Is it possible to "delete" certain parts of the eye?
dissentrix
Posts: 70
Hi, I know this might seem like a weird question ; I'm basically experimenting with various settings in DAZ, in particular in the "Surfaces" tab (this is 3Delight I'm talking about). So one of the things I'm interested in is trying to modify the eye textures. And an effect I'd like to be able to achieve is, essentially, to not have an iris at all - so it'd pretty much be a fairly unified sclera with pupils in the middle. This is where my issue comes in.
Now, I am aware (or at least, I assume) that this isn't a simple matter of switching one or two settings - I tried setting the opacity of the irises to 0, with predictable results (namely, the giant black pupil and the eye sockets were visible). What I'm trying to do at this point is photoshopping the eye's texture in order to have a unified sclera. The issue I'm running into is that, whenever I try to import my (admittedly kind of wonky) new texture, there are weird black "rings" around the irises, and I'm also having trouble getting the iris texture to smoothly be unified with the background sclera texture. I've got an image of my current attempt below.
It's possible that this question is better asked on the Photoshop forums ; however, I'd still like to know if someone has any ideas as to how to make this easier, or whether it's even theoretically possible (without having to ask for someone to create a new product). I'm also willing to try to perfect my own texture creation skills, but I really don't have any sort of experience in it.
Daz 3D is part of 
Connect
DAZ Productions, Inc.
7533 S Center View Ct #4664
West Jordan, UT 84084
Licensing Agreement | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | EULA
© 2025 Daz Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Comments
Could you just select the figure, go to the Sufaces tab, remove the maps from the iris and set cutoff opacity to 100% or set the iris with the same sclera texture?
If you want to texture some 3D model you need to know where to paint. That is the time where you need the right UV layout also called texture template for the 3D model.
I was enhancing some character eye textures myself and in order to do that I've created some UV-templates from the genesis 3 eyes with the Blender Image/UV editor.
What you trying to do sounds not that easy but the whole eye textures and surfaces are not that easy to understand.
I hope you can make use of the attached UV-template/layout/whatever I quickly made with photoshop.
By looking at my character textures and the eye textures I got, it seems even PA's are confused about the eye textures. I wonder why they put the iris on the upper green sclera/cornea area, often this can lead to the issue that the iris color is showing up on the sclera.
Edit: If you have an eye texture with the Iris painted on the Sclear/Conea the only chance to fix this is to use the clone-stamp brush and paint some of the white Sclera over it.
The Cornea covers the Iris and Pupil surface and is simply set transparent most times. This will give you an harsh transition between the Sclera and the Iris. Idealy you would want to have an opacity map applied to the sclera to have it look realistic in close ups with a blury transition. This will also make the iris look slightly bigger.
The dark red color area of the Iris (lower blue part) in the UV-template is aproximatly the area of geometry that is covered by the Sclera geometry. The other attached images are some opacitiy maps for the sclera surface I've created while experimenting. To solve your issue I would create an Opacity map like the Sclera maps I've attached but with smaler black circles to define the size of the new Iris. Then also apply this opacity map to the Cornea to get the effect you asked for.
Thank you both for your answers!
I don't really understand what you're suggesting here. "Cutoff opacity" is not a setting in the 3Delight Surfaces tab (I think there might be a "Cutout Opacity" setting in Iray, that might be what you're referring to?), but I assume that it's the equivalent of the "Opacity" setting in 3Delight - removing the textures from the iris and leaving it at 100% results in a solid color which isn't what I'm looking for (so, if the "Diffuse Color" is white, then it'll be white) ; I presume that's what you meant by "remove the maps", but feel free to correct me if I understood wrong. As for the other suggestion, the iris already has the same texture as the sclera, it's the same file ; trying to "overwrite" the iris with the sclera, in Photoshop for instance, just results in a weird unnatural iris, as it seems that it has a specific "zone" allotted to it - so simply pasting the sclera texture basically makes a smaller sclera within the eye, with the edges and everything, which obviously isn't really what I'm looking for either.
This seems exactly like what I'm looking to do, but I'm having a hard time making sense of your instructions, although I do appreciate your help! As I said, I have very little experience with texture painting, so I'm not too familiar with terms like "PA", "UV layout", or "Opacity map". One main question I do have is: what is the difference between the various opacity maps you've provided? They all have different file sizes, and some have larger dimensions or are less blurry, but why did you provide so many? Another question; since you seem to be aware of the eye's layout, is: the "cornea" is the small black dot in the upper part of your schematic, right? Then how does it translate to the bottom part - does it cover as much as the sclera does at the bottom (when it's not transparent, I mean)?
If I'm understanding what you're saying, you'd essentially "replace" the cornea with an opacity map that would make everything underneath, including the iris, transparent, so that it conserves the sclera? And, from what I understand about transparency maps, that would involve replacing the area of the iris with black?
I might be completely misinterpreting what you're saying here, and if so I apologize. I just want to make sure I understand this correctly.
Again, though, thank you both!
Don't worry after writing this I thought myself this is not that well written. Also had edit it because after posting I realized there could be an issue with the eye texture itself. I was talking about a more common issue with the eyes I was facing just to descripe the opacity/transparency maps and how you could use them to archive what you asked for. But this raised up more questions we now can talk about.
To get a better understanding of the different Surfaces I would load a genesis 3/8 figure (don't know which you are using) into a Daz Studio scene. Next open the Tools Settings pane with the Geometry Editor tool selected. You will find a list that starts with Face Groups collapse it. The second in the list are the Surfaces, if you select them you also get the surface highlighted in red on the mesh in the 3D view (viewport). To get a better view you can isolate the eyes by hiding the Face/Body/ears surface with the eye icon right next to it. To zoom in real close select the eye in the viewport and press Ctrl+F. That is how I learned how the eye geometry and the surfaces are made. See the attached image for an example. I found Lit Wireframe to be the best preview mode to see the red highlight.
I just want to say if this is your first re-texturing attempt with the eyes you have choosen the hardest part to modify of the whole figure. However this is propably the most important part of a character because humans tend to first look at the eyes.
PA = Product Artist (a person who is a vendor / product designer for the Daz3D shop content)
UV Layout = In short the UV Layout is the 2D repersentation of the 3D model surfaces. We need to know where exactly the texture we paint will actualy end up on the 3D object. This is a very basic concept in 3D texturing in general. To understand this better I recommend watching some Youtube videos like this: The Basics of UV Mapping or Blender Intermediate UV Unwrapping Tutorial
Opacity (texture) map = It is basicly a black and white image. It works like a layer mask in photoshop (my advice if you learn photoshop learn how to use masks on layers). Black pixels are completly transparent and white pixels are completly visible. Any grayscale in between will be some degree of transparency. You can also call them transparency maps. The confusion about the right term comes from the fact that in Daz Studio's Surface pane it will be called "Cutout Opacity" if you have a iRay shader and "Opacity" if you have a 3Delight shader. The "Opacity" map will be a seperate texture loaded as a mask on top of the 3Delight = diffuse | iRay = Base Color - texture.
In 3D software it often seems everyone is using another term for the same thing.
I have provided so much opacity maps because like I sayed I experimented with finding the right diameter and how blurry the edge should be. At some point I think I raised up the image resolution from 2024 to 4096 to have more detail for the iris texture for the close up render of the eye I was making. I just uploaded them all because I can't remember which was working for me. After all they just serve as an example.
BTW I did work with the eye textures for a Genesis 3 figure and I assumed that the UVs are the same for Genesis 8 because I've heared that the textures are interchangeable. But the great thing about answering questions here in the forum is that you also learn by doing reseach to find a solution.
By loading the Genesis 8 Female into Blender and comparing it with the schematic I've drawn for Genesis 3 I've noticed some difference and a slightly missmatch of a few pixels that would make my opacity maps useless for Genesis 8 because again the diameter of the cornea is different (actualy it is the Sclera that you would want to apply the opacity map to). See the attached image to see what I mean. It seems to me that with Genesis 8 they tried to simplify the geometry so the Cornea becomes a part of the EyeMoisture surface. While the Sclera now it is connected with the Iris surface so there will be no overlap anymore. This also removes one layer of geometry in front of the iris that you would have to set transparent.
[Edit]: I've also attached a working Eyes_ScleraMask-Opacity_06.jpg that is big enougth to mask any iris painted to the sclera.
All right, so first, thank you very much for your help! It's appreciated that you took the time to write and explain all this out.
Now, I think I understand a little better. Essentially, if I understood correctly (but do feel free to correct me if I got something wrong) and try to summarize what you're suggesting, it is to:
a) Use an opacity map to cover the sclera, so that the part that contains the cornea (what seems equivalent to the iris - in G3F at least - according to you and what I've seen in the Tool Settings experiment that you suggested; btw, thanks for that, that was quite a helpful series of tips) becomes transparent (black on the opacity map), so as to have only the sclera and its retexturing be visible;
b) Then, paint over the texture of the sclera according to what I have in mind.
If I got that right, then this seems fairly straightforward. I'll definitely watch the UV videos you linked, though I do have just a few more questions - sorry about that!
1) Your Opacity Map file, would it work on Genesis 3 Female (which is what I'm using, apologies for not explaining that properly), or did you work from Genesis 8 and, as a result, it can't work on G3F? Or would it simply work on both?
2) If I use your opacity map - or one similar to it, wouldn't it also cover the pupils? If so, would I have to paint them in to conserve them, or could I theoretically "un-hide" them from the opacity map?
3) Finally, concerning the best way to actually paint: is Photoshop the software you'd use for something like this? I assume Blender is only for unwrapping the UV. Are the texture files provided in each asset folder in the DAZ library what you'd call UV layouts that are already unwrapped, then? So is it okay to paint on those directly, or do I need some intermediate step?
Again, I can't thank you enough for your help. This thread was a real godsend in helping me understand textures and how DAZ handles them a bit better.
I'm glad I could help. The eye textures are an interesting topic and I hope other present or future readers can also benefit from this discussion.
I see you just started trying out texturing since you have Photoshop and Daz Studio. I started the same a few years ago but I found it took quiet some time to learn all the basics. As they say there is a steep learning curve but the more you know the easier it gets. Coincidentally I did work on eye textures lately and thougt this thread is an opportunity to show you what I've just learned and make it easier for others so one could start with the creative process of texture painting without much hassle.
So many questions OK let me try to answer:
a) Correct, while in my material settings I set the cornea opacity slider down to 0% and with the porvided opacity maps I was trying to hide some edge of the sclera. You could do the opposite: sclera opacity slider up to 100% and then create yourself an opacity map for the cornea surface alone that just masks/hides aproximately the size of the pupil. You can shape the opacity map as you like - I can think of a few alien/fantasy/sci-fi like shapes.
b) I spent quiet some time browsing my content library for good genesis 3 character eye textures (I was searching for the most detailed blue eyed iris I could find) and it seems all eye textures from the Daz3D store I got contain the iris painted somewhere on the cornea/sclear surface. I have a guess in mind that the Daz quality ashurance tells the artists that there should be an iris painted on the upper cornea/sclear area. Maybe it has something to do with the idea that if you see the figure without transparent eye material you will have a preview of the original iris and pupil underneath on the opaque cornea surface.
The only eye textures I found that include a seperate SC_Sclera.jpg without an iris and that does things different within the Surface-Shader-Material settings was from an artist on the other marketplace site called: secondcircle - the character is called Juliette for Genesis 3 Female but I also found characters called Beth and Laurana from the same artist that use those sclera maps. You could purchase one of those to have a clean sclera map. The only downside of this texture I 've seen alot of detailed blood vessels on the most visible part of the sclera to me looking too much like bloodshot eyes, so I went into photoshop again using the clone-stamp brush to paint over some veins with white sclera.
1) Like mentioned I made the opacity maps for genesis 3, in theory like any G3 character texture of the same gender you can use those on genesis 8 too but the Cornea and the Iris don't align up perfectly, no guranty that they will look exactly the same on both figures from my side.
2) Every surface can have their own opacity maps you only need to apply your custom opacity map to the cornea that you want to shrink in diameter and mask a hole in the center so you can see the pupils behind.
3) I would say Photoshop is well capable of creating or editing the textures. But when it comes to fianlize the textures for example if you have to fix some seams where the UV-islands connect you can't do this in 2D. The only way of doing this is by painting on the model in a 3D view. Even Photoshop offers some kind of 3D painting, just try to open an OBJ and switch to the 3D workspace. But surprisingly I found Blender does this job painting on the 3D mesh way better and preforming better. You can start painting in 2D, apply the texture to the imported OBJ mesh in blender and use the Texture Paint mode along with the Clone-Stamp brush to paint over any visible seams in 3D and across all UV islands you may have on your UV-Layout.
No I've just exported a base mesh resolution version of the Genesis 3 figure with textures applied as OBJ out of Daz Studio to import it to Blender for to have a look at the UVs. Also in Blender there is an option to export the UV layout as transparent PNG that can serve you as a texture template. Those templates are based on the default UV Layout called "Base Female" / "Base Male" that the genesis figure gets loaded with. And yes you can directly paint on them and load it as a texture map.
Another approach is to load the templates or my scematics with the UV layout as a new layer into photoshop and have it on top of your texture layer to see how everything is aligned and placed on the 3D mesh. It is quiet handy to have the the transparent PNGs from blender for that purpose you can even add color to the islands in the material settings.
In Photoshop you can also select the UV layout layer and use the Magic-Wand tool by clicking the blank space followed by Ctrl+Shift+i to invert the selection, then add a few more pixels around by growing/expanding the selection and use this selection as a mask on a group of layers that can contain all your texture paint. Anything painted outside the UV-layout will be ignored and not show up on the 3D model. There is another thing to consider and that is to avoid visible seams, first you may have heard the term island margin in those posted blender videos that is neseccary because you want the UV islands to be seperated. There is some thing called "bleeding factor" that can cause issues at the seams but can be avoided if you add a few pixels wide edge around the texture you paint.
A short overview of the Blender Texture Painting workflow in the old 2.75 version: Texture Painting | Quick start | Blender | 3min
Just load up a genesis character in Daz Studio and have a look into the Surfaces pane and see where the textures are saved in your content libary the path will include the folders Library/Runtime/Textures that is the location where textures are loaded from.
All right, thanks a lot! I'll be checking all this out.