Amazing Skins For Genesis 2 Females and For Genesis 2 Males [Commercial]

V3DigitimesV3Digitimes Posts: 3,049
edited May 2016 in The Commons

AMAZING SKINS IS A 3DELIGHT PRODUCT ONLY. IT WILL NOT WORK WITH IRAY.

 

Amazing skins Tip :
Now, in DAZ Studio 4.7, you can directly see the effects of the amazing skins settings changes thanks to the Interactive preview rendering in the aux viewport!
Add Pane : Aux Viewport, and then, just click IPR arrow in it..

Just released, for G2 male(s), female(s), or bundle :

http://www.daz3d.com/new-releases/amazing-skins-for-genesis-2-bundle
http://www.daz3d.com/new-releases/amazing-skins-for-genesis-2-male-s
http://www.daz3d.com/new-releases/amazing-skins-for-genesis-2-female-s

Amazing skins is a new type of material which can be loaded on all Genesis 2 figures, and will keep their initial textures (images maps) and UV sets whatever the initial character is.
The new material applied has been developed to get realistic (and surrealistic if you want) renderings, and includes exclusive colour tools allowing to change, before launching the render, the Hue, the Saturation, and the Value of the colours of all the materials.
Amazing skins has been developed for Genesis 2 Males and for Females, and will also come as a bundle of the two, and is the best compromised I reached between flexible, realistic rendering and render speed. It renders faster than the initial material provided, up to 3 times on HD figures - and even more, depending on the light and render settings. Plus, you will no more note a "freeze" at the beginning at the render.
See More Here : http://youtu.be/ns9ET7Qt8OU

Why Hue, Saturation, Value? Because it allows to manage rendered colours like never before!
- Hue allows to change the base "tint" or globally perceived base colour (Red/Green/Blue/Orange/Violet),
- Value is assimilated to the brightness of it, the lower, the darker is the colour (down to black for a zero value), the higher the brighter is the colour.
- Saturation defines the "purity" of a colour, meaning that for a zero saturation you go for a "black and white" result, and for a 100% saturation, for a red Hue for instance, you have the "purest" red you can reach.

You can really adjust fast your skin. Too Bright? Decrease the Value Dial! Too Dark? Well, just decrease it! Too pale? Increase the saturation! Too warm? Apply a colder Hue! This way, not only you can reach the skin you want, but you can also match the skin tones of different Genesis 2 figures in a same scene (which may otherwise often be an issue).

The Hue/Saturation/Value are very intuitive drivers, available directly as Dials in the material, all gathered in a "HSV Drivers" group of dials, and you can adjust them twice : first directly to modify the colours of the diffuse image map, then once the Main and Deep SubSurface Scattering and Specular Highlights have been added to the Diffuse component, just before sending the result out as the final calculated colour.

For each sub-properties of the material, the two subsurface scatterings (scatter and sheen) and the specular, you can also change the base colours on which they rely, and adjust the proportion of this change.

Now what can be found in amazing skins ?
- The material swapper : apply Amazing Skins to any G2 figure, keeping the figure's original maps.
- Several Full Material Presets, loading different skin tones presets variations (cold, tanned, reddish, neutral....) already set-up for the main Genesis 2 Figures : Victoria 6, Victoria 6HD, Aiko 6, The Girl 6, Gia, Olympia 6, Stephanie 6, Michael 6, Michael 6 HD, Teen Jayden, Gianni, Lee. Also included : 3 Fantasy full presets for M6 and V6, 2 for Gianni.
- Ready to render scenes for the same figures as mentioned above, as well as their HD versions when existing, including a floor and background prop, a posed and dressed (basic underwear) figure, a high quality lights set, and a camera. Just load and render, or load, customise, and render.
- Everything you need to set-up a scene in the blink of an eye : the floor and background prop, several poses, a basic underwear, 7 high quality lights set.
- Tons of skin sub-properties, organised in subfolders by category : Colours options for Diffuse Hue change and for Main and Deep SSS, scatter strengths, sheen sizes, highlight sizes and shapes to manage gloss, strengths of total contribution of main and deep SSS and specular to the final result, and many other tools for eyes, mouth, nails...
- The shader version of all that to apply Amazing Skins on any surface you want, including but not limited to Genesis, V4, M4, Dragons, Outfits, Objects...
- 2 Skin Randomisers, one for Diffuse Hue + SSS colors and properties , one for Initial Value of the Map, and Final Hue, and Saturation.

All the Amazing Skins presentations/demonstrations are gathered in a same playlist :
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhMqfqgUaaeygUXocKh-PSx5Q7zWRobgB

3 Ways to start with Amazing Skins. Around 8 minutes.
The three way you can start to have an amazing skin base on your figure :
- use the main applier from the main folder (useful for instance on new or not included G2 Figures)
- use a full material preset for one of the main included G2 figure
- Load a full ready to render scene with one of the main included G2 Figure
Link : http://youtu.be/OGENxwE7MQw


Manual skin set-up in amazing skins :
this presentation is dedicated to the people who you not like to use only the included presets and sub-properties presets, but would like to go for a personal and manual customisation of the skin.

You will discover, what are the 4 important groups of dials to adjust the properties of the skin, the way to access them fast and what the individual dials can do for you.

Globally you will find out how to make the multiple surface selection of the surfaces and access for all these surfaces together only the group of parameters you want to customise, for each of the four main properties (color change, main SSS, deep SSS, specular).
More in detail The Influence and tips :
- about Hue Saturation and Value PreProcess
- about Hue Saturation and Value PostProcess
- about how to define properties (effects repartition, total amount, individual colours) and your first level of Subsurface scattering.
- about how to define properties (effects repartition, total amount, individual colours) and your second level of Subsurface scattering.
- about how to drive shapes, colour, vertical and horizontal sizes and strength of the highlights in order to go for more wet or more dry skins, or for special effects of gloss (highlights).
- a Rapid presentation of the sub-properties presets (base colours, Main SSS properties, Deep SSS properties, Gloss Properties, and other tools) already included.
- Rapid randomised skins.
Link : http://youtu.be/pYBD4Pm28Qg

Aux viewport and Amazing skins (NEW! with Daz Studio 4.7) :
http://youtu.be/LE9C2lEsBos
Around 8 minutes. See how to :
Open the Aux viewport
Tweak skins tones and glossiness
Tweak Cloths colors (required amazing skins for genesis 2 males or females to get the shader version of the material).

How to Apply and customise Amazing skins on Genesis (Genesis 1 Generation, but works for any V4, M4 figure...). Around 15 minutes. You do NOT need this one if you are using it on Genesis. It just shows how to apply then tweak them for other figures, older generations. Yet it can be interesting to see how to do a full manual adjustment.
- Load a figure
- Multiple select the surfaces and apply the different shaders
- Change color tone, SubSurface Scattering and Specular (Gloss) Properties
- Summary of the 4 important families of properties to reach your set-up
Link : http://youtu.be/HGERXseV63E

How to set up a sci-fi Skin and save. Around 12 Minutes
- change the base colors
- change the skin properties (SSS Sheen For instance)
- Save as material preset
- Use the skin Randomiser and customise the randomised skins
Link : http://youtu.be/Jw6zERDkd5s

Demo : Figures color matching.
The principle concerning how to match in a few steps 2 different figures skin colors (example based on the very bright Aiko and very dark Gianni). Duration 9 minutes
Included :
- Load, pose and add lights
- Pick up the right color in the shader mixer using external software (shown on photoshop, but can be on the free Gimp, or with standalone color picker tools)
- Adjust saturation and Value of Aiko to match Saturation and Value of Gianni skin. And this is done.
Please note : When changing Hue preprocess, not shown here, you may have to slightly readjust Saturation and Value after that, but the principle is exactly the same as shown in the demo. Good luck, have fun and be creative.
Link
http://youtu.be/sSAc0c5c9kI

For Advanced users only : How to swap for another BRDF model and save. Around 10 Minutes.
http://youtu.be/duiY_a6J1to

Promo Video Link Showing in 2 Minutes the principle : http://youtu.be/ns9ET7Qt8OU

Now a few renders made with amazing skins. None of them have been postworked (except for adding the text - and the background of "extraterrestrials"), these are the colours rendered by the DAZ Studio immediately. You can easily reach black and white, monochrome, realistic, Fantasy, warm, cold....

Post edited by V3Digitimes on
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Comments

  • NovicaNovica Posts: 23,859
    edited December 1969

    Those are really nice images- the colors do make such a difference! Has this been submitted yet?

  • JabbaJabba Posts: 1,458
    edited December 1969

    O yes please, I'll have some of this... and nice funky music in the vid, hehehe

  • V3DigitimesV3Digitimes Posts: 3,049
    edited December 1969

    Novica said:
    Those are really nice images- the colors do make such a difference! Has this been submitted yet?

    Thanks for the feedback. I personally enjoy rendering with them, especially double clicking frenetically the 2 skin randomisers... It's just like playing the lottery ! And to answer your question, yes I submitted it a few days ago. I still have to submit the "bundle" version (which is the gathering of the males/females), but this should be done tomorrow. Now will they be able to test before I leave for my 10 days summer holiday - in 8/10 days, I don't know. If I look at my content they have to test around (I have not the exact count) 200 files (material swappers, material presets, outfit, prop, scene subset, shaders, lights, sub-properties presets) for the females probably also around 200 files for the men. I'm sorry in advance for my tester... I fear nobody will want to test me again after that... :(

    O yes please, I'll have some of this... and nice funky music in the vid, hehehe


    :) I'm really happy you're interested!
    And that's funny what you say for the music. The music "Bass Vibes" from Kevin Mc Leod is initially a much slower Jazz Music. When making the vid, I just wanted to see what it would like if I accelerated the soundtrack to 130% speed... And this was how to transform jazzy in funky ;)

    I just wanted to add a few images now :
    The principle of the HSV system (yes this is a colorimetric system, no this is not a disease! grrr! )
    The image obtained loading the ready to render scene for M6 (wearing his reddish preset) and V6 (wearing her neutral preset), meaning you load them, and you have the camera, lights, figure posed and dressed, material already set up. And I add an image of what can be obtained in term of realistic skin tones (line 1, V6 presets included), colored skin tones (line 2, I add hues from 0 to 350 - turn around the color wheel - and set the hue change influence is set at 100%), and the monochrome effect reducing the saturation of colored skin tones just above (line 3).

    Get_Saturated_Get_Monochrome.jpg
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    ReadyToRenderV6.jpg
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    ReadyToRenderM6.jpg
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    Hue_Saturation_Value.JPG
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  • Serene NightSerene Night Posts: 17,552
    edited December 1969

    Nice! I will definitely be picking this up! =-)

  • V3DigitimesV3Digitimes Posts: 3,049
    edited December 1969

    Nice! I will definitely be picking this up! =-)

    Wonderful ! Thanks !
    On my side I've just finished the .pdf which will be included in the readme and presenting the Hue/Saturation/Value color system and a few tips concerning how the skins work (for the curious ones, in term of calculus what is added to what and when).

    I'm gonna try to make some videos showing on examples how to reach some skin tones and special effects, but I'm not sure when I'll be able to finish them (when I go to fast I'm not clear so I prefer taking my time for that). I'll post the links there when there are online.

  • maraichmaraich Posts: 489
    edited December 1969

    This looks extremely useful. I hope DAZ gets it approved and in the store pronto.

  • Serene NightSerene Night Posts: 17,552
    edited December 1969

    I am always looking for ways to create and make more alien/type skins. This looks like a neat way to do it.

  • ZarconDeeGrissomZarconDeeGrissom Posts: 5,412
    edited December 1969

    Kadix said:
    Nice! I will definitely be picking this up! =-)

    Wonderful ! Thanks !
    On my side I've just finished the .pdf which will be included in the readme and presenting the Hue/Saturation/Value color system and a few tips concerning how the skins work (for the curious ones, in term of calculus what is added to what and when).

    I'm gonna try to make some videos showing on examples how to reach some skin tones and special effects, but I'm not sure when I'll be able to finish them (when I go to fast I'm not clear so I prefer taking my time for that). I'll post the links there when there are online.Thank you so much for the walk-threw stuff, there immensely helpful to those that have never done CG before (like me). And thanks for including unedited Daz Studio renders (3Delight?), answers the "dose it work without the Reality plugin" questions.

    A Genesis2 plugin for skin textures, that is not an On/Off preset. Works with any preexisting Genesis2 skin texture, I like it. Can I add it to my wishlist now, lol.

    Silly question, is there a way to save the presets for a figure/"Scene Subset"/whatever? And Thank you.

  • RenpatsuRenpatsu Posts: 828
    edited December 1969

    Interested in general :)

    If possible I'd like to get to know a bit about specular handling in the shader, as that quite often makes or breaks a shader for me (e.g. which specular model(s) is/are used). Also would be interested to see if GI caching is potentially taken into account as for optimisation.

  • RAMWolffRAMWolff Posts: 10,142
    edited December 1969

    What will these do to a body that's got allot of body hair mapping? Will the hair suffer?

  • V3DigitimesV3Digitimes Posts: 3,049
    edited July 2014

    Video added for SereneNight remark about creating a sci-fi skin and zarcondeegrissom question about saving a preset :
    http://youtu.be/Jw6zERDkd5s (edit : link updated)

    Video added (advanced user only!!!!) for Renpatsu, concerning the BRDF model used and explaining how to switch for another BRDF model, save it as a shader definition asset in order to apply to all the skin parts the new BRDF model. (Available models : Oren-Nayar, or Blinn, or Cook Torrance, Ashikmin Shirly, and Ward) :
    http://youtu.be/duiY_a6J1to

    maraich said:
    This looks extremely useful. I hope DAZ gets it approved and in the store pronto.

    Thanks! I hope too!

    I am always looking for ways to create and make more alien/type skins. This looks like a neat way to do it.

    I'm sure it will be great help, when I developped these materials I kept in my mind that they will also have to support non human skin extensions. If I can give tips for alien skins :
    Of course you can just for instance change the Preprocess (of image map) or post-process (once SSSs and Specular are added) Hues, Saturations and Values. But you can improve it even more by changing SSS and Specular characteristics :
    For SSS you have access to two layers, and for each of them you can define the SSS Skin color, the Scatter and the Sheen characteristics. By forcing them to high values and very strong and different colors you can really have non-human results. For the specular, it is made to support isotropy, anistropy, and the limits of the dials are very large. You can even artificially change the "position of the focal point" (roughly summarised) to give non physical results, deforming the highlights.


    Thank you so much for the walk-threw stuff, there immensely helpful to those that have never done CG before (like me). And thanks for including unedited Daz Studio renders (3Delight?), answers the "dose it work without the Reality plugin" questions.

    A Genesis2 plugin for skin textures, that is not an On/Off preset. Works with any preexisting Genesis2 skin texture, I like it. Can I add it to my wishlist now, lol.

    Silly question, is there a way to save the presets for a figure/"Scene Subset"/whatever? And Thank you.


    You're welcome. I try to associate all my products with video presentations so that people can take the greatest benefit out of them.
    All the renders you see there are indeed 3Delight renders, generally with 15/20 shadow samples, shading rate generally 0.2.
    Concerning Reality : you can send the scenes to luxrender via reality or luxus, nothing will crash, BUT none of the changes on the skin will be applied. It just means that it will render with the initial maps and colors of the figures, just as if they were the intial default skin, but not with the "colored" ones. This is normal since I guess, the way they behave, they grab the initial maps, and at least for reality you can change the materials in the reality material editor.
    But the HSV and other materials settings are interpreted by 3Delight only (they come from shader mixer).

    Of course you can save presets. Once you set up a preset :
    You just have to save it "as a material preset" in one of the mapped folder (meaning one of the content folder seen by daz).


    Interested in general :)

    If possible I'd like to get to know a bit about specular handling in the shader, as that quite often makes or breaks a shader for me (e.g. which specular model(s) is/are used). Also would be interested to see if GI caching is potentially taken into account as for optimization.

    I enjoy technical questions. Well I opted for an anistropic Ashikmin-Shirley. I chose this because it was a good compromise between flexibility of the calculated BRDF and the quality of the render. In order to chose, I rendered several figures under different types of lights (infinite, points, area, spots, uber environments, and each with a different BRDF model in order to get a "render matrix" taking into account not only the model, but all the different types of lights the user could choose).
    BUT you are not "stuck" with Ashikmin-Shirley. The specular brick included in the shader allows you, in the shader mixer (not in the surface editor directly, in the shader mixer), to change for an Oren-Nayar, or Blinn, or Cook Torrance, or Ward one. I think Cook-Torrance and Blinn (especially Cook-Torrance) are really really good options too, but less "flexible" for sci-fi or fantasy.

    Illumination baking. I have not included the "baker" Brick in the brick network. Not that it is not possible, I just did not thought it may interest people. Yet, this is possible to add it in the shader mixer, and I guess (not tested) this should be fine for ALL the files and presets. Why? because the materials work on a shader definition asset base, meaning that all the files are going to read a single file for skins materials, containing all the information of the shader. If this file of shader definition asset is replaced by a one with the baker brick added, then the change will operate in all the files of the product as soon as you load them. I could think of this addon for later on if I see some people seem to need it, for now I really lack of time to do it. Actually there is not only one file, there are one for skin parts, one for tear, one for sclera/iris, one for eye reflection/cornea, one for lacrimals, one for eyelashes.

    What will these do to a body that's got allot of body hair mapping? Will the hair suffer?
    Nice question! I took care of it since the first stage of shader development. This is why the figure I developed the shader on was M6 with Nevio "head hair" included.
    I most cases, you will not have problem with Black or Dark hair. Why? Because the "Value" of them is low, and they will keep a low value all through the different steps of the calculus. Low value means dark. In algebra you would say that black is almost the "absorbing" element of the brick network.
    You can also see this on the image above where there is 4 renders with M6/V6 in couple.

    Why almost? two things to note to be more precise : the only parameters which will add light without completely (but still partially) taking hair into account is when there is a lot of SSS where there is hair and especially a lot of Sheen. If it is problematic, which I think should not often happen, just apply a "1" optical index on it, and sheen disappears, everywhere of course, but also on hair. You can eventually even lower SSS two, or just realign the light involved to reduce its influence on that part. I met this issue occasionally only on M6 head especially when lightened more strongly from "side-backwards" than from the rest of the scene.
    The white and blond hair... yes, the color will be influenced by your color changes. Let's say the less dark the hair is, the most visible will be the colors change on the hair.
    Well just for the tests, I've loaded the JEPE skin Kenny for M4 on M6. I thank a lot Jepe for providing me this skin for my tests :) I've made a few renders on them so that you see how Hair color does... well does not... change. But this would be different for white hair, but I have nothing like that in my content library.

    AmazingSkinsBodyhair.jpg
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    Post edited by V3Digitimes on
  • RAMWolffRAMWolff Posts: 10,142
    edited December 1969

    This is fabulous news. No other shader out there is kind to body hair. It's always washed out looking. You got a sale from me then!

  • SickleYieldSickleYield Posts: 7,626
    edited December 1969

    Super fun! I can't wait to try it in combo with Skin Builder.

  • SylvanSylvan Posts: 2,681
    edited December 1969

    Oh wow, this will be much anticipated!

  • ZarconDeeGrissomZarconDeeGrissom Posts: 5,412
    edited December 1969

    Thanks so much for that video. I had no idea half that stuff could be done in daz (creating folders, save by clicking that "+" thing, etc). I need to go fire up Studio and try that now. I'm not sure I caught all the clicking the first viewing, (not your fault) I'll follow along after posting this. Perhaps messing with sneaker colors, lol.

    I asked about the save thing, because another product (that will remain unnamed) required all the sliders set from scratch every time the figure was loaded.

    I'm watching (and saving) the second video for future reference now. I'll comprehend it some day, lol. Thank you so much.

    P.S.
    I didn't thumb-up both videos there, in respect of it not being public (it would have been plastered all over the place knowing my luck).

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  • ZarconDeeGrissomZarconDeeGrissom Posts: 5,412
    edited December 1969

    An admission of beginner ignorance, my apologies Kadix. I thought you were using that reality preview window thing in the first video, looking at them in larger then 360p, I can see that is the regular Studio Render window your bringing up. My apologies, and thanks for the excellent followup videos (Best viewed in full size).

  • XenomorphineXenomorphine Posts: 2,421
    edited December 1969

    Looks impressive... Would like to know what the main difference are between this and Zev's product (at least, when they release their inevitable Genesis 2 version) before an eventual purchase, though.

  • scorpioscorpio Posts: 8,300
    edited December 1969

    This looks very interesting but after reading through the thread I'm still not completely sure exactly what it is.
    I tried to follow the video but I'm not very good with videos and quickly got lost.
    Is this a shader that can be applied to anything or are the skins Mat presets, that can only be applied to figures with certain UV sets.
    Whatever it is it looks as if it has lots of various options so I'm hoping there will be a comprehensive PDF as well as he videos released with it

  • V3DigitimesV3Digitimes Posts: 3,049
    edited December 1969

    Hello all, I see a lot of remarks and questions here, I'm gonna answer everybody, but in a few posts... I have so much to say!

    Super fun! I can't wait to try it in combo with Skin Builder.
    I'm happy you remark how complementary these two products basically are. Actually, since they are not working at all on the same level, they match really nicely together. Skin builder re-creates maps from the input you give it, let's say "whatever the initial shader" or preserving the shader (note I have not checked everything), and Amazing skins recreate a shader with HSV controls and different Specular and SSS options "whatever the maps used". So one of them creates the maps the new shader will rely on, and the other one creates the shader and color control applied above these maps. Really nice!


    Estroyer said:
    Oh wow, this will be much anticipated!

    :) Thanks!

    Thanks so much for that video. I had no idea half that stuff could be done in daz (creating folders, save by clicking that "+" thing, etc). I need to go fire up Studio and try that now. I'm not sure I caught all the clicking the first viewing, (not your fault) I'll follow along after posting this. Perhaps messing with sneaker colors, lol.

    I asked about the save thing, because another product (that will remain unnamed) required all the sliders set from scratch every time the figure was loaded.

    I'm watching (and saving) the second video for future reference now. I'll comprehend it some day, lol. Thank you so much.

    P.S.
    I didn't thumb-up both videos there, in respect of it not being public (it would have been plastered all over the place knowing my luck).

    You're really welcome. So many things can be done in DS 4.6, I regularly discover new things myself!
    The videos are generally not public at the beginning. At least I want to have the time to see them once to make erratums if nessecary. Now the first one is. The second video about how to change the BRDF model, I guess not a lot of people will understand it, but this is normal, this is really for people who have a strong idea of what specular they want to use and would like to customize it the brick network itself, and this should happen only for a really really few of them. I prefer keeping the second not public it might make people afraid ;)

    An admission of beginner ignorance, my apologies Kadix. I thought you were using that reality preview window thing in the first video, looking at them in larger then 360p, I can see that is the regular Studio Render window your bringing up. My apologies, and thanks for the excellent followup videos (Best viewed in full size).

    Great!!!! You know what, you could not make me more happy! If you're confusing 3Delight render with Luxrender ones (even in 360p), it means that I'm really not far from my goal !

  • V3DigitimesV3Digitimes Posts: 3,049
    edited December 1969

    Looks impressive... Would like to know what the main difference are between this and Zev's product (at least, when they release their inevitable Genesis 2 version) before an eventual purchase, though.

    Ouch! I was wondering when the question would come. They are so different that comparing them is not obvious. It's just like asking me "I go to the market, should I buy carrots or potatoes?". I could tell you the advantages of carrots, or potatoes, but they are basically so different than I think they don't deserve to compete. They can so easily complete!

    They are complementary. I think Zev products have great value. I'm gonna try to be as neutral as possible, because Builder and Amazing are finally not really comparable, they do not work at all on the same level on the materials, do not apply the same way, and that furthermore they can perfectly work together (amazing applied on builder or builder applied on amazing).

    From what I saw, I guess Zev Builder product re-creates a new set of image maps by mixing a pre-definded number of image maps based on different colors included in builder product basing on a V5 UV set, and calculates then the new correction color supporting this image map, as well as new strengths and colors for SSS and other things depending on the input parameters you give in the builder interface but do not change the material itself (meaning the way the render calculates).

    Whereas on the total contrary, amazing skins keeps all the UV sets and image maps of the figure you just loaded, and just says to the 3delight (the renderer) the new way that the calculus has to be made, taking account new user properties settings regarding new SSS types (2 levels) a BRDF based (eventually anisotropic) specular, classical diffuse, and new Hues, Saturations and Values of colors simultaneously on image maps (the initial ones) and also just before sending the color out. The initial maps and UV sets are kept but the material (shaders it relies on, way the calculus will be done) itself changes. The new material of Amazing allows to cover the full gamut, and is really dedicated to human and "sur-human" skins/eyes.

    In brief, Builder keeps base shader "whatever it is" and calculates and apply new images plus color base for images, and Amazing keeps all original figures maps and UV sets "whatever they are" but recreates a brand new material with color tools included and the new colors are tweaked on initial images while rendering. I'm sure now it is clear how they can be used together.

    Each of them have completely different features. In skin builder from what I practiced (people will correct me if I'm wrong), you're constrained to the texture image map provided in the product, which is not the one of the initial figure, and which imposes the UVs.
    In amazing, you'll keep the maps (textures) and UVs chosen for your figure. The advantage is that you have a wide amount of possible texture skins, since you can work on ALL materials made for G2 (and for other generations if you have the right material transfer between generations). BUT what amazing cannot absolutely do and builder can, is that in builder for instance, you can to add tan lines, or make up options around the eyes, blush on the cheeks, create different "eyebrows" load different eye types and all these great features included in builder.

    Another difference is that Builder is totally automated, meaning that in term of interface a window will open and you set your parameters "at once". Amazing you have other type of options. If you use a classical figure (V6, Aiko6, girl 6, M6, Gianni, Stephanie 6, Olympia, Lee, their HD versions when existing, teen Jayden, Gia...) you have already full material presets of different skins tones you can load as material presets. If the figure you work on is not included in the ones already having the full material presets (most G2 figures), you double click the material swapper, and the figure becomes "amazing" too, on the swapper base. Then whatever your figure, you can load by double clicking various subproperties presets (SSS strengths and charateristics, color caracteristics, gloss....), this is done by double clicking and you develop the skin more "step by step".
    You will have more double clicks in amazing if you want to change or adjust a presets than in builder which is a "one window makes all" setup.

    In builder you will NEVER, if you want to keep the builder preset you have chosen, have to change things in the surface editor. In amazing, if you opt for manual tuning because the preset you have in your mind is not included in the product presets, you may have to go to the surface editor to select Skin+lips (+eventually fingernails and toenails) prior adjusting your properties and color dials.

    The material is not the same. And the way itself to use them differ. Builder is longer to calculate at each step (at least on my computer), but on the final the whole process it automatized, you have set up your skin with the inputs you applied in one single time. Amazing takes 10 seconds to launch at first load, and then presets are applied in the blink of an eye, but you do not have the window poping-up with nice dials like in Builder. If you want to change the default skin characteristics, you'll have to work either with provided presets in amazing, or you have to tune "hue, saturation, and value" manually if the dial settings you want to use are not already included. (Hue Saturation and Value (lightness) of a color are very intuitive parameters).

    But the most important point is that they are so complementary :
    What I've done for instance this morning :
    I took V6, and applied skin builder, and all the skin builder options. This allowed me to have a character with the eyebrows, make ups, and tanned lines that I wanted, on a pretty neutral color base. I have lost V6 images maps, OK, but I have customized the new skin. Now I applied on that the Amazing skins Female(s). I know this way I render faster and customise directly in the surfaces the colors on all the levels I want. I just played to fine tune the skin, eyes, lips, and nails for a sci-fi character.
    I applied the amazing skin shader base on the skydome on the background and changed the sky color for it. I rendered and I found the make up was not strong enough, I reapplied the make up option of skin builder to go for a stronger eye make-up. As SickleYield said, using the combo is great. Now I rendered a sci-fi skin, and then doubled click a few other sub-presets of amazing to go for natural colors, and I changed also the color of the sky for a more neutral and saturated sky. And after the "natural" render, I took all objects in the scene (except the outfit) and I just took the saturation dial and set most of them down to zero, but increases the one of nails, and the value of eyes. Hop, black and white with saturated touches. Now on this black and white I wanted strong makes up to increase black contrast around the eye. That's why I reapplied the builder on the amazing to get strong makes up. This is an example on how they combine : the builder builds the image maps, the amazing builds the calculus behind the image maps, isn't it, at the end, wonderful?

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  • V3DigitimesV3Digitimes Posts: 3,049
    edited December 1969

    This looks very interesting but after reading through the thread I'm still not completely sure exactly what it is.
    I tried to follow the video but I'm not very good with videos and quickly got lost.
    Is this a shader that can be applied to anything or are the skins Mat presets, that can only be applied to figures with certain UV sets.
    Whatever it is it looks as if it has lots of various options so I'm hoping there will be a comprehensive PDF as well as he videos released with it

    Thanks.
    Ok, there is a lot of things in this product, and since I'm explaining here a lot of things in details, I understand your preocuppation.

    This works on ANY existing G2 Figure, Male, Female. By ANY I mean ALL.
    For you, what you will use, on the interface side it behaves just as when you apply a material (you double click, it loads).

    At the base, this is a new material, based on a new shader, dedicated to human skin rendering with skin tints variations - color options -, and designed to allow "non human" skin rendering too.
    I wanted people to really start with a lot of possibilities with it. So this rapidely became a both a "skin" and "render" toolbox in the same time. I included for the users everything I created, the shader, the material, the presets, the full scenes.


    Concerning the UV set :
    If you load the material base, the one which injects the shaders, then DS keeps the UV set of the figure you load it on, keeps also its image maps, but just tells the render that new formula have to be applied (this is invisible for you) for 3Delight rendering. You do not change your textures. This changes the way they are interpreted. That is why there is no UV set issue.

    The UV set is always "free", meaning not imposed, everywhere, except in the full material presets which are already fully set up for a given figure. And this behaves just as all other DS materials for figures. In general, if you load for instance the original olympia material (the one included in olympia) on V6, then Olympia UV set applies on V6 to take into account the fact the textures map where designed for Olympia. It is exactly the same in amazing skin for the full material presets. If you load a full material preset created for the figure A on the figure A, then the UV set A applies. If you load a full material preset created for the figure B on the figure A, then the UV set B applies, since the textures map are made for a B UV set. This is normal, this is the way it always behaves. Note you can change yourself the UV set in the surface tab if you want another one.

    I include shaders version too, BUT you will probably not need it. This is only for people who really want to apply them on older generations, V4, M4, genesis for instance, or on genitals. And you can apply it on objects, outfit, well any surface. And of course, the shaders versions will not change the UV set of the surface. For instance if you want to render a full scene black and white, you can load the "shader" skin on every other objects and outfits, and just lower the saturation of them all at almost zero.

    I have a 4 page pdf, explaining HSV color system, how the skin is calculated, and the base you have to know to adjust and change your colors. It will be in the ReadMe, and includes at the end the link to the youtube playlist which will gather different examples of what can be achieved and how to achieve it.

    Note that this is difficult to use, it is just that there is a lot of things, and some of them new, such as the dials for the Hue, the ones for the saturation, and the one for the valye. This is the why of the video : when a country is that huge, it is nicer to have a map of it :)

    I could have JUST made the new material, and said : ok, now, go do what you want, this is a new skin base you can play on.
    But I wanted it to be as fast as possible to use for anybody, from beginner to advanced user, and for any figure.
    This is why there is :
    - a swapper, if the figure you're working on is not included in the full material presets. You double click, you have new shaders, but kept all the rest of the figure you loaded on (UV and Maps).
    - Different Full Material presets already set up for DAZ G2 figures and based on skin tones variations.
    - Full ready to render scenes with an already set up, dressed, posed figure with light, camera background (all the elements are basically included in the package).
    Now once you have loaded the amazing skins, you can change the default skin properties. Even randomise it if your want to render fantasy and sci-fi and do not feel like creating it yourself.
    Let's talk about properties :
    Either you like it like your figures that, or you want to change its skin. There are, for this, a lot of sub-properties presets. (sub properties means that you change only one characteristic of the skin, keeping the other intacts, it can be the base color of the skin, the Scatter strength, the sheen size, the amount of specular for gloss, and many other things).
    For instance you want a skin looking "wet". Then you go in gloss options, and double click a small gloss size. If there is too much gloss, you double click a new thumb to change the strength of the gloss;
    If you want to tune yourself one of the paramater, you just have to go in the surface tab, select "skin+lips+fingernails" (toenails if visible) and on the right, you access directly on top the HSV settings, then main SSS, then Deep SSS. They should be the only ones you might want to change.

    I made a first 8 minutes video showing the three different ways you have "to start" with amazing skins.
    http://youtu.be/OGENxwE7MQw

    I have not uploaded all my videos yet, but once done, I'll gather all the links in the first post.
    Now a few images, one summary of how new skins are calculated (principle), a few of what is included showing the thumbs, such as the sub properties presets, the full materials, the randomiser, what is in the scenes....

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  • scorpioscorpio Posts: 8,300
    edited December 1969

    Thank you for the explanation, I wish you were able to do more comprehensive written documentation, I can't use video documentation sorry.

  • MuzeMuze Posts: 182
    edited December 1969

    Wow! Super useful. Great job. :)

  • XenomorphineXenomorphine Posts: 2,421
    edited December 1969

    Greatly appreciate the extra clarification!

  • V3DigitimesV3Digitimes Posts: 3,049
    edited December 1969

    Thank you for the explanation, I wish you were able to do more comprehensive written documentation, I can't use video documentation sorry.

    No problem. You just reminded me that some people preferred to rely on a written base, and you are not the first one to tell me so. That's why I finally used my two previous days (which explains my silence) to write down a much more precise pdf which will be included in the readme.
    It consists in 8 main parts, explaining and illustrating :
    - first the three ways to load an amazing skin (for the very beginners),
    - second the description of what effects the partial sub-presets, or elements, included in the 10 subfolders will have,
    - third how to customise the amazing skin, with
    - how to realise a multiple surface selection (for the beginners),
    - and to use "dial name filters" to go faster,
    - then and this is the most important, what is the principle of HUES additions, and what does it impact for you (why you generally have to offest the desired color a little bit on the color wheel), what is the effect of saturation and of Value (intensity, brightness)
    - then what is the effects of the different skin characteristics, such as scatter, sheen and specular reflection (highlights), and which dial drive these characteristics,
    - fourth : a part presenting the HSV system
    - fifth : a small explication of how Hue saturation and value influence a color in the general case.
    - sixth : how, in the general case, reach a color you have in your head HSV (for the ultra beginners)
    - seventh : how does it work in amazing skins. It re-explains the principles of the third part, but in a different way.
    - eighth : a summary showing the principle of how the amazing skin material is built for the curious ones, and also to show how are the 4 main elements (Diffuse, Specular, SSS1, SSS2) organised together in term of color change.

    I have submitted my pdf and now I guess I cannot really make changes anymore, but anyway, I go to check DAZ forum more than 340 days per year, so if there is something you did not manage to do, just ask here!

    Muze said:
    Wow! Super useful. Great job. :)

    Thanks a lot. And I still have not exploited all the possibilities of these :)

    Greatly appreciate the extra clarification!
    No problem. I took great care to make something different from what was already existing, so this is normal that I explain the differences when asked:)

    And as usually, I end with another "Amazing Sc(k)ene"... Just because it was very funny to play with this camera angle....

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  • V3DigitimesV3Digitimes Posts: 3,049
    edited December 1969

    Hi everybody. Some of you were sad that there was not, for now, any Genesis "1" (V5,M5...) version of Amazing Skins.

    Actually, there is an easy way to have this, and the required files to do so is included in the products (males or females version, the choice is up to you, both will work for all your Genesis 1 Figures).

    In this video demonstration of 15 minutes, you will see :
    1. How to apply amazing Skin to David 5 - or whatever the Genesis "1" figure - in 2 minutes. (0' up to 2'18'')
    2. How to change for Skin Tones for Cold, Reddish, Warm skins, How to change Deep SSS and manage Glossiness (6 minutes : 2'18 up to 8'47'')
    3. Summary of the Method and key parameters for skin settings (6 minutes : 8'47" up to the end).
    The link of the video is here : http://youtu.be/HGERXseV63E

    At the end of this post a few images caught out of the video, as well as one of my last Gianni render with Amazing skins (which was initially a "speed test" with HD features, and very large image with DOF and Area + HDRI environment base).

    I Also updated the first thread of this topics with the links and details of all the videos available so far.

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  • cecilia.robinsoncecilia.robinson Posts: 2,208
    edited December 1969

    I like this project, so wishing you good luck.

  • CybersoxCybersox Posts: 8,745
    edited December 1969

    Looks like a great tool set. Yet another thing I have to buy...

  • arcadyarcady Posts: 340
    edited December 1969

    Kadix said:
    Why Hue, Saturation, Value? Because it allows to manage rendered colours like never before!
    - Hue allows to change the base "tint" or globally perceived base colour (Red/Green/Blue/Orange/Violet),
    - Value is assimilated to the brightness of it, the lower, the darker is the colour (down to black for a zero value), the higher the brighter is the colour.
    - Saturation defines the "purity" of a colour, meaning that for a zero saturation you go for a "black and white" result, and for a 100% saturation, for a red Hue for instance, you have the "purest" red you can reach.

    You can really adjust fast your skin. Too Bright? Decrease the Value Dial! Too Dark? Well, just decrease it! Too pale? Increase the saturation! Too warm? Apply a colder Hue! This way, not only you can reach the skin you want, but you can also match the skin tones of different Genesis 2 figures in a same scene (which may otherwise often be an issue).

    From a realism perspective the problem with a 'hue slider' system is that melanin content is not consistent across the body. The palms of the feet and hands for example get very little of it even in very dark people - and genital regions can often get an excess supply even in pale Caucasians.

    Such a tool is thus great for making aliens and fantasy creatures - but not for human figures.

  • V3DigitimesV3Digitimes Posts: 3,049
    edited December 1969

    Happy to meet someone knowing about skin properties!!!
    To make the short answer, this will be great for making aliens and fantasy, AND ALSO for tones variations of human figures.

    You'll see in each of my next products that I'm proposing skin tones variations for realistic skins within a same skin family, bordering the next family eventually, and then fantasy skins where.. well everything is allowed.

    I understand you, regarding skin tones variations, you are going to be able to do (well a bit more than - explained at the end) what you do generally with two mixed layer, and top one for which you change the Hue, Saturation and Value Drivers on photoshop. And on photoshop neither, yes I confirm, it is not possible to turn a typical Irish skin in a typical Papuan skin only with this tools in a realistic way, amongst other things because of the melanin consistency variation.

    What do I mean by material families?
    Well for instance, as mentioned in "The reflectance spectrum of human skin" by Angelopoulou :
    The various hues and degrees of pigmentation found in the skin of human beings are directly related to the number, size, and distribution of melanosomes within the melanocytes
    and other cells. According S. Jacques : in "Monthly News and Articles on Biomedical Optics and Medical Lasers."
    it is estimated that:
    - in light-skinned adults 1.6-6.3% of the epidermis volume is occupied by
    melanosomes;
    - in moderately pigmented adults 11-16% of the epidermis volume is occupied
    by melanosomes;
    - in darkly pigmented adults 18-43% of the epidermis volume is occupied by melanosomes

    Yet within each of the 3 skin families (light-skinned, moderately pigmented, and darkly pigmented), Melanin consistency has already been partially included in the initial diffuse/spec maps for each of these three skin groups. And yes I agree with you it will be hard from the realism point of view to go from the first family of skin to the last one and the contrary is probably true (not tested yet).
    Yet what you can do and that you could not do before is, for each of these families, to be able to browse an enormous amount of tones nuances of skin in within one family maintaining or customising furthermore skin lightness. So I cannot let this tell you this is not possible for human skins. Yes it is, within certain limits. After that it becomes fantasy skins.
    To go from one family to the just next one is possible, for instance from light skinned to moderately pigmented or from moderately pigmented to darkly pigmented. Furthermore, you can help yourself by adjusting separately the spatial repartition properties and colours of main and deep SSS so that they corresponds more to the type of skin you want to reach, as well as by the specular color controls. The interest of these SSS is that one is partially driven by specular and partially by diffuse, and the other by diffuse (with a few hidden more parameters to push the limits), and all the colors and spatial repartitions of them are dialable independently.
    The dark skins for instance can also be driven from dark brown to very light brown, down to the top limit of moderately pigmented skins. But this is really important for them to readjust the specular and main SSS, which are much more contrasted and visible than they are on the light-skinned people.

    Oh maybe there one thing that I had not mentioned, and which is a trick I took a while to develop to enlarge the skin Hue corrections possibilities keeping them in the right range of skin colors for realistic rendering.
    In this shader, you do not change the hue "roughly", meaning you don't just "take base hue and add a new hue". Actually, you define a new hue, which is going to be applied to a new virtual diffuse map which is calculated, let's say map 2, with a certain percentage of influence of saturation and value of the correction color in that new map. Then in a second step you (well, the render engine) mixes this map 2 with the orginial diffuse map, with a given strength, dialable by the user. This is why you have a dial allowing you to define with which strength you can apply this hue addition, allowing very small color differences, remaining in the Skin chromatic range (without that trick you go out of this range), but changing the tone of the skin.

    Well, your remark is very clever, and whenever you try it someday, and since you know some of the parameters to be taken into account for realism when varying colours, that would be great if you could share with me your analysis about when the skin tones variations go out of the realism to enter the fantasy, if of course, you have time and feel like doing so.
    Why, because it may be a very good input and feedback for me to change a few hidden parameters to eventually enlarge even more the realistic skin tones variations "gamut".

    And yes, I confirm that you will not turn a pale Irish skin in a Papuan one in a realistic way. But you'll be able to browse the skin tones variations, at least of the skin family you start with, and even a bit more, in a realistic way, before it begins to transform to sci-fi and fantasy.

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