Light body, dark legs...
N-RArts
Posts: 1,522
Hi.
I've had a had a bit of an hiatus (because of "personal stuff") from Daz Studio. So, I can't remember if I had this problem with the previous version of 4.15, or whether it's just started happening since installing the latest update. But, no matter what character I load in, the legs are darker than the rest of the body.
It's been a long time since my life drawing days, but are legs meant to be darker than the body?
I've attached a screenshot showing what I mean.
I've tried different render settings, but nothing I've altered seems to be solving the problem.
EDIT: The head and neck are darker than the rest of the body, too
EDIT: Attached another screenshot
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Comments
Assuming the fiure was nude I removed the image. If it was nude, that looks like mis-matched gamma settings between one of the leg maps and the rest of the figure - I can't understand, though, how that would affect more than one isolated character. You can check the gamma settings for a map by clicking the image button in the Surfaces pane and select Image Editor (not Layered Image Editor).
I removed the textures from the rest of the body, I thought that would've made it okay to post. Sorry.
The gamma setting for the images is set at 0. If I mess/increase the gamma, the skin gets darker.
I've just realised the same thing is happening with the head and necks of models too.
It looks like it is maybe applying an 8.1 texture on an 8 (or the reverse) without something installed. I am not 100% sure though.
I'm using Genesis figures with their own textures (Gen8 textures on Gen8 models/characters). I'm not using 8.1 (yet).
This is what I would try. Select the surface of the part that looks right and copy the surface settings. Then, select the other surfaces that are wrong and paste the surface settings to them. That could fix a settings value that you haven't noticed before. It has worked for me sometimes when this has happened to me in the past.
I've been working on this all evening, and I can't find any problems with the settings/values. Do you remember which setting/value it was that was causing your problems?
This is affecting ALL of my figures/models. I don't know if there is much point in doing so, but I'm considering the idea of uninstalling Daz Studio (or deleting it), then starting again (with a fresh install).
I'm out of ideas (and nursing a stress-related headache).
When that happened to me, it turned out that a couple of the skin surfaces (legs, torso) for that figure had "Thin Walled" turned on in the Surfaces pane. Turning that off fixed the issue.
If this just started happening out of the blue, and you are using DIM, I would try uninstalling things you installed most recently.
If this was a morph issue, I would think it had something to do with an error causing the morph to be autodialed on all models.
It's a shot in the dark, but removing things sequentially often helps me find conflicts.
Edited to add: My thinking is that since a figure can be misconfigured to "force its dial settings" on every figure, it stands to reason that a similar thing might have with a texture or shader. I haven't seen it happen, but I wouldn't consider it outside the realm of possibility.
I've checked everything, it's not that. I even turned on "Thin Walled" to see what would happen to the texture, but it wasn't the same effect/problem that I've been experiencing.
That's not a possibility anymore. I thought I'd try and remove and re-install both DIM (so I've lost the list of products that I have bought, and installed) and Daz Studio. I even removed (and reinstalled) all of the Genesis Starter Essentials.
Although I removed Daz Studio, when I installed it again, it still loaded in all of my library locations. So I assume I've missed something, when I've been clearing out the other folders (e.g. Appdata, Program Files, etc).
I think I know the what the culprit(s) could be. It's either upgrading to the new version of Daz Studio (and no, I don't have a back up of the old version). Or (although, I don't think it's possible), it was installing Genesis 8.1.
I just don't remember when the problem started, as I haven't really been using Daz for the past few months.
Could it be something to do with your lighting? Your image was removed, so I can't really see what you are describing.
Added a new screenshot (apologies for the delay). The head and neck is affected, along with the legs, and (possibly) the arms (afaik, the torso is fine). The feet are much lighter than the legs too - And they share the same skin maps... *Scratches head*
No matter what lighting is used, the problem persists. Some lighting (and render settings) can make it look even worse. The screenshot is lit with the default environment/skydome.
The screenshot is of a model whose skin was made in Skin Builder 8. But it's happening with all models.
I don't really see anything unexpected there. You have lighting coming from the side. I see darkness caused by shadows. What does it look like if you render her in that same light with just a solid gray shader applied, to all surfaces? That would eliminate any issues with the skin texture files or settings. You could render the dev kit G8F to get a character with gray skin.
I'll attach two images to this post. The full colour render (with the mask) is the best example of the problem that I'm having (brown/dark legs).
As for the dev kit G8F, I can see areas around the knees (and a little beyond the knees), where the dark patches are. And they're definitely patches, and not shadows.
Sorry, but I'm definitely not able to see any obvious problems. Her legs do look a bit darker than the torso, but that appears to be more a result of the lighting and camera angle than the textures (but the legs might be darker). Many skin textures have slightly darker legs (and often an increase in red), sometimes the arms are a bit darker too. This is usually due to the legs/arms and sometimes even the face being darker on the original photos used to make the textures (often due to part of the body that are more often exposed to the sun being a bit darker, and increased blood in the legs due to standing for too long without walking/moving around). I can possibly notice slight differences in the images you have shared, but nothing overly obvious. Unfortunately I don't see anything unusual with the gray image.
Just a wild guess here, but could it be the contrast/brightness adjustments on your monitor? Poor calibration on your monitor can cause some serious issues with how you see images, colors, and contrast (over saturation/contrast/brightness or under-saturation/contrast/brightness). This could definitely make otherwise barely noticeable issues become big visual problems on your computer that others don't see on their computers. It would also explain why a few months ago everything was fine, now it's not. Maybe the monitor settings were adjusted during that time frame? I took you last image into Gimp and definitely the legs look dark if I increase the contrast too much. Here is an article on monitor calibration that might help you to determine if that is possibly the issue: https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/monitor-calibration.htm
Sorry I couldn't be more helpful. Hopefully it is a monitor calibration issue and the article above helps to fix it.
I just don't see a problem. I don't see anything that doesn't look like shadows from the very directional side light. Using the Dev Kit model eliminates anything to do with the textures, since the shader is completely uniform. You could try a more omnidirectional softer light source to reduce shadows or add some fill lights.
Interesting, I looked at your example using my tablet and I can definitely see the differences better. I think some of it is lighting, some camera angle, but I think the biggest contributing factor is the display device contrast in conjunction with dark/red leg syndrome. Some characters show it more than others, and certain lighting conditions will make it worse. But I'm still thinking a big part of the problem is likely your monitor calibration. My laptop monitor is calibrated, the tablet is not (the tablet has what looks like a bit too much saturation and contrast).
That could be a factor. My monitor is also calibrated and I just don't see a problem.
I've just been adjusting settings in calibration, and on the monitor itself. Nothing has improved (neither has my headache)...
I even got a random restart for good measure...
Yeaaaaahhhh... I think I'm going back on that hiatus *embarrassed chuckle*