I prefer as few as possible. Makes things a LOT easier when doing my own textures. The more material zones, the more of a headache it is to texture it myself regardless if it’s a figure like your talking about or clothing, could be anything. The fewer the better.
The more mat zones you have then the more creative freedom is available. At the same time though, there is a point when it is too much. But it does depend on the item.
Outfits/clothing I do like lots, especially when there are belts, clips and many other attached things… That way you can turn stuff invisible If you dont want that particular extra on the clothing.
Props, Again I do like lots of material zones, but moderation is the key (Just like clothing) If there are extras on the prop, they should have individual material zones.
Characters/People - Opposite… I like as few as possible, largely because I like to add details, and lots of people like to create tattoos and body art.
In addition to my comment… I DO PREFER an item to try to fit as much of the textures in minimal amount of texture jpg’s as long as it doesn’t degrade the resolution of the textures to fit them all in.
Good input! Yeah, I was talking about human figures.
Do any of you ever use material zones with procedural shaders? For example, do you ever make a bodysuit of sorts by applying a material to different body parts? Here, I’m referring to something similar to what DAZ did in the Generation 3 figures? Remember the wetsuit/body suit/glove/leggings options for Aiko 3 and the other figures? Like that.
I don’t see the point of additional material zones for figures (on top of the standard zones), unless you’re using second skin clothing. Personally I don’t like second skins - the idea was good waaay back when but with the technical advances we’ve made now there’s no need IMHO.
For clothing and props, I willingly pay more for more material zones because it means I can customize to my heart’s desire making the item more versatile.
Good input! Yeah, I was talking about human figures.
Do any of you ever use material zones with procedural shaders? For example, do you ever make a bodysuit of sorts by applying a material to different body parts? Here, I’m referring to something similar to what DAZ did in the Generation 3 figures? Remember the wetsuit/body suit/glove/leggings options for Aiko 3 and the other figures? Like that.
Sure do! I do this kind of stuff all the time. Usually in limited quantities. Like, maybe I like a certain clothing item but it has no legs to cover the figure. So, I use a shader on the legs. Perhaps my figure needs the appearance of gloves, I give them a shader to make it look like he/she has gloves.
Now that SSS is coming more and more often, it’s getting harder and harder to achieve the exact look I want.
Gen4 and Genesis have a decent amount of zones. The only thing I ever do sometimes with the base figures is use the PGE to split the eye zones up so I can use different settings for the left and right eye (e.g., to make one of them a cyborg eye).
As far as clothing goes, more zones are better, so long as they’re not overdone. Anything on your clothing that is distinct in the geometry (e.g., buttons, buckles, straps, trims, gems, etc) should be their own mat zones to facilitate shader usage. I use LuxRender to render all my scenes, and I often spend a lot of time using the PGE to break up materials that should have been separate to begin with in order to apply things like Lux’s native metal or glass shaders (e.g., for gems) to things, or to convert things into emitters for glow effects (such as in Sector 15 Security Detail).
On the whole, I find most clothing lacking in material zones. Many environment props are even worse offenders.
I like as many as possible.
I’m a Carrara user and I often swap out whatever shaders I can with Carrara ones.
The more zones I have, the more options I have.
I like zones that follow logical patterns. I will select a shader over a texture if I’m given a choice… every time. On non-clothing items, I don’t see any sense in zones that don’t follow a joint/muscle/anatomy “seam.”
Also, I’ll use the PGE to resurface an item. One of the most irritating thing to me is polygons that are “blendered.” Blender has a nasty habit of making topo that leaves rough, irregular, edges. If I can’t make nice clean surface edges, the item is toast.
Good input! Yeah, I was talking about human figures.
Do any of you ever use material zones with procedural shaders? For example, do you ever make a bodysuit of sorts by applying a material to different body parts? Here, I’m referring to something similar to what DAZ did in the Generation 3 figures? Remember the wetsuit/body suit/glove/leggings options for Aiko 3 and the other figures? Like that.
Yes… Any clothing article that has separate fabric or colors would Ideally a separate material zone
Good input! Yeah, I was talking about human figures.
Do any of you ever use material zones with procedural shaders? For example, do you ever make a bodysuit of sorts by applying a material to different body parts? Here, I’m referring to something similar to what DAZ did in the Generation 3 figures? Remember the wetsuit/body suit/glove/leggings options for Aiko 3 and the other figures? Like that.
Yes… Any clothing article that has separate fabric or colors would Ideally a separate material zone
Sorry, I meant *second skin* bodysuits [using only the base figure; no separate clothing] using procedurals or textures to make it look like clothing.
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