Sorry Skin Seams Again

Masterstroke

What was the solution again for avoiding skin seams with spectral Rendering settings?
I know, it has been already discussed, but where?
Can I have a link, please?

takezo_3001

Masterstroke said:

What was the solution again for avoiding skin seams with spectral Rendering settings?
I know, it has been already discussed, but where?
Can I have a link, please?

The solution is simple, under the transmission setting change the color to 254-254-254 it works for me!

Bear with me I'm hunting for a link...

Here's the guide I was looking for and hooray, it's in a PDF and not some rambling 2-hour video!

!SSS <=So this post can be easily searched...

Masterstroke

Thank you, that helped 

takezo_3001

Masterstroke said:

Thank you, that helped 

Cool, I'm really glad it did, happy rendering! 

margrave

Masterstroke said:

What was the solution again for avoiding skin seams with spectral Rendering settings?
I know, it has been already discussed, but where?
Can I have a link, please?

I put some test renders in this thread:

https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/505821/an-angry-rant-but-not-exactly-at-daz/

tl;dr The updated PBR Skin shader seems to do a much better job with SSS seams.

Masterstroke

Yeah, after following the instructions the seams are gone. The downside is, the whole skin looks horrible.

takezo_3001

Masterstroke said:

Yeah, after following the instructions the seams are gone. The downside is, the whole skin looks horrible.

Wait a bit, I'll post my settings here!

My settings, I focused on the face and these are the default G8 textures:

My specular render setting is natural 1964

EDIT: Sorry those were my old settings, I'll post my recent ones!

Ok, here are my settings! She's a lot lighter/pinker, but you can tweak the translucency color to get the desired color/brightness, or you can just use the diffuse map instead of the brighter sss map with the translucency color!

Masterstroke

Cool, thanks. I will take a closer look at it tomorrow.

takezo_3001

Masterstroke said:

Cool, thanks. I will take a closer look at it tomorrow.

Quick note, you should have the eye socket at 50-80% translucency instead of 100% I keep forgetting about those cursed eyesockets!

Masterstroke

It needs a lot of time to investigate this. What looks cool in your renders, looks bad in mine. Often way to dark or flat, which is worse with PBR shaders.
The visible seams issue is even more weird, for it sometimes shows up, and sometimes doesn't.
Still Thank you for being helpful. It will take me some time to figure that out.

takezo_3001

Masterstroke said:

It needs a lot of time to investigate this. What looks cool in your renders, looks bad in mine. Often way to dark or flat, which is worse with PBR shaders.
The visible seams issue is even more weird, for it sometimes shows up, and sometimes doesn't.
Still Thank you for being helpful. It will take me some time to figure that out.

Wait a sec, have you tried using the diffuse mats in the translucency color instead of the worthless SSS maps? This is assuming that you're using G8's default mats.

EDIT: Also, try setting the translucency color to white... also, I used the V8.1 textures in my last post, so that's why it looks different, this here is using the default G8.1 textures.

I've also posted my rendering settings to provide a less blown-out lighting model...

Masterstroke

For Translucency Maps, I keep using the same Maps as for Diffuse maps. 
No matter what I try neither your way, nor any other way look o.k. to me, when I do it. 
I don t get it, it looks really cool in your exsamples, but I just cannot reproduce those results.

BTW There are lots of recommendations of other arists skin shaders like bluejaunte, but his settings always look to dark and to dry in my renders. Also Mousso's don't work for me. 
I ve noticed that dark skinned characters render much more realistic, than bright skinned. 
If you check promos, you'll see, that bright skinned characters often look like plastic dolls.

Mostley I am o.k. with the ISourceTextures shaders, the only issue I have in the first place is to make sure I don't get those texture seams.

So yes, thank you for all your efforts, it remains a mystery to me.

takezo_3001

Masterstroke said:

For Translucency Maps, I keep using the same Maps as for Diffuse maps. 
No matter what I try neither your way, nor any other way look o.k. to me, when I do it. 
I don t get it, it looks really cool in your exsamples, but I just cannot reproduce those results.

BTW There are lots of recommendations of other arists skin shaders like bluejaunte, but his settings always look to dark and to dry in my renders. Also Mousso's don't work for me. 
I ve noticed that dark skinned characters render much more realistic, than bright skinned. 
If you check promos, you'll see, that bright skinned characters often look like plastic dolls.

Mostley I am o.k. with the ISourceTextures shaders, the only issue I have in the first place is to make sure I don't get those texture seams.

So yes, thank you for all your efforts, it remains a mystery to me.

Damn, sorry it did not work out on your end, that does indeed suck... do you have some shots I could look at I'd like to see how they look in any case. 

Tugpsx

Takezo I think he is asking you if you can share your shader file. Granted he has to provide his own textures so if you save one without texture and indicate what textures to connect. This may be a lot it ask. 

takezo_3001

Tugpsx said:

Takezo I think he is asking you if you can share your shader file. Granted he has to provide his own textures so if you save one without texture and indicate what textures to connect. This may be a lot it ask. 

 Not really, I have no problem sharing my shader, I'll get to it soon enough, most likely tomorrow!

Masterstroke

Allright:
I got something out of it:
The first picture is my attempt to reproduce your way.
At least I could figure something out, thanks to you.
For my render I used this HDRI with default render and tone mapping defaults.
Spectral rendering is ON at Natural 1964 and I am using DAZ uber Iray shader.
https://polyhaven.com/a/venice_sunrise
Mainly because it has people in it, so I could adjust my shaders matching the skintones to the people in the HDRI.

Masterstroke

Quite happy with these shader setting so far. They work quite well with HDRIs. Lets' see if thatskin seams problem still occours.

takezo_3001

Masterstroke said:

Quite happy with these shader setting so far. They work quite well with HDRIs. Lets' see if thatskin seams problem still occours.

Great, glad to hear it, well I bundled up my shader and some instructional pics, all the same, I'll PM them to ya, looking great by the way! 

Tugpsx

takezo_3001 said:

Masterstroke said:

Quite happy with these shader setting so far. They work quite well with HDRIs. Lets' see if thatskin seams problem still occours.

Great, glad to hear it, well I bundled up my shader and some instructional pics, all the same, I'll PM them to ya, looking great by the way! 

Takezo, we would love to take a look at your shared shader too. Building one now based on the settings in this thread. 

takezo_3001

Tugpsx said:

Takezo, we would love to take a look at your shared shader too. Building one now based on the settings in this thread. 

Say no more! All you need to do is load it with an already PBR-based character, hold Ctrl+surfaces all/images ignore, an important note: if you use the default G8.1 textures, make sure to swap out the diffuse maps for those SSS maps, unless you want a blue vampire-type character! ;)

Also, this has been custom-made for use with both the V8.1 textures and the G8.1 texture merchant resources as it takes advantage of AO/Detail maps, I use the specular rendering mode exclusively as the shader is custom made for that mode; specifically  Natural/cie1964. I'll also include my rendering settings too!

NOTE: I updated the shader settings to have the detail button on, it was off for some reason...

Tugpsx

Thanks will check it out. When saving the shader use the option to uncheck images, that way users will not have to CNTL click or be asked for the images.

takezo_3001

Tugpsx said:

Thanks will check it out. When saving the shader use the option to uncheck images, that way users will not have to CNTL click or be asked for the images.

Thanks for the tip, that's the thing about not having a comprehensive instruction PDF detailing the program as this is info that I could have used years ago, thank's again for the tip; I mentioned the Ctrl+image for when one has already loaded their saved character model into the scene.

For those new to Daz just tuning in; Load the character model while pressing Ctrl > open my shader > Image dialogue set to ignore images > voila' character all shader'd up and ready to go!

EDIT: Whoa, I just realized that the default settings for the horizontal/verticle tiles with the detail maps are too small, as it's only at 10, when it should at least be around 25-50 depending on whether you're doing any closeups, just a quick note for you guys that are experimenting with my shaders...

Tugpsx

Thanks will adjust to 50, Testing your shader on August 8.1 to see how it holds up. Also using your render settings so its a drop and pose test.

UPDATE: not bad, I will have to test on a few other characters

Tugpsx

Check out this link for a very good skin tone chart by Lily-Fu

 

Masterstroke

takezo_3001 said:

Masterstroke said:

Quite happy with these shader setting so far. They work quite well with HDRIs. Lets' see if thatskin seams problem still occours.

Great, glad to hear it, well I bundled up my shader and some instructional pics, all the same, I'll PM them to ya, looking great by the way! 

Found an issue with my shader settings, you'll need to know about - and I found a quite unusual solution for it.
The transluciency is to high. With a light source behind the figure, the whole body seems to glow. I've found no way to improve that, without making the skin look flat and doll like again, BUT:
I added a Geometry Shell to my Character with default material, except giving the diffuse channel a dark "fleshy" color. Hide ears, all eye surfaces, finger and toenals in the surface prestes of the shell tab.
Now set the Mesh Offset to -0.10.
Yes, -0.10, which suppose to simulate some kind of inner structure to your character.

takezo_3001

Masterstroke said:

takezo_3001 said:

Masterstroke said:

Quite happy with these shader setting so far. They work quite well with HDRIs. Lets' see if thatskin seams problem still occours.

Great, glad to hear it, well I bundled up my shader and some instructional pics, all the same, I'll PM them to ya, looking great by the way! 

Found an issue with my shader settings, you'll need to know about - and I found a quite unusual solution for it.
The transluciency is to high. With a light source behind the figure, the whole body seems to glow. I've found no way to improve that, without making the skin look flat and doll like again, BUT:
I added a Geometry Shell to my Character with default material, except giving the diffuse channel a dark "fleshy" color. Hide ears, all eye surfaces, finger and toenals in the surface prestes of the shell tab.
Now set the Mesh Offset to -0.10.
Yes, -0.10, which suppose to simulate some kind of inner structure to your character.

The translucency is just right for the specular rendering mode, but not so much for the default mode.

That is a unique solution, once when iray was young I did this very thing as a buffer and it works quite well in fact!

takezo_3001

Tugpsx said:

Thanks will adjust to 50, Testing your shader on August 8.1 to see how it holds up. Also using your render settings so its a drop and pose test.

Great, I'm glad it's getting some use! Yeah, the 25-50 range is great for closeups/far shots but at the 10 settings it pixelates pretty badly, I have no idea why default settings are usually crap!