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If you're using Photoshop anyway, then you can easily use the Clone tool to remove eyebrows, then overlay the new ones.
Or you can use the clone tool to remove the eyebrows from the texture and save that. You should be able to use the eyebrow texture in Layered Image Editor. I'm not very familiar with DS Sahdermixer but I don't see why you couldn't wire it up within the shadermixer itself. I don't know what DS calls the node (and frankly by brain is a little mushy after working all night to finish a project I can't even think of the Poser version off the top of my head).
True, and I have tried it, but it really doesn't look right having a smooth patch of skin above the eyes, while the forehead has all those over exaggerated pores and lines. Not a big fan of textures that try to be extremely detailed and "imperfect" its not what I really need and it really limits how I would use a texture. Maybe there should be a base texture and the PA could sell add-ons for all those "perfectly imperfect" skins that a small amount of people scream for.
Honestly, if I have to see another uncombed brow, or a brow that hasn't been plucked in 3 weeks, or makeup options where the character isn't wearing foundation and calling it realistic, I'll scream. (I apologize for the mini rant and will now get off my soapbox :roll:)
Anyway, not a good enough texture artist to clone off the eyebrows away in photoshop and still make it look nice.
The clone stamp tool should allow you to use a textures area as your source. You could also use the healing brush or the patch tool in recent versions of PS, and again they should at least try to preserve the texture. The main issue would be keeping bump/specular and other control maps in sync - assuming they weren't just desaturated versions of the diffuse.
So you want more an airbrushed or "painterly" texture than a photo-realistic texture? Rebelmommy, 3DSublime and Miradus Arts have some good airbrushed textures over at RDNA. Especially some of their older textures from the early days of V4. RDNA is in having it's annual sale. Many of the older textures are up to 60% off.
Here's the method I use for doing that, keeps the effect-maps in sync.
Thanks, but I have plenty for V4, I'm looking forward to new and better textures made for G2 figures. I think the only texture I still want is Fabiana's newest girl and a few M4's I've never got around to getting. I've gotten rid of all Mil 4 content except poses from my wishlists.
So you want more an airbrushed or "painterly" texture than a photo-realistic texture? Rebelmommy, 3DSublime and Miradus Arts have some good airbrushed textures over at RDNA. Especially some of their older textures from the early days of V4. RDNA is in having it's annual sale. Many of the older textures are up to 60% off.
It is wrong in my mind to assume that just because a texture is based on a photo that it is automatically photo-realistic. Lots of processing effects can ruin the realism from the original lighting conditions to the post processing.
Or to put it another way, photo based textures that are not constructed properly will still look fake. So often people over-light the skin in the original photo session so after being rendered under additional CG lights the results looks quite burned out, and over processed.
I'd love to show you examples of the fried look I hate from so many photo based textures, but to do so would be considered rude to the artists who uploaded them and the vendors who created them so I can't do it.
Photo based textures are not a guarantee of realism, they just aid the process but there are still no promises.
So you want more an airbrushed or "painterly" texture than a photo-realistic texture? Rebelmommy, 3DSublime and Miradus Arts have some good airbrushed textures over at RDNA. Especially some of their older textures from the early days of V4. RDNA is in having it's annual sale. Many of the older textures are up to 60% off.
Why would you say more painterly? I think what BurstAngel is saying that she doesn't really need lots of overt uniqueness from a texture, because the more unique the fewer options one has for using it. If you create a skin with an unusual birth mark above the right eye of the forehead then it will be easy to recognize this skin each time it is used. A more generic texture without too many birth marks and other flaws is better, can be applied across more character demographies, and that is exactly what I am talking about. Skins that look plausible and natural, but that aren't so laden with uniqueness that they relegate themselves to a one time use only type of thing.
Having some flaws is good, but too many is overkill. What we need is a happy medium.
Now I got a mail promoting 'natives', which brought up my hope for some non-caucasian gentlemen. In my dream, there were two ladies, looking like Scandinavians with bronzer. Al right, they are sweet looking and I'm certain a lot of work went down in the making of them, but since I already have have that thin-nosed razor-shaped cheeks look in my runtime already I'm going to pass, and hope that Benjamin for M6 is not that far away.
Not to be too rude, but I think I'm talking to myself again.
With the different rendering engines, you will instantly spot a painted texture. If someone were to do a painted texture comparable to a photorealistic skin, would be cost prohibited to both the artist and the customer. To put out a painted texture in the same time expended as a making a texture from photo references, the painted texture would be severely lacking in realism because you're not putting in the fine details that the photo reference has.
It has nothing to do with I'm too busy to consider it. It's simply not going to give you the result you think it would. There's a few textures on the market that I've found were painted when I went from different light sets and threw it into luxrender or even throwing uberlighting on it.
Why would you say more painterly? I think what BurstAngel is saying that she doesn't really need lots of overt uniqueness from a texture, because the more unique the fewer options one has for using it. If you create a skin with an unusual birth mark above the right eye of the forehead then it will be easy to recognize this skin each time it is used. A more generic texture without too many birth marks and other flaws is better, can be applied across more character demographies, and that is exactly what I am talking about. Skins that look plausible and natural, but that aren't so laden with uniqueness that they relegate themselves to a one time use only type of thing.
Having some flaws is good, but too many is overkill. What we need is a happy medium.
This is exactly what I mean. Not only that if you look at a "realistic" 3D portrait, there two things that always give it away. One is the eyes, and Two is how the skin is out of proportion with the size of the face.
It is wrong in my mind to assume that just because a texture is based on a photo that it is automatically photo-realistic. Lots of processing effects can ruin the realism from the original lighting conditions to the post processing.
Or to put it another way, photo based textures that are not constructed properly will still look fake. So often people over-light the skin in the original photo session so after being rendered under additional CG lights the results looks quite burned out, and over processed.
I'd love to show you examples of the fried look I hate from so many photo based textures, but to do so would be considered rude to the artists who uploaded them and the vendors who created them so I can't do it.
Photo based textures are not a guarantee of realism, they just aid the process but there are still no promises.
No, no one has stated that just because a texture makes use of human resource photos it is photo-realistic. Coming from the earliest days of Poser content sales there used to be a delineation between painted textures (aka painterly) and photo-realistic (those that made use of resource photos). It used to be a big selling point. Vendors were quick to point it out and users were quick to know which textures gave you a more realistic look. Things have come a long way since the days of P4/PPP.
There a good textures out there and there are not so good textures out there. It goes with the territory. And the more the market gets flooded with them, the more not so good will show up. Sometimes it seems like everyone and his grandmother is out to make a quick buck with Poser content sales. They grab a bunch of MR's and maybe a couple of photos, slap together a texture and call it done.
No, photo based textures don't guarantee realism. I never stated that they did. They give a better illusion of realism. The texture is only one small part of the whole. You can have a so-so texture but have all the other elements of the scene come together and the scene is good. Even if you have the greatest, most realistic texture created if the elements of the scene are poor, the scene is flop.
Why would you say more painterly? I think what BurstAngel is saying that she doesn't really need lots of overt uniqueness from a texture, because the more unique the fewer options one has for using it. If you create a skin with an unusual birth mark above the right eye of the forehead then it will be easy to recognize this skin each time it is used. A more generic texture without too many birth marks and other flaws is better, can be applied across more character demographies, and that is exactly what I am talking about. Skins that look plausible and natural, but that aren't so laden with uniqueness that they relegate themselves to a one time use only type of thing.
Having some flaws is good, but too many is overkill. What we need is a happy medium.
Kevin is great artist. But, there is a world of difference between sitting down with a blank canvas or sheet of paper and drawing a portrait and taking a texture template and trying to draw those same details on it. I know I can't do it. I'll have to open the archives from some of the very old Posette freebie textures I picked ages ago. Some of them had the skin tone color painted on the layer above the template because you can see the rough edges and brush strokes.
What kind of a price tag do you think Kevin would put on a texture like that? How many users would have the ability to render the texture and then take it into an image editor and color it? Would the gray scale texture even render as you expect? I'm not sure it would.
It wouldn't do me much good. My employers would look at me like I had lost my mind if I told them that well I had to render the texture in gray scale and then apply color in photoshop. I suppose I could print it out, get out my photo paints and paint the photo graph as was once done (I took a two semester course on this when I was working toward my MFA).
I call the textures painterly because it's how I differentiate between them. It's like the difference between a photo you take of your significant other and the lovely, flawless, retouched phots you see on the cover of magazines.
Yes, you need some flaws but who decides what is too many and what is a happy medium?
I have a couple of friends who are members of the 5 Nations. I pulled up the promo and showed it to them. They laughed hysterically at them. They wanted to know if the artists had ever actually seen a "Native American"? One of them wants a "nose job" like the character. Needless to say, they were as "impressed" by this release as they were by DAZ's last attempt at Native Americans. About the only product they will grant being close is the ethnic faces pack for Gen4 elite.
I have a couple of friends who are members of the 5 Nations. I pulled up the promo and showed it to them. They laughed hysterically at them. They wanted to know if the artists had ever actually seen a "Native American"? One of them wants a "nose job" like the character. Needless to say, they were as "impressed" by this release as they were by DAZ's last attempt at Native Americans. About the only product they will grant being close is the ethnic faces pack for Gen4 elite.
I would love to see Eastern Woodland Indian characters, props and clothing. Sorely needed for Colonial scenes, French and Indian War, Revolutionary war, early US scenes.
Past days I have been working on a dark skin for quite a few hours and it isn't looking near as I want it to.
I like to challenge myself and I have to say: this is a huge challenge ><<br /> This is a quick render I did to show how far I am after app. 16 hours of work and that's only the face...
Thing is, if I ever want to release it, I can't give it away for free because of the skin resource stated I can't give it away as a freebie :(
But it was the best startingpoint I could find and I do like the tweaking and fiddeling, it's like I am in my own little oyster when I am working on this as it takes a lot of concentration and I block my surroundings off entirely XD
I do know it still needs more pore details and the lashes are acting strange hmmz
Feedback is much appreciated!
I'd like you to meet Shaun (or part of him anyway LOL)
Icprn,
Thanks for explaining the terminology, I did not know the lingo and now that you explain it, it makes perfect sense.
Kelvin could work with colored pencils and produce much of the color variation in the same way he has done the shading. But I agree with you in the basic sense that all of what I am saying is hypothetical, so far I know of no one doing what I as suggesting.
MM3,
First, thanks for talking with me. I have a great deal of respect for what you do so please forgive my ignorance on certain things. I am considering going into this whole skin business and learning from you will be an essential part of that journey. Now and always I appreciate any feedback you can give me.
I believe that lighting is usually the first and most important consideration in any render. Agreeing with you, I think the only way to make a hand made texture look good under good lighting is to start with good lighting from the beginning of the texture building process. This approach should circumvent "surprises" down the road. If I can make it look good in Octane or Lux in tests, then it should translate well enough to the end user's application.
Again, thanks to both of you for talking with me. See ya soon.
Some nice things going on here. Generally, this experiment is going well. I'd say the SSS or ambient whichever is making the texture a little too pink-ish. The color saturation is itself a little too high, but with darker skinned characters a little more saturation is often needed. The details are okay for me, but in my opinion this resource is not as efficient in terms of resolution as it could be. Certain things such as the creases around the lips and the pores is lacking in sharpness.
Hi Estroyer.
16 hours of work for just the face only isn't actually a bad time. :)
i can't keep tracks of all the hours i have spent in textures...
I don't know if you are familiar with texture creation, if so, forget about the next lines, if you're not, it could help a bit :
You have a great start, don't forget that adding a specular map and a good shader (maybe SSS) will make all the difference (take a look at what you already have in your runtimes to see how they are achieved and used in different shaders in different characters).
Although, something to keep in mind : seams. Avoid working on the face only as it will have a lot of connection in other parts (head/ears/neck etc) so always think about the seams as you'll find them in the diffuse maps but also in bump maps, spec maps, normal maps if you create some etc...
Once again, you have an excellent start (i would change the eyebrows a bit as they seem a bit cartoonish, like a drawing, in opposite as the texture which is more photorealistic).
The lips seems to go a bit downer than the mesh itself (could be an angle illusion).
Keep on going, i want to see what comes next ;)
Cake
I have a couple of friends who are members of the 5 Nations. I pulled up the promo and showed it to them. They laughed hysterically at them. They wanted to know if the artists had ever actually seen a "Native American"? One of them wants a "nose job" like the character. Needless to say, they were as "impressed" by this release as they were by DAZ's last attempt at Native Americans. About the only product they will grant being close is the ethnic faces pack for Gen4 elite.
Would this be more to their liking?
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Navajo_woman_and_child.jpg
Apparently, Native Americans didn't wear deerskin bikinis either. :lol: Yes, the new product textures look interesting, but the morphs are unrealistic. I'd recommend some morph blending with African and Asian with thinner lips. There are certainly enough photo references available to get the general idea. I'm not trying to run down any PA's work either, but If you want "ethnic" 3D characters, then study the ethnic group. MM3 has apparently done that, but the economics of it don't support what's being asked for. I can't fault him for that, it's his business after all.