Skin Overlay
Salem2007
Posts: 513
I was looking at the "Skin Overlay" in the store this morning. It looks like a very interesting option for DS users. I think I may buy it to see if I can get it to work in Carrara (even if I have to start in Studio, then transfer to Carrara). I've never tried any of the LIE products, though. Does anyone know if it's even possible to get this type of product to work in Carrara?
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I don't know if it's possible. For my part, being accustomed being unable to use studio products, I've bought the corresponding merchant resource product for about the same price. And it's a great product. The different maps are very well done, and I'm sure I'll make good use of it.. I can create the skin I want in Gimp and export color and bump map, even normal map. I prefer it that way, finding it more versatile.
Thx Philemo...how difficult is it to export the color and bump maps (or a normal map)? I have an old version of photoshop (7 I think)...I should be able to use that, I guess. I know Carrara doesn't do Daz displacement very well (at least for me)...do you know if the merchant resource relys on displacement mapping?
I don't have the product but I think you should be able to use the maps either by working in Photoshop (or equivalent) or by using operators in the shader room - for example using multiply to combine a skin texture map with a freckles map from this pack. I don't think you will be able to use the DS scripting directly in Carrara or even by exporting from DS. LIE is basically a layered image structure and you can effectively duplicate that with Carrara's shaders with a little work.
Actually, Carrara can handle displacement map on High poly model (like M4 or Genesis). You can see Holly's experiments on the subject.
Thx PhilW and Philemo....I think I'll try out the Merchant Resource tonight. And I'll check out the displacement settings as well. I've tweaked them for some items, but not with that much success....
xNormal is a nifty little program for generating normal maps. It's free and easy to use.
http://www.xnormal.net/Downloads.aspx
There is also (I'm told) new in C8.5 the mixer shader that allows you to mix 2 shaders using a mixing or distribution map. Great for when you want a metalic shader with a nonmetalic shader. Say actual gold accents on clothes. Or say you want your poser figure to have a couple of gold teeth.
xNormal is a nifty little program for generating normal maps. It's free and easy to use.
http://www.xnormal.net/Downloads.aspx
There is also (I'm told) new in C8.5 the mixer shader that allows you to mix 2 shaders using a mixing or distribution map. Great for when you want a metalic shader with a nonmetalic shader. Say actual gold accents on clothes. Or say you want your poser figure to have a couple of gold teeth.
I don't think it's a mixer shader. I don't recall it's exact name. I'm just pointing out for clarity that it's not a mixer. those are different.
I don't think it's a mixer shader. I don't recall it's exact name. I'm just pointing out for clarity that it's not a mixer. those are different.
I think you mean the Multi-Layer Elements, probably actually works much like LIE in DS (not that I know that, it's just an educated guess).
OK---maybe I missed this before, but I was trying out the displacement in Carrara 8.5 using RawArt's Frankenstein and I noticed that the displacement maps were loaded AUTOMATICALLY when I applied the texture. I'm going to try some other things, but I don't recall this happening in version 8....but this is a Genesis figure, so maybe that's a feature?
I don't think it's a mixer shader. I don't recall it's exact name. I'm just pointing out for clarity that it's not a mixer. those are different.
Clarity is always better. Thanks for that. :)
Woo hoo.. Ok, I have the Merchant pack and now know to use Gimp to open the file. Hopefully I'll be able to let you know how it goes in Carrara 8 Pro tonight!
Boojum the brown bunny
I bought the merchant pack as well--I figure it's worth a try. I tried a few more genesis figures but the displacement maps didn't load automatically in Carrara the way the Frankenstein maps loaded. Very odd--I'll try some more tonight.....
Ok, so here is what I got done today.
1. Default M4 with Jeremy Elite Skin loaded into 3spot Portrait Room.
2. Default M4 with Jeremy Elite Skin, Wrinkles & Veins Less Displacement map set to amplitude of .02ft and subdivision turned on, Loaded into 3spot Portrait Room.
3. Default M4 with Jeremy Elite Skin with Age Spots/Spider Veins overlay at 50%, Wrinkles & Veins Less Displacement map set to amplitude of .02ft and subdivision turned on, smoothing off, smoothing angle 0, Loaded into 3spot Portrait Room.
Those are some beautiful renders Brown Bunny! Very freaking nice.
My opinion on the texture/shader script - thingy...
In Carrara, there's not so much an issue in that regard. If you haven't done so yet, you should truly create a file saving system within Your Carrara Browser for just such reasons, in this case within the "My Clips" folder. For shader domain swithches, follow this simple workflow and you'll create some amazing time-saving and convenient files:
* Open the figure than owns the shaders that work. Edit > Remove Unused Masters > Consolidate Duplicate shaders and again for Remove Unused Shaders as well. Select "Actor and head to the Texture Room and take note of the master shader names compared to where they are applied to the figure. At this point, there often aren't many left. I used to take the time right here to rename the shaders as I want them - so there's something you might want to do - but now I just type the new name in as I drag it to the appropriate folder in my browser. In a folder under that character's name, I drag in the necessary shaders and name them things like: Torso, Face, Limbs, Iris, Pupil, Cornea, Eye Surface, Teeth, Inner Mouth, etc., I like making a copy of the inner mouth shader if it got consolidated with the teeth for more control between them, as with limbs and nails.
* Open the figure to be textured and Edit > Remove Unused Masters > Consolidate Duplicate shaders and again for Remove Unused Shaders. Select "Actor" and head in to the Texture room and proceed to replace the individual zones with a saved shader of the appropriate type. This works well even for figures without the same UV mapping as well - as it is incredibly simple and fast to switch out the texture maps, since there's really only a few shaders.
If you wish, you could then save multi-shaders for the various types of zone configurations.
One of my many favorite things about Indigone's V4 Skin Shader Kit and Lights is that, with a very well made procedural shader set for humans and very detailed tutorial manual, this kit works on any figure with similar material needs - as it's procedural shaders are not altered by UV Mapping considerations. The manual goes into nice details on working with shaders period, but especially how to beautifully slide in the texture maps for the character you want and set up the values correctly. I like the light set too!