Any high-res "Working Man" skin textures out there?
mmitchell_houston
Posts: 2,510
I'm thinking of using a male character for a book cover, so this would be for print -- hence the need for a high-resolution texture.: the figure will be standing back, mostly in shadows, with his hands fla on a table (and the hands will be in the light). I'm not looking for distressed zombie skin, but face and skin that looks like it belongs on a 40-year-old man who spent his life working outdoors, and not a pretty-boy smooth-skinned underwear model (not that there's anything wrong with that, but it's not what I need). I guess the word I'm thinking of is "Rugged."
The figure itself is not important: I can use M4 through Genesis, Genesis 2 or Genesis 3, and most of the sub-figures (like Michael 5, 6 or 7, David, etc.).
Any thoughts?
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Do you have Ivan for Genesis 3? His skin texture is really "rugged" compared to others :)
Laurie
http://www.daz3d.com/horror-survivors-marius (I don't THINK HD as such, but he's awesome, and the included clothing is generally useful)
If you use M4 or have the M4 UVs for any of the other figures there are some great ones for him...check out the offerings from:
MortemVetus and Phoenix1966
Some of Phoenix's guys are also set up for use on Genesis.
Even at 9" by 6", which is a fairly large book, at 300PPI the image would only be 2,700 by 1,800 pixels - pretty well any character set would have more than enough resolution for a close up, never mind a full figure shot.
My book cover is 8.5 x 11. My printer recommends that images containing text be submitted at 400-600 dpi, so my size will run 3400 - 5100. I routinely work in sizes like this, so that's not a concern for me. If I go with this design (and I may not), there would be a scattering of papers on a table with the figure behind, so there would be a lot of text on the papers, the larger of which would need to be legible.
BTW: This is for a game book. It collects 12 adventures for my game, Gutshot. So this cover won't be like most of the ones you're used to seeing with a single, dominant image that looks great in a thumbnail. That's not how this book will be sold.
I'll take another look at Ivan -- he didn't really appeal to me when he was released, though. But, of course, if he works for this project, then that's all that matters.
Marius has been on my list for a while... and he is on sale right now. And you're right about those clothes (I like the bandana having frayed edges). Hmmmmm. But the little I see of his hands still look like manicured nails. I don't want torn nails and filth, but a little more wear and tear would be nice.
Still... this guy is probably going in my shopping cart today. Thanks for reminding me of him.
I have a few MortemVetus textures and I'm going to review them before making a new purchase (except Marius -- I think he's coming home today). I like his work and definitely could use M4 without any problems. Thanks for the suggestions.
EVERYONE: Thanks for the suggestions. You've definitely given me some good starting points.
There were some good ideas in this thread, where I was complaining about the lack of manly hands, LOL.
I remember that thread now (including my own post in it). Good advice (including stuff I'm about to try).
And, here's the funny part, the more I think about the layout of the cover illustration, the more I'm thinking it might not work. I might not need to focus on his hands so much. Nevertheless, this is something I will need in the future. I do a lot of work on Westerns, and having acceptable hands is always something I'm struggling with. I'm tired of cowboys who look like they just rode out of a day spa.
As far as I see they all the G3 textures sets render tanner than they should so that problem is solved whether you need that or not, for the rest, what you should do is buy those vascularity, muscularity, aging and HD morphs and dial the appropriate ones of those to the maximum.
If you think you'll be looking for more varied textures for future work, you might want to invest in Texture Transformer by Blacksmith3D. I've been using a lot of V4/M4 textures on G3 figures without the need for geografts.
I think I'll buy that and buy the V4/M4 Model bundles next time they go on sale.
That's exactly why I started the other thread! Trying to do book covers and promo art with carpenters, mechanics and other guys who work with their hands. I've known enough of them to know that the G3Ms look a little too dainty in that department. Their hands are way too pretty.
There's a product at Renderosity called "Not So Perfect Nails" for V4 that I've gotten a lot of mileage out of. I was having issues with Texture Transformer messing up nails, so I pretty much gave up on using these for Genesis 3. Just occurred to me I probably haven't tried using them with Caymen's UV set to try it that way.
Huh. I hadn't really noticed how uniformly nice most nails are. Good topic, and I don't see anything in Daz store that handles that.
Marius' nails are less perfect, but still pretty nice, and there don't seem to be any good cracked nail and whatnot stuff.
Callum as a character is maybe kind of old for what you have in mind, but his hands might work: http://www.daz3d.com/callum
For G3M, I kind of like Gwenbleiz so far: http://www.daz3d.com/gwenbleiz-hd-and-beard-for-michael-7
The skin's not grubby (there's probably a LIE-based product somewhere that would help, but I don't have it) but he has those gnarly hands like Clint Eastwood and those other guys who actually worked with their hands while waiting to be discovered in Hollywood.
I find this great for making lumpy hands and feet: http://www.sharecg.com/v/82603/browse/21/DAZ-Studio/Aged
Granted, not a skin, but ... I used it to great effect for this guy:
http://willbear.deviantart.com/art/Old-Yanmei-569746004
http://willbear.deviantart.com/art/Old-Yanmei-hand-detail-569758954
For those that aren't aware...there's a "knobby fingers" morph in HFS Fantasy Shapes for Genesis 3
Laurie
Yep, I use knobby fingers for all adult men. They just seem to make the figures's hands look less like a hand model and more real.
Thanks. I've got Texture Transformer, so I'll crack it open and see what I can play with.
I did NOT know that. Thanks for the tip. Adding that could help (thanks for the link to the image, Will). I've added it to my wishlist so I can pick it up in the future.
I thought I would mention Russell HD from Raiya as one that I'm fond of as a man that has had a rougher life than most:
Russell is a great character and skin. I've used it for the "old guys" I've done so far just because it's so convincing :).
Laurie
He reminds me of the "Trivago" guy; https://www.ispot.tv/ad/AjBM/trivago-multiple-rooms
I see what you mean. Not a dead ringer for him, but definitely similar.
@ mmitchell_houston
If you look for a 'really hard worker', why not try the skin of this one: http://www.daz3d.com/caveman-for-genesis-3-male
Using his skin on other charakters gives 'new impressions' :-)
> ...patriarch comes alive again to grunt and scratch and hunt down a date at the club (or with a club). But with his charm and brutish good looks he will prove to be very popular. The set comes complete with custom crafted High Definition Morphs, and a highly detailed texture set, suitable for Iray and 3Delight <