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View Full Version : Would someone share their skin shader?

JaredTaylor
10-13-2009, 10:39 PM
I've been making some stylized cartoons, I'm very new to the world of 3D and haven't gotten anywhere with shaders yet. And I'd like to see how my models look with a decent shader on them.

I hope I'm not out of line asking for this, I know people are protective of their work and completely understand if no one wants to share.

I have been trying to come up with something like what is used in ratatouille and the incredibles.
tharrell
10-14-2009, 02:18 AM
Well, it would help if you let us know what application you're using, and specifically which renderer you're working with.

You might also want to manage your expectations a little. A good skin shader isn't a magic bullet... without good lighting (and lots of good texture maps, in most cases), even the best shader on Earth isn't going to look good.

--T
ndeboar
10-14-2009, 09:34 AM
why does everyone assume we all use the same software/renderer.

I agree with the above. Look into SSS and if your render has support for it.
JaredTaylor
10-16-2009, 07:06 AM
I feel so stupid! I use maya + mental ray.

I've made my own skin shader though, would love opinions or thoughts. The character is meant to be slightly sunburnt as he's a pirate.

All I did was duplicate the texture node (the actual file) and plug the duplicate into the ambience channel of the lambert and modified the color gain to the appropriate tone. I think it looks almost like fake SSS.

http://i35.tinypic.com/mvreah.png
ndeboar
10-16-2009, 10:48 AM
if your using mental ray, why not check out fast skin sss
tharrell
10-16-2009, 09:13 PM
That's a pretty good start, to be honest. Might be lit a little flat for my tastes, but you're getting there.

I'd probably change the shader to a Blinn instead of a lambert (just so you can get a little specular shine.. a little bit of noise in the spec channel helps too), and if you go down to the "mental ray" section in your shader (even if it's a lambert) you can add a bit of subsurface effect. Set it for a darkish red/orange (close to the CGTalk red background color) and just play with the scaling.

The mental ray fast_skin shader is really powerful... but it's complicated to set up properly if you're just now getting a feel for Maya. It also might not be the best choice for a toonish look.

Just based on the style and silhouette of your character, my eye kinda wants to see a touch of shine on the nose/chin/eyes, and maybe even some toon outline strokes might look nice (Rendering menuset->toon->add outline).

Keep it up!

--T
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