edges of the window.

Image 11: Odd sized window, Foreground Tool scaled to fit

We've then changed the material for 16-9 Enchanted Forest, and when we render this up, we've got a nice view out over the valley. You can see we've lost the edges a little. Now we can bring either one edge, or both edges back into shot. If we use the xTran dial, we can move the filter from side to side, to bring one side or the other into shot. Or, we can use the xScale dial to bring both edges in. But doing this, we'll need to be careful...unmatched scaling can produce distortion and stretching.

Image 12: Rendered image, ForeGround Tool overhanging sides

In the image below, we've used the xScale to bring the sides in. As it's a comparatively small amount, we've avoided any undesirable squishing and stretching. So remember: The overall scale button is the one you'll need to use the most. Use the xScale and yScale dials to make small adjustments to fit. Use the xTran and yTran dials to make movements within the confines of the filter. The zTran dial should rarely be used. Bring it just a fraction forward and it'll disappear into the camera. You could move it back a bit, scale it up and use another instance of the ForeGround Tool in front. Using the rotate dials will produce undesirable results, and should be avoided.

Image 13: ForeGround Tool made narrower to fit window

We hope you enjoy using this product and we look forward to seeing what images you make with it. Happy Rendering Andrew and Tracey (Mortem Vetus) :)

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