Daz Original 8 Figures - Most Photorealistic Skin?

zombiewhacker

Among the PA created figures, characters by Blue Jaunte and Mousso are consistently cited as having the best, most photorealistic skins.

But among the Daz Original core figures, who would you nominate as having the most realistic skins? I'm not only talking about the quality of the maps themselves but also how those textures are implemented via Iray surface settings.

I'm trying to learn how to create better, more realistic skins for my own creations and it would be helpful to have good examples to study more closely.

Gordig

Jada 8.1

A lot of people on the forums speak highly of Babina's skin also.

charles

It depends on  your lighting and goals and figure. There is no magic one that fits all. I personally like bluejaunte as a base and tweak... A LOT. But that's just for here, there is a lot of other options outside of the daz store as well.

 

 

 

marble

charles said:

It depends on  your lighting and goals and figure. There is no magic one that fits all. I personally like bluejaunte as a base and tweak... A LOT. But that's just for here, there is a lot of other options outside of the daz store as well.

 

 

 

I use @bluejaunte and iSource Textures skins almost exclusively these days. No matter what character (mostly morphed extensively using the sliders and morph packs), those skins are hard to beat. Some of my older females use Grandmother or Mabel skins though. I hope @bluejaunte makes an older character too.

One thing that will instantly cause me to abandon a skin texture is the presence of creases and shadows - especally where the skin has to bend. Most particularly in the glute area. a dark line embedded in the texture for the glute crease becomes an ugly thick smear when the thighs are bent. If I really like that skin otherwise, I will take the time to try to paint out the line in an image editor but I think that PAs should be aware of this problem.

 

Gordig

Guys, the OP is clearly and specifically asking about Daz core figures. 

marble

Gordig said:

Guys, the OP is clearly and specifically asking about Daz core figures. 

Sorry - didn't spot that. 

benniewoodell

Sahira 8 is my absolute favorite skin for realism. A number of my friends have messaged me after I post images with a custom character I made using her textures if she was real or not because they really weren't sure. 

zombiewhacker

marble said:

Gordig said:

Guys, the OP is clearly and specifically asking about Daz core figures. 

Sorry - didn't spot that. 

But thank you just the same, Marble. I hadn't considered iSourceTextures characters as a possibility so I will definitely look into that.

j cade

In no particular order 

Alawa

Angharad

Babina

CJ

Celani

Millawa

Sahira

Twosret

Men are harder because I prefer no baked in hair (including stubble)

Juan Carlos 

Kjaer

Michael 

Nix

Worth noting I'm a texture map peeper myself and pretty much all of these share some key features: High contrast spec maps and normalized luminance for base color and bump (ie no dark nostrils and no dark lips on the bump map because its just a converted diffuse texture)

 

I'm much pickier with eyes than anything else and there are fewer core figures with truly great eyes

CJ Alawa Mabel Twosret Kjaer, Juan Carlos plus pretty much all the 8.1 characters (the new uvs have eyes that are less of a pain to make eyes for so naturally more figures have good eyes)

 

Also controversial take but I like pretty much all the 8.1 skins. Even the maligned Michael 8.1 and Jazz. I like that they have roughness maps. I listed Celani as a character who's textures I really like, but stick her next to Jada and its not even close which one looks more real.

 

Its also worth taking a gander at the artstation characters - Tara, Underbelly, White Priestess as they were made outside the daz ecosystem. We're a bit of our own subculture with our own conventions that are how things have always been done. and looking at things with a lot of the work done completely removed from those influences can be very helpful.

novastrider

Babina is by far the best Originals skin. I cannot express how far ahead it is of other G8's. Extremely versatile, adapts great on different figures. Excellent details and correct pores in all the right places, especially all the wrinkles around the eyes with the little redness which PAs tend to forget. And does not require the unusably heavy SubD4 to look good at all. Pretty sure it's a textures dot xys skin. Would recommend you learn from that one.

j cade

novastrider said:

Babina is by far the best Originals skin. I cannot express how far ahead it is of other G8's. Extremely versatile, adapts great on different figures. Excellent details and correct pores in all the right places, especially all the wrinkles around the eyes with the little redness which PAs tend to forget. And does not require the unusably heavy SubD4 to look good at all. Pretty sure it's a textures dot xys skin. Would recommend you learn from that one.

As an avowed texture peeper it's definitely not a textures.xyz based texture, as it still has a tiny bit of baked lighting data in it. The texturing.xyz maps are all taken with cross polarized filters to remove all specular from them.

I think the reason babina stands out as real is she has a bit less even skin tone than most textures - more purple around the eyes as you mentioned. And just a bit less even all around.

The new 8.1 textures on the other hand do look closer to texturing.xyz ones. absolutely no baked in lighting data on them. And theres actual confirmation that certain elements use stuff from texturing.xyz at minimum

Sevrin

novastrider said:

Babina is by far the best Originals skin. I cannot express how far ahead it is of other G8's. Extremely versatile, adapts great on different figures. Excellent details and correct pores in all the right places, especially all the wrinkles around the eyes with the little redness which PAs tend to forget. And does not require the unusably heavy SubD4 to look good at all. Pretty sure it's a textures dot xys skin. Would recommend you learn from that one.

This is not exactly a big secret.  There's a Daz Blog article referencing Texturing.xyz.

Ready for a Closeup: Texturing XYZ Makes Realistic Textures a Breeze - Daz 3D Blog 

Paintbox

A revent VYK character at rendo had some great realism to it. Ritchie is the name.

jimmyzpop

I say Jada 8.1 and Victoria 8.1. There are others like Babina and etc. but for me those two are the most realistic base skins I have seen.

zombiewhacker

j cade said:

novastrider said:

Babina is by far the best Originals skin. I cannot express how far ahead it is of other G8's. Extremely versatile, adapts great on different figures. Excellent details and correct pores in all the right places, especially all the wrinkles around the eyes with the little redness which PAs tend to forget. And does not require the unusably heavy SubD4 to look good at all. Pretty sure it's a textures dot xys skin. Would recommend you learn from that one.

As an avowed texture peeper it's definitely not a textures.xyz based texture, as it still has a tiny bit of baked lighting data in it. The texturing.xyz maps are all taken with cross polarized filters to remove all specular from them.

 

I think the reason babina stands out as real is she has a bit less even skin tone than most textures - more purple around the eyes as you mentioned. And just a bit less even all around.

 

The new 8.1 textures on the other hand do look closer to texturing.xyz ones. absolutely no baked in lighting data on them. And theres actual confirmation that certain elements use stuff from texturing.xyz at minimum

As a GIMP user I'm wondering if there's a workflow to removed baked lighting (glossiness) from texture skins.  I rely on high resolution real skin textures for sources, and even the best quality samples have traces of shimmer and shine.

zombiewhacker

Also has anyone here ever shopped at Texturing xyz and can you recommend them?

outrider42

zombiewhacker said:

j cade said:

novastrider said:

Babina is by far the best Originals skin. I cannot express how far ahead it is of other G8's. Extremely versatile, adapts great on different figures. Excellent details and correct pores in all the right places, especially all the wrinkles around the eyes with the little redness which PAs tend to forget. And does not require the unusably heavy SubD4 to look good at all. Pretty sure it's a textures dot xys skin. Would recommend you learn from that one.

As an avowed texture peeper it's definitely not a textures.xyz based texture, as it still has a tiny bit of baked lighting data in it. The texturing.xyz maps are all taken with cross polarized filters to remove all specular from them.

 

I think the reason babina stands out as real is she has a bit less even skin tone than most textures - more purple around the eyes as you mentioned. And just a bit less even all around.

 

The new 8.1 textures on the other hand do look closer to texturing.xyz ones. absolutely no baked in lighting data on them. And theres actual confirmation that certain elements use stuff from texturing.xyz at minimum

As a GIMP user I'm wondering if there's a workflow to removed baked lighting (glossiness) from texture skins.  I rely on high resolution real skin textures for sources, and even the best quality samples have traces of shimmer and shine.

I have done this some. But I also like mixing textures. Even if I do get a Daz Original (which has been increasingly less frequent) I will still Bluejaunte's gloss maps on them. They work almost universally with some minor edits. Since Bluejaunte has not created a male, I converted some of his texture sets to the male UV. They work great.

If any are wondering, I bought the UV Swap product that lets you switch male and female UVs. Then I used the Map Transfer feature in Daz to bake the textures to match the male UV. This way, I can now mix the Bluejaunte gloss maps with any male texture. Whooo! 

j cade

zombiewhacker said:

j cade said:

novastrider said:

Babina is by far the best Originals skin. I cannot express how far ahead it is of other G8's. Extremely versatile, adapts great on different figures. Excellent details and correct pores in all the right places, especially all the wrinkles around the eyes with the little redness which PAs tend to forget. And does not require the unusably heavy SubD4 to look good at all. Pretty sure it's a textures dot xys skin. Would recommend you learn from that one.

As an avowed texture peeper it's definitely not a textures.xyz based texture, as it still has a tiny bit of baked lighting data in it. The texturing.xyz maps are all taken with cross polarized filters to remove all specular from them.

 

I think the reason babina stands out as real is she has a bit less even skin tone than most textures - more purple around the eyes as you mentioned. And just a bit less even all around.

 

The new 8.1 textures on the other hand do look closer to texturing.xyz ones. absolutely no baked in lighting data on them. And theres actual confirmation that certain elements use stuff from texturing.xyz at minimum

As a GIMP user I'm wondering if there's a workflow to removed baked lighting (glossiness) from texture skins.  I rely on high resolution real skin textures for sources, and even the best quality samples have traces of shimmer and shine.

 Its manual, but hard to go wrong with using the healing tool. on a new layer set to darken set the alignment to "aligned" and the target right next to you brush 

since the mode is darken it will just cut the highlights and since its on a new layer you can contol the strength after the fact as well

 

healing tool is also great for removing baked in eyebrows (tho with your new layer set to lighten instead)

Masterstroke

I am a huge fan of ISourceTexture's skin shaders. They are my absolute favorite ones.

Cora Regina

I just wish iSourceTextures had more than one, literally just one, male character available. He looks great and I do plan to pick him up ASAP (hopefully the acne is one of the makeup options mentioned because while I really like the scarring detail I don't need active breakouts all the time), but I'd love to see more than just one white boy. I'd happily pick up any male characters they chose to release, especially darker-skinned male characters.

Ayana for G3F may be my fave so far. Her texture that embraces stretch marks is just to die for, it's accurate to life and and gives her realism that a lot of other characters lack, even ones with shader setups that are technically improved. I don't often buy female characters, but I need to have her.

Sera

I would very much like to see more men from iSourceTextures. I am willing to edit out a bit of acne if I can, but would also prefer it to just be a makeup option. Here's to hoping the men get some love.

Rod Wise Driggo

Jada 8.1 is simply sensational.

MimicMolly

Cora Regina said:

I just wish iSourceTextures had more than one, literally just one, male character available. He looks great and I do plan to pick him up ASAP (hopefully the acne is one of the makeup options mentioned because while I really like the scarring detail I don't need active breakouts all the time), but I'd love to see more than just one white boy. I'd happily pick up any male characters they chose to release, especially darker-skinned male characters.

Ayana for G3F may be my fave so far. Her texture that embraces stretch marks is just to die for, it's accurate to life and and gives her realism that a lot of other characters lack, even ones with shader setups that are technically improved. I don't often buy female characters, but I need to have her.

He's got two, Commodus and Trajan https://www.daz3d.com/trajan-hd-for-genesis-8-male , I have the latter and also wish for more variety.

For DOs, favorite male skin is Vladimir 8. I use his normals and HD a lot on other characters. A close second are Kjaer 8 and Nix 8. For females, possibly Edie 8 or Ellithia 8. I prefer PA characters for that, than DOs.

zombiewhacker

j cade said:

zombiewhacker said:

j cade said:

novastrider said:

Babina is by far the best Originals skin. I cannot express how far ahead it is of other G8's. Extremely versatile, adapts great on different figures. Excellent details and correct pores in all the right places, especially all the wrinkles around the eyes with the little redness which PAs tend to forget. And does not require the unusably heavy SubD4 to look good at all. Pretty sure it's a textures dot xys skin. Would recommend you learn from that one.

As an avowed texture peeper it's definitely not a textures.xyz based texture, as it still has a tiny bit of baked lighting data in it. The texturing.xyz maps are all taken with cross polarized filters to remove all specular from them.

 

I think the reason babina stands out as real is she has a bit less even skin tone than most textures - more purple around the eyes as you mentioned. And just a bit less even all around.

 

The new 8.1 textures on the other hand do look closer to texturing.xyz ones. absolutely no baked in lighting data on them. And theres actual confirmation that certain elements use stuff from texturing.xyz at minimum

As a GIMP user I'm wondering if there's a workflow to removed baked lighting (glossiness) from texture skins.  I rely on high resolution real skin textures for sources, and even the best quality samples have traces of shimmer and shine.

 Its manual, but hard to go wrong with using the healing tool. on a new layer set to darken set the alignment to "aligned" and the target right next to you brush 

since the mode is darken it will just cut the highlights and since its on a new layer you can contol the strength after the fact as well

 

healing tool is also great for removing baked in eyebrows (tho with your new layer set to lighten instead)

+1

Tried this out and it worked like a charm.  Thanks for the tip! 

wmiller314

I'm going to offer up Bridget 8 as one of my favorite skins. https://www.daz3d.com/bridget-8 But this may just be because I crush hard on girls with freckles. Probably because I always wanted freckles. Anyway, it's a good skin and I've gotten a lot of use out of it.

BandoriFan

Masterstroke said:

I am a huge fan of ISourceTexture's skin shaders. They are my absolute favorite ones.

They make really good characters and they're pretty tall too. I thought Hatsumomo would be around 148-153cm but she's 180 tho still pretty good and we can adjust heights as needed anyway 

novastrider

wmiller314 said:

I'm going to offer up Bridget 8 as one of my favorite skins. https://www.daz3d.com/bridget-8 But this may just be because I crush hard on girls with freckles. Probably because I always wanted freckles. Anyway, it's a good skin and I've gotten a lot of use out of it.

Legend tells that if you move to Ireland, you get free freckles. :)

takezo_3001

marble said:

charles said:

It depends on  your lighting and goals and figure. There is no magic one that fits all. I personally like bluejaunte as a base and tweak... A LOT. But that's just for here, there is a lot of other options outside of the daz store as well.

 

 

 

I use @bluejaunte and iSource Textures skins almost exclusively these days. No matter what character (mostly morphed extensively using the sliders and morph packs), those skins are hard to beat. Some of my older females use Grandmother or Mabel skins though. I hope @bluejaunte makes an older character too.

One thing that will instantly cause me to abandon a skin texture is the presence of creases and shadows - especally where the skin has to bend. Most particularly in the glute area. a dark line embedded in the texture for the glute crease becomes an ugly thick smear when the thighs are bent. If I really like that skin otherwise, I will take the time to try to paint out the line in an image editor but I think that PAs should be aware of this problem.

^This x 129.75%!^

I also don't care for high levels of highlights and outlines of the bewbs, sculpted lighting shading as well as jet-black nostrils/ear canals, which makes the skins ultra unrealistic and too much work to repair!

...And don't get me started on creased glutes/heavily highlit normal and bump maps!

EDIT: Curious that XYZ doesn't do skins with kids/early teens which is weird that a high-level skin repository only has 20+-year-old and up skins... but I suppose I can attribute that to the extreme fear of abuse.

charles

takezo_3001 said:

marble said:

charles said:

It depends on  your lighting and goals and figure. There is no magic one that fits all. I personally like bluejaunte as a base and tweak... A LOT. But that's just for here, there is a lot of other options outside of the daz store as well.

 

 

 

I use @bluejaunte and iSource Textures skins almost exclusively these days. No matter what character (mostly morphed extensively using the sliders and morph packs), those skins are hard to beat. Some of my older females use Grandmother or Mabel skins though. I hope @bluejaunte makes an older character too.

One thing that will instantly cause me to abandon a skin texture is the presence of creases and shadows - especally where the skin has to bend. Most particularly in the glute area. a dark line embedded in the texture for the glute crease becomes an ugly thick smear when the thighs are bent. If I really like that skin otherwise, I will take the time to try to paint out the line in an image editor but I think that PAs should be aware of this problem.

^This x 129.75%!^

I also don't care for high levels of highlights and outlines of the bewbs, sculpted lighting shading as well as jet-black nostrils/ear canals, which makes the skins ultra unrealistic and too much work to repair!

...And don't get me started on creased glutes/heavily highlit normal and bump maps!

EDIT: Curious that XYZ doesn't do skins with kids/early teens which is weird that a high-level skin repository only has 20+-year-old and up skins... but I suppose I can attribute that to the extreme fear of abuse.

Substance Painter, just paint those skin details onto the bump map, I stay away from normal maps these days except for generic ones that I still turn way down. 

I do use XYZ for some stuff but still prefer to sample from 3D-SK.

 

Cora Regina

MimicMolly said:

Cora Regina said:

I just wish iSourceTextures had more than one, literally just one, male character available. He looks great and I do plan to pick him up ASAP (hopefully the acne is one of the makeup options mentioned because while I really like the scarring detail I don't need active breakouts all the time), but I'd love to see more than just one white boy. I'd happily pick up any male characters they chose to release, especially darker-skinned male characters.

Ayana for G3F may be my fave so far. Her texture that embraces stretch marks is just to die for, it's accurate to life and and gives her realism that a lot of other characters lack, even ones with shader setups that are technically improved. I don't often buy female characters, but I need to have her.

He's got two, Commodus and Trajan https://www.daz3d.com/trajan-hd-for-genesis-8-male , I have the latter and also wish for more variety.

For DOs, favorite male skin is Vladimir 8. I use his normals and HD a lot on other characters. A close second are Kjaer 8 and Nix 8. For females, possibly Edie 8 or Ellithia 8. I prefer PA characters for that, than DOs.

I forgot about Trajan! He wasn't showing up since I own him, but sadly he's on the list of things installed with DIM that got hijacked and broken by Connect. It's such a process to find and fix them all that it's been taking me months, and he totally slipped my mind. I definitely still plan to get Commodus as well, and any other guys that the artist releases!

I also like Nix, though I do still need to fix his nipple placement on the maps. I love that he doesn't have baked-in beard stubble OR a baked-in hairline. I love Kjaer, but not his really obvious black temple/sideburn stubble. It can be difficult to cover or disguise since I'm not great at map editing, and many hairstyles I like are either female or "unisex," with a male fit provided but the same very feminine hairline.

 

What do people think of Elios 8? He feels very much like Genesis 8's spiritual successor to the Gianni line, but unfortunately he has very few Gallery credits, which makes it hard to form an opinion about how he renders (and since I don't have him yet I can't look under the hood).

mumia76

My favorite og skins are Bridget 8 and Teen Josie 8.