Since you all were so great about helping me with the H. erectus morphs & mats, here’s another question. I do Science Fantasy & Fantasy pieces for a friend who’s a freelance roleplaying game writer—and I need some alien skin tones. Purple, among others. IS there a way I can alter the skin shaders I have in Carrara? Doing it the way Jadesfire taught me to change colors in material zones for clothes and props doesn’t seem to work.
Ahhh… the ol’ changing colors trick eh? I can help!
Remember, too, that all of this can be key framed - meaning you can animate the colors to change!!! Nice, eh?
Okay - simplistic answer:
In the color channel, with your texture still in place, click the blue button and change it from “Texture Map” to “Operators > “Multiply”
Now you have two channels under the color channel: Source 1 and Source 2
Source 1 will have your existing texture map.
Go into Source two and change it to “Color” and set up whatever color you like!
Like I said… this is the simple-Simon quick change.
Something for you to play with as I type the next part
Set Source 2 (from the simple advice above) to color gradient. This will give you a nifty color swab thingy where you can set all sorts of keys, each changing the color at that spot. The color gradient need a controlling shader, which is currently set to “None” just below the gradient swab.
Now hold down your Ctrl key as you drag the texture map from your bump into that channel just under the gradient.
If you have a specular map in your highlight channel, you could use that instead… trying one , then the other is fun - so you can see the differences and pick one.
NOTE: You cannot change maps like that as part of an animation. it will use the last one you put into any channel - If you ever want to learn how to swap maps in an animation, let me know - it’s simple
There are many more ways to control a gradient than a map. Maps, in this case, are really neat because they’re already made to “fit” the highs and lows of the figure’s mesh.
Many artists use Fractal noise to control gradients - which is cool. Digging around within the many options that come up when you click on that blue button is a great exercise in familiarizing yourself with the power of Carrara in the shader department. Just remember to “Save As” so your not over-writing your real-world settings. Then experiment away!
Alternatively, you can also swap out the original skin color texture map (Source 1 in the top example) with either your bump map or your highlight (specular) map - which will give you a more ‘pure’ means of controlling your colors.
Set Source 2 (from the simple advice above) to color gradient. This will give you a nifty color swab thingy where you can set all sorts of keys, each changing the color at that spot. The color gradient need a controlling shader, which is currently set to “None” just below the gradient swab.
Now hold down your Ctrl key as you drag the texture map from your bump into that channel just under the gradient.
If you have a specular map in your highlight channel, you could use that instead… trying one , then the other is fun - so you can see the differences and pick one.
Hey, that is a nifty idea! I never thought to try a gradient as a texture map multiplier before. I’m sure you could come up with some pretty slick effects that way.
There are many ways to change the colours or skin textures or materials,.
The easiest way is to buy other skin shaders, then apply them to your figure,
You can also adjust skin tone directly in Carrara by creating a “Mixer” of the skin texture map, with a colour, texture map..or any other shader component.
You can also 3D-Paint your figure, directly in Carrara pro.
You can create your own texture maps, in an image editor like photoshop.
You can download “Texture template’s” ( B/W wire-frame UV maps) which can be used as a painting or texturing guide in a 2D image editor like Photo-shop, or the GIMP. which is free.
Texture templates can be found and downloaded in the main product’s store page. usually under “Additional resources” .
You can create mixers to add procedural shaders to the existing skin texture maps.
Carrara can also animate shaders,.
For example,. if your figure has a skin shader made of a mixer of two different skin texture maps,. then you could animate that change over time.
Apologies as this is a bit OT but considering this thread is about skin shaders will this product still work in Carrara 8 or are there now better skin shaders included with v8? I’m debating whether to buy it.
If I just wanted to darken the texture, I’d start with what Dartan suggested and just apply a Mulitiply to the existing texture image.
Anything more complicated then I’d open the textures directly in Photoshop and make the changes there. A lot more control, you can vary HSV, gamma, all kinds of things that might also improve the texture. I rarely use store bought textures as-is, and almost always modify them, or mix and match them with other bump maps or whatever to improve them.
Carrara shaders haven’t changed much,... however, there have been some new shaders added to C8.5 to help support Genesis.
there’s now a “Multi-layer” shader, and a “Multi layer element” which gives you the ability to create multi layer shaders with different blending modes, and an opacity slider
but,.. apart from those new additions,.. there’s been no big changes in the way shaders work in Carrara.
Ignore the fact that the product is designed for use in Carrara 6,... it will work in C6, C7, C8 etc…
Hope it helps
Just My opinion,..
Unless you understand why using a “Multiply” will darken your image, and the difference between Multiply, Overlay, or Add,.
then use a Mixer as a neutral way to combine images or procedural shaders.
you can use a “value” as a blend,. or use grey-scale maps or procedural shaders.
quick example of v4 (default textures) with some procedural nonsense thrown into the mix.
Apologies as this is a bit OT but considering this thread is about skin shaders will this product still work in Carrara 8 or are there now better skin shaders included with v8? I’m debating whether to buy it.
Absolutely they’ll work. I want that one and the sss Toon shaders. I do enjoy making my own shaders - it’s quite entertaining for me. But I can never have too many examples from what others believe to be ultimate. Since products here are so affordable considering the time savings and multiple presets… it’s a win win!
Ahhh… the ol’ changing colors trick eh? I can help!
Remember, too, that all of this can be key framed - meaning you can animate the colors to change!!! Nice, eh?
Okay - simplistic answer:
In the color channel, with your texture still in place, click the blue button and change it from “Texture Map” to “Operators > “Multiply”
Now you have two channels under the color channel: Source 1 and Source 2
Source 1 will have your existing texture map.
Go into Source two and change it to “Color” and set up whatever color you like!
Like I said… this is the simple-Simon quick change.
Something for you to play with as I type the next part
