Hi all,

I've said "slightly OT" because the solution to this will most likely involve the use of a paint program such as GIMP or Photoshop.

Most characters have the eyebrows painted on as part of the overall head texture. Quite frequently I come across a situation where the color of the eyebrows don't match that of the hair prop.

What methods could you use in your paint program to alter the color of just the eyebrows ? .... if someone knows how and could give step-by-step instructions, that would be good.

Alternatively, is it possible via the Poser Material room ? .... e.g. by using a combination of nodes and isolating out just the eyebrows in the texture ?

thanks,
Andrew

PS I am aware that there are "eyebrow overlays" around for V4 and P7 characters, but what if your original character has eyebrows that are "bushier" than the overlays ???

The method I use is to create an alpha map of the brows and use a hue/saturation layer in photoshop to tint the brows. You can also use this alpha map in the material room of poser. My advice would be to pick up the V4 brow overlay from Netherworks (should still be available for free at Content Paradise and in the DAZ freepozitory). It comes with a tutorial on how to use the overlay. Take a look at the alpha map of the brows and the way it is attached in the material room nodes. This should get you started on creating your own overlays for different textures.

Thanks, fivecat. 

That has partially answered my question, but how can you create an accurate alpha map of the brows, i.e. nice and sharp without feathering around the edges ? .... I have tried something similar in the past but because of indistinct edges, the eyebrows end up looking like they have been colored out of a bottle.

I should add that the paint programs at my disposal are GIMP v2.1.13, Ulead Photompact v10 and Adobe Photoshop Elements v2

I'm not sure about elements, i have CS.   What i generally do in photoshop is to airbrush out the brows on the texture, then paint them in, with an airbrush in a new layer.   Zoomed in, i use the smudge tool to feather them to look like hairs.

Thanks, Tiari.

When you say you "airbrush out the brows", can you elaborate ? .... I assume you are temporarily removing the eyebrows ? .... wouldn't the cloning tool be better for that, i.e. to replace the brows with the skin ?

tekmonk, are there "brow props" around ? .... I have never seen them.

Well its fairly easy to create one in any modeller, just select some polys on the forehead, extract them out and shape to fit. They will have the same UVs as the head so you can apply the same texture.

EDIT : ehh why did my previous post disappear ??

Anyway i will post it again, basically i paint out the brows (using cloning) to get a clean texture. I can then use this with a separate brow prop or paint new ones on top in the color i need.