How to use LIE makeup & Tattoos with "high" gloss skin?

Hexdrake21

How to use LIE makeup & Tattoos with "high" gloss skin?

I don't know if anyone has used Digital Creation characters, but they have hyper-realistic skin achived using Skinray 2 which has a gloss. Applying make-up to these characters with the gloss never works, and I haven't yet isolated exactly what channel it is making/using (it is partly the Diffuse Overlay layer, but I think there is another setting I'm missing). I was wondering if there is an easy way to apply the LIE layer to the Diffuse Overlay channel? Simply turning the channel off creates problems (I use the Low gloss option included with the character to get to the basic skin). I tried creating a new layer in the other channels and using the Copy Layer Settings from the Base Map to the other channels, but it won't let me paste them. I know pasting the Base/Trans maps to the other maps will ruin the gloss effect. I've invested most of my $ into LIE products and normally they work quite well, but in this case my ignorance of how to use them properly is biting me in the butt.

Attached is are screenshots of the model AC Ashley with and without make-up from the Ultimate Make-up Sets which uses LIE. The figure on the right is the base model w/o morphs, while the left figure is with morphs. The left shot is with high gloss skin, the right low gloss skin. LIE facial make-up from other sources have the same problem. I know the easy answer is to just turn off the gloss effect, but I was wondering if I could have my cake and eat it too?

 

ps2000

I am not sure how to do it, but have you tried using the LIE-editor under the surfaces tab. There you should be able to edit the different layers (including the ly tattoo). Maybe change the opacity setting?

You could also try to combine the lie tattoo and the texture map directly to one map in photoshop or gimp and then choose this edited map instead of the original one. 

Hexdrake21

Yes I have. I can see the LIE layer within the Base map and Translucency maps. It is not in the other settings, and I don't know how to "copy" the Base map LIE layer to say the Diffuse map LIE layer. However when I copy the layer, close the Base map and open the Diffuse map, the paste option is grayed out. I am guessing that means you can only paste wihtin a map.

I don't even know if a LIE layer works in the DIffuse map (I assume it does). I haven't tried the opacity setting, but I would think that making the "high" gloss invisible would take away the gloss, therefore defeating the purpose of using the high gloss. A bit of a Mobius strip one might say ;-)