Tbird - I converted your shader to a matmatic script, which let me try thirty or so variations in a short time. You have a lot of nodes in there that aren't doing much, if anything.

Besides the color texture node itself, I've got it down to 4 nodes with no noticeable difference; one each of blender, fastscatter, skin, and spots.

I don't think you're using the fastscatter and skin in a way I've seen before. I'm experimenting with it, but I suspect it will have problems under diverse lighting conditions - it always does.

The shader tends to bloom a bit too much with IBL, but it's really interesting. I'll post more info as I get a better handle on it.

 

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Renderosity forum reply notifications are wonky. If I read a follow-up in a thread, but I don't myself reply, then notifications no longer happen AT ALL on that thread. So if I seem to be ignoring a question, that's why. (Updated September 23, 2019)