Loading...
> >

Material preset to add a layer to all skin materials?

PtropePtrope Posts: 682
in The Commons

Is it possible to make a material preset that can apply the same layer - or even unique layers - to existing skin materials without changing any of the other settings? I can lighten a character's skin or adjust its tone by adding an additive layer of the right color and percentage, but I have to do it to each of the materials; apparently, I can't even copy the layer settings in one material and paste them to the layer settings in another material. This was easy in Poser - just delete the nodes from the preset that aren't affected - but I don't know if that's possible in Studio. I'd like to be able to just make a preset I can double-click and all skin materials get the same, say, 10% white additive layer and suddenly the character has paler skin all over. I assume this IS possible, given that I have a few characters thathave settings for skin translucency that appear to be independent of any skin colors.

TIA!

Comments

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 102,424

    Have you tried File>Save As>Layered Image preset?

  • FenixPhoenixFenixPhoenix Posts: 3,113

    As Richard said, if you save it as a layered image preset, then you can apply that to other characters and it will apply the same layers to them.

  • PtropePtrope Posts: 682

    Thanks! I didn't realize that was an option - I haven't really explored all the various "Save as" items beyond "Save as subset" to save entire characters. I'll give that a try!

  • kwanniekwannie Posts: 869

    What exactly does the layered image preset do? How do you apply once it is saved?

  • marblemarble Posts: 7,500

    kwannie said:

    What exactly does the layered image preset do? How do you apply once it is saved?

     

    Yes - this seems like something I would like to know more about. I had not even realised that it was a thing until I read this thread.

  • DestinysGardenDestinysGarden Posts: 2,550

    You would apply it the same as any other material preset. Have the target selected and hit the preset button.

  • PtropePtrope Posts: 682
    edited March 2022

    OK, so now we get to the mechanics of it. I'm not seeing anything that refers to the layer I created, in the save dialog. I can see the data about the layer in the .DUF file, but not a clear idea of what I can delete so that all it does when I apply it to any given material is to add a new layer that is just a color that is added to the image map layer.

    The code in the DUF is similar to a Poser file; is there a map or tutorial somewhere that someone has compiled, that describes what the parts are, what they do, and what can be deleted? This looks, to me, to be very specific to the main image map and material, where I want to just be able to double-click a preset like "10% pale" with a material chosen, and the layer gets added to ANY material chosen, regardless of whatever map is there, i.e. I can apply the same preset to "Face," "Body" or "Torso", "Arms", "Legs", or even to "Sleeves" if I am looking at a shirt, without needing to have more than one preset. And I'd like to create a combined one of all the skin materials, so I don't have to do them all individually. I'm part-way there, in my mind, when I know that the "Growing Up" eyebrow layers can be added to any face with the same UVs, no matter what texture map I've used, even though it appears they at least reference the base skin material from the set; I just want to make sure that, if I leave a texture map reference in the DUF, it's not actually going to load that map as the base color, too.

    I'm not sure if I'm explaining this correctly wink

    EDIT: OK, a little progress and experimentation - I was able to change the figure's overall texture set, and then apply my saved layer preset, and it added the layer to the torso that was already there. So if I make a combined set, it appears it might work on whatever character skin, which would do what I want. Now it's mostly a mental exercise to figure out if a preset can be made to add a layer to any material - for instance, selecting "Legs" and applying my preset doesn't add it to the legs - it adds it to the torso, again, so now there are 2 layers, plus the base texture map.

    Layered Preset Save.jpg
    461 x 604 - 67K
    Layered Preset Code.jpg
    1062 x 834 - 154K
    Post edited by Ptrope on
  • FenixPhoenixFenixPhoenix Posts: 3,113
    The layered image preset works as a matetial preset in that it looks for the right surface (by name) to apply things (unlike a shader preset). So if you want the map to be applied to the legs, you need to manually apply it to the legs and save that like you did with the torso. If you want a preset that applies the map to all skin surfaces, you also need to do that manually and save it as a LIE. And yes, a LIE preset will add the layers to any character you choose from (so long as they have the same surface names). Meaning, your torso preset will not work on Genesisn 8.1, since the uvs for 8.1 do not have a surface called torso (but have body and head instead).
  • FenixPhoenixFenixPhoenix Posts: 3,113
    A good tutorial on LIE for those interested:
  • PtropePtrope Posts: 682

    Thanks, FenixPhoenix!

  • marblemarble Posts: 7,500

    Ah right - of course it needs something to be done in LIE before it can be saved as a preset. I was misguided in thinking that a surface setting (or combination such as Translucency and SSS Reflectance Tint) could be saved as a layer. I didn't go so far as trying to imagine how that would work or what effect it would have, I just thought that it might be neat to have a layer with various seetings to apply on top of the default settings.

    I tend not to use LIE because of the impact it has on load times so I haven't taken much notice of what it can do.

Sign In or Register to comment.