he!  that's so funny.  in the back of my head, i was thinking that it reminded me of "globulous."  that's the tutorial that i was trying to use to do stuff in d|s.    in d|s, pwSurface has a single sss layer and translucency.  at the time, this is best i could do for an asian skin shader (no tex, iirc- the eyebrows are transmapped).  which is not yet vaguely acceptable.  i figure i'll revisit it again when i actually have more stuff done.  2 spots- 1 backlight, 1 main light from above.   i think i'm going to find that first of all i should work with more light in the scene; i think i'm trying to use the material too much to make it lighter.  second of all, i think i'm going to find it best to have an sss map.  i don't know a thing about how that would work or how to make one, and i'm (unfortunately) not anal, or i'd be more methodical.  and actually figure some stuff out.  as it is, i'll flail around until i achieve something or other. ;D

i've been thinking about the reflection technique,  based on that tutorial.  i've never tried it though.  i can see why it would be useful. 

no, i don't know of anyone who's done anything like what you have in poser or d|s.  the only place i've seen "soft" edges even vaguely akin to that is in the promotionals of an hdri light set for poser 7.   in default poser, there's only a really faulty and bad version of the backside sss (see many posts on the topic, especially bagginsbill's- he suggests avoiding the fastscatter node).  the translucency node also works incorrectly and strangely (see rdna node cult forum). so in poser, sss needs faking with nodes.  while many have come up with wonderful and effective skin shaders,  absolutely none have achieved the soft translucent quality in that image.  i've seen bagginsbill get close to the pwSurface jade, but that looked opague compared to your skin.  basically, you can get photoreal that's very opague, but i've yet to see anyone achieve the soft translucence of light actually scattering inside skin (or stone, or plastic, or liquid).  i'm not even vaguely saying it's impossible.  it would just be a lot nicer if poser just implemented proper translucence and sss. 

and that tutorial showed me what i had always felt had been missing in the existing poser solutions: the epidermal scattering.  not all lit edges are overexposed.   a good example of the look effect i'm thinking of  is that "Globulus and friends" example, especially the top of his ear.  after the strong red of sss, that thin pale layer.  since i love light like i do, i'd love to use something that allowed me to combine those different layers of scattering.  but i'm sure i can do a lot more than i have with the tools i already know and use.

thing is, i haven't seen one person using poser or d|s accomplish what i want.  i've seen it in works done with higher powered 3d apps, but not with poser or d|s.  i've seen tons of solutions that amaze and astound me.  but none with the particular features i want.

on your work... i have to admit that as much as i love it, it does look more like a facsimile of skin to me, because of the lack of variation in tone, tanning, etc.  but that's just my preference.  thanks so much for sharing your knowledge- some people find asking about their techniques insulting and prefer you go through the same work they did.    i didn't want to offend you just in case. 

you've definitely helped.  i feel much better equipped to approach a pwSurface solution again.  in poser.... i just don't understand enough of the basic math involved with sss to even begin.