I just bought real skin shader and now hyper-real is out. Is there any advantage of having hyper-real?

HyperReal was created specifically for the texture that comes with it. It works in a very similar way to the Real Skin Shader - I have both. The difference is the HyperReal scrips calls on some custom maps that add custom effects to the texture (these are not available with RealSkinShader). There are a lot of possibilities. In effect, the RealSkinShader makes the best of existing maps, while HyperReal uses similar techniques to make one map into many. It's hard to say which is best: I love the effects I get from both. I know there's a HyperReal upgrade due, that will allow the script to work with different textures. It will be easier to draw a direct comparison between them when we see how well that works.

PBM, Eirian is right - there is a bunch of new maps that come with HyperReal that work specifically with V3/SP/A3. The way I look at it is HyperReal aims for the best realism, but only for V3 (at the moment). RealSkinShader also aims for realism, but is not as realistic as HyperReal, but works on almost all figures. HyperReal also has a bunch of extra controls for adjusting skin tone and brightness. I'm currently working on an free upgrade to RealSkinShader to incorporate a few of things we learned from HyperReal...the update will hopefully significantly improve RSS, but it will still be a little behind HyperReal (from a realism point-of-view).

I thought you were doing an upgrade for HyperReal to work with other maps? I need to learn to write all the words.

Message edited on: 01/22/2005 16:36

Beryld - there will be an update to HyperReal to allow it to use other V3 texturemap sets. But that wont enable the HyperReal system to work with figures that have a different uv layout to V3 (ie. V2, Don, Judy, etc).

ok face_off , i m just need the script!!! , possible?

OK. I get it. I take it that RealSkinShader works on Most? figures. I guess I'll have to save my pennies for when it is updated. I like the HyperReal.

sudi - The RealSkinShader is a script only product (ie. requires that you have your own texturemap set). HyperReal is a script plus a V3 texturemap set, plus a bunch of additional V3 specific maps to control various goodies. RSS is available as a script only. You cannot get a script only version of HyperReal (since it requires a lot of other stuff to work). Hope that helps.

face_off, if HyperReal is V3 specific, does that mean it can work on other Mil3 characters as well - seeing as you can swap textures between V3/Sp3/A3/D3/M3 ?

Also...will the update be a paid for item or for those that purchased the original get an upgrade?

"I'm currently working on an free upgrade to RealSkinShader to incorporate a few of things we learned from HyperReal." I guess we'll get an email to tell us when the new script is ready...

I thought this was referring to Hyper-Real.....I'm confused now...I have the skin shader...was considering Hyper-real, if Hyper-Real was getting the update.

Message edited on: 01/22/2005 19:38

mathman...."yes" and "no". The HyperReal texturemaps are specific to V3/SP/A3. D3/M3 have some "extra" bits - so to a certain extent HyperReal V3 can be used for them - but it's not ideal. I saw somewhere someone had used the full HyperReal V3 textureset on Michael's face - and the result was...ummm...interesting - certainly works - but probably not the look you are after - since HyperReal V3 texturemaps are female. With the updated HyperReal script - you can use any V3 textureset (so in theory you could use an M3 textureset) - I guess the "realism" will depend on how well the M3 textureset matches the HyperReal specific additional texturemaps. I haven't tried it yet.... dlk....there will be an upgrade for HyperReal V3 owners to enable them to use any V3/SP/A3 texturemap set. I am also working on an upgrade to the RealSkinShader - to build in some of the HyperReal tricks. Owners of both products will be notified when the updates are ready for download. I'm guess that will be in about a week. Sorry for the confusion.

Thanks for the info face-off....One more question....What will the end difference be...between Hyper-real & the skin shader...another words will the end means be the same...Sorry to sound cheap....but I don't want to waste any money....Will the skin shader have the same effect as Hyper real...as I really don't need another texture...I hope I'm being clear...

Because HyperReal doesn't have to make the compromises to work with all figures that RealSkinShader does - and because the textureset was designed specifically for it - the end result with HyperReal is certainly better. If you don't already own RSS and work mainly with V3, I would recommend going with HyperReal rather than RealSkinShader. If you search for "RealSkinShader" or "HyperReal" in the galleries you can get an idea of what results people have been able to get with both systems. The revised RealSkinShader will be somewhere between the old version of RealSkinShader and HyperReal.

I have the real skin shader already...that's why I was asking...don't want to buy Hyper-real if the 2 operate as 1...if you get my drift...Hope I was clearer..... I realize you want to make sales off of both...but as stated above, I really don't need another texture, if in fact the skin shader was applied to hyper-real.

Message edited on: 01/22/2005 21:07

Well HyperReal still will be better than the revised RealSkinShader. The two do not operate as one (but they are closely related). If RealSkinShader fulfils all your needs now - why move to HyperReal? If it's not giving you the quality you want, but can wait a week or two - see if the revised script does the trick. If you want much better than the current RSS...now..., go HyperReal. Sorry if it sounds like I'm sitting on the fence, but it's a bit hard for me to give absolute recommendations when a) I don't know your requirements, and b) the RSS update hasn't been completed yet - so I'm speculating on some of these issues!

Thanks..face-off for your patience...combined with my ignorance....I can wait :) I appreciate your patience & time in answering the questions. Have a great evening/weekend :)

The first is a P4 render, using the HyperReal textures "out of the box" - no bump maps applied.

The second is the RealSkinShader applied to the HyperReal textures. Same light set as the P4 render, but with the lights changed to raytrace shadows and rendered in firefly. I chose the "use noise as bumpmaps" option in RSS for this render.

The third is the HyperReal textures with the HyperReal script. Same light settings as render 2.

Keep in mind this is not even close to the best these scripts can produce. Just a quick-and-dirty comparison using the default settings for each script.

That's Kozaburo's hair so did you use texture filtering in order to get the hair texture to come out? If so, that can have an effect on the skin mapping.

No, I didn't use texture filtering. It slows a render down far too much.

Eirian - great comparison (better than the one I recently put in my gallery). Firstly, you can see that specular highlight don't work nearly as well in RSS compared with HyperReal. Secondly - it's interesting that her teeth look different in each render (although I'm sure they are the same). Shows how teeth depend on the skin, and how hard (impossible?) it is to get them right with just a single mat pose. Also - on the noise bumpmaps option - since the HyperReal P4 mat poses apply a bumpmap, the RSS script will use these bumps instead of the noise node. As for texturemapping - I've found that it is best to avoid it at all costs - since it causes problems when skin stretches - particularly at the shoulders. So a far shot showing shoulder skin will be tough - it needs filtering for the hair, but that impacts shoulders.

Sometimes (not always) I get white specks in the render. Do you know what might be causeing that???? Or is it just me? (I'm having problems with everything I try to day so it couldn't very well be just some stupid thing I'm doing).

White spec could either be displacement mapping (turn it off a rerender to see if that fixes it). Set your min dispalcement bounds to be whatever your displacement amount is in the shader. Or it could be stray highlights - caused fom a backlight somewhere. Let us know how you go with this.

I wonder, are those special maps for the HyperReal shader based on V3 UV? And - could they be converted for other characters using Universal Texture Converter?

Mmmm - cool idea. The answer is "maybe"...well "probably", but you would need to get your hands dirty. I am current doing some work on the special maps at the moment, and found they required a bit more work than I thought in order to get them right for a different character. You could probably get 75% of the way there with the UTC (easier to convert to another female character than a male one). Then there would be the issue of changing the script - so it knows which materials to plug where. If you were doing that for M3 it would be a code challenge to cope with this extra bits. For V2, probably pretty simple.