Quote - OK, BB what do you think. I would like your critique. The top is straight out of the box using your Indoor Lights 2.

The middle is VSS2. No fiddling (because I wouldn't know where to begin).

The last is my custom shader that I normally use. Actually, its based on your earlier stuff and stuff I learned from face_off.

To me the top one is way off. Not good looking at all. The middle is quite realistic and I especially like the soft shadowing. But I still like the last one. I like the skin sheen (now you'll tell me VSS does skin sheen) and I don't mind the darker shadow either as I think visually an oily skin will produce darker shadows.

 
Hmm. The VSS render (#2 pic) looks really dark to me. I'm not sure why. Is that really the PR2 shader? It looks more like the PR1 shader.

The Indoor02 lights (which have too much IBL) are supposed to produce a soft, dark look - the main light is only at 30%. The resulting shading on the figure is completely incongruous with the stark white background. The combination just looks wrong - disturbingly out of place.

Of course #1 is terrible. #3 looks better than #2, but the background really throws me off in this case.

It would be a lot easier to judge if the background was consistent with the lighting style - Indoor02 is supposed to be an "underexposed" interior, where the "camera" was trying to deal with a bright light (perhaps an exterior window behind the figure) and as a result the figure is not lit very much.

Try using a photograph of an actual interior, softly lit with no single strong light source. Then the figure will look less out of place.

As to the desired amount of sheen - again we have to consider the situation. If you used a very strong main light, you'd get a lot more specular from the VSS shader. However, this shader is just one of thousands possible. I designed it to represent dry skin, not wet. If you want to set the material up for a wetter look, that is no problem. You would boost the strength of the Blinn node, and possible tighten up the highlight by changing the other parameters.

Remember, VSS isn't about a particular shader or even a set of shaders. The intention is that you have something good to start with, and then you really should be modifying the parameters, or even changing the nodes, to simulate the actual material characteristics of your figure. I will be putting more nodes and parameters together to increase the kinds of skin that can be simulated, but I haven't done that yet. For now, we have just the basics.

Shaders are only half (or less than half) of the equation. Getting the lights and environment to be consistent is very important.

This is the type of scenario that Indoor02 is for.

I'm in a room. The camera is facing the windows, and the exposure is balanced for the light levels of the scene outside. As a result, the indoor lighting is subdued. There are no strong speculars facing the camera, but the rim light is bringing out speculars as if light was reaching the figure from the window.

This is with PR2 shaders.

Because my original Indoor02 was too hot, I decreased it for this render.

The adjusted light intensities are Rim=30%, IBL=20%, Main=20%. I also moved the Rim light and Main light angles to match the photo a little better.

If you were to view this figure against a white background, it would look really wrong.

Look at this - the figure is identical, but the background makes it look terrible.

When you render against white, a much better light set is Beach.

Here I used Beach, but adjusted it to be even hotter. The IBL is 60% and the Main light is 100%.

Since you wanted to see "sheen", I also added a Glossy node to the skin shader.

yeah for hot indoor lighting like beach we need to change the specular settings.

but since VSS is so easie to use it can be done in like 30 seconds. and i mean it. 30 seconds. and this is time that you add the glossy node hehehehe.

p.s. i noticed some bad specular on the left arm. this is not the first time i notcied this in poser. i dont know if it is the specular that is not right or is it the model. it just doesnt look right. the spcular on the face looks realistic. but not on the left arm.

how did you add the glossy node? into the alternate specular or did you connect it with blinn? plus have you nocited the nose in your render? i see nice SSS.

Understood. Still learning.

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Quote - how did you add the glossy node? into the alternate specular or did you connect it with blinn? plus have you nocited the nose in your render? i see nice SSS.

I inserted a Color_Math:Add before the Blinn, then I added the Glossy node plugged into Value_2, so that the Add was summing the two specular effects.

I did notice the tip of the nose. That was a very happy accident. I was really pleased with how good that looked, because you know I'm totally cheating with the SSS. It does not do the proper volumetric analysis at all, yet sometimes it looks just right.

a small mistake is maybe to much AO around the ears. maybe we should lower it to 2 or 1.5.

i was thinking in making maybe a ear map like this
http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?thread_id=2105489&page=1
in the cmbination with your shader it would look pretty awsome.

Quote - a small mistake is maybe to much AO around the ears. maybe we should lower it to 2 or 1.5.

I agree, but it's tough to fix. The problem is that material based AO makes no distinction between occlusion of your ambient (IBL) light, versus occlusion of your directional lights. The result is that directional light is "occluded" as well, which is wrong, because we already have directional shadows to take care of this phenomenon.

We really should be using AO on the IBL light only, and not using it at all in materials. Unfortunately, Poser's light-based AO is seriously buggy. I never wanted to use material-based AO at all for this. But I did hundreds of experiments with light-based AO, and there are too many situations where Poser just doesn't do it right. Face_off told me at least a dozen times to stop using light-based AO and only do material based AO. I finally listened to him - and this is what we get.

Decreasing the AO strength is something you can do in the shader itself. It would have to be in proportion to how much light is from IBL, which I don't know up front. Remember, though, that the AO node strength parameter doesn't do anything. (Another Poser bug). So we have to use a Blender to actually control the strength.

You could also use an AO control mask if you want to make one. You'd use that to drive the blender, so the AO strength is variable across the surface.

AO control mask? thisiss interesting. like in poser i also like to work in photoshop. i like ot do different displacement,color,... maps.
could you explain this to me? i could maybe do this for apollo.

ok i was searching some of your threads today. 
i found this thread.
www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php
its about one of your skin shaders.of course VSS skin is 100 times better then this. but i find something else itneresting in this thread.
translucence was used in your shader. so i looked up your screenshot. and i copyed only the tranlucence settings. and it looks good.
did some testing. so could you please explain to me a little what can i change in the settings?

one mistake is that when you have a light infront of the figure then the ears dont look red anymore.

*one mistake is that when you have a light infront of the figure then the ears dont look red anymore.

• Huh? That's what it's supposed to do. When light shines through the ear it is bright red, but not when you are on the same side as the light.

Has lighing based AO improved in Poser Pro?

Quote - *one mistake is that when you have a light infront of the figure then the ears dont look red anymore.

• Huh? That's what it's supposed to do. When light shines through the ear it is bright red, but not when you are on the same side as the light.

two lights.
one light infront of the figure and one light behind the figure.if i turn off the front light i see a red ear. but if i use both lights then the ear is normal like with one light.

i fixed the problem.

ok bagginslbill i think i found the right thread.
www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php

you explained here how you can control the strength. plus you showed a way to fake the GI. like color AO. and in the blender i now connect the map. ok i will go now and try to make the map. i will make a detailed map. but can you guys help me where the AO is the strongest on the body?

Viewing on a 21" CRT. I have not read the whole thread. With respect to the first image, I think the overall lighting looks very good, and integrates very well with the photo. To me the figure's skin looks desaturated in red. I have taken some liberties with your image. In the image above, the original figure is on the right. My idea of the skin colour to match the photo is the figure on the left. I'm no spring chicken, perhaps it's just macular degeneration setting in.

P.S. Great figure :)

I've tried the VSS script and wonder what is it it's supposed to do?  Can someone explain in very simple terms?

The script follows rules, provided by a prop, to decide how to apply shaders to other figures or props. It automates the copying of a particular shader to many material zones. It tries to automatically apply the various texture maps for your figure to these shaders, because it's supposed to work with any maps on any figure.

Also, I give you some free shaders to use with it, ready to go.

Much of the conversation has been about those shaders - which has nothing to do with VSS, per se. You could just as well copied the shader to every material zone yourself. But it would be a lot more work. I give out shaders all the time, and I grew tired of telling people how to apply them or adapt them to their figure.

As I've distributed it, it only does figures right now, and you can't make it do only certain figures without doing some editing.

When you run it - it populates buttons in your Python window. It doesn't actually do anything until you push those buttons.

For some people, there are problems. Anyone using Poser 6, or Poser on a MAC, seems to have various issues. I am working these out.

Quote - Viewing on a 21" CRT. I have not read the whole thread. With respect to the first image, I think the overall lighting looks very good, and integrates very well with the photo. To me the figure's skin looks desaturated in red. I have taken some liberties with your image. In the image above, the original figure is on the right. My idea of the skin colour to match the photo is the figure on the left. I'm no spring chicken, perhaps it's just macular degeneration setting in.

P.S. Great figure :)

Fair enough. The shader is supposed to be adjustable by you. If you want more red, you'll dial in more red :)

I hate the fact that posts on this site aren't numbered.

In your Posted Fri, May 30, 2008 4:34 pm post (2 posts ago) you said:
how to apply shaders to other figures or props.

Up until now I thought VSS only worked on skin (ie: Versatile SKIN Shader). Are you telling us VSS works for anything, including props like vased, walls and such?

Because if so, then this thing is freakin' awesome. I mean its already ready amazing in the amount of time it saves. But if it can also be used for non-flesh props - what a boon!

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Yes it applies to anything. That's the point - the only point.

I've described this several times, but I guess there's too much in the thread. Remember when I talked about my entry in the Poser Primitive challenge?

I made a deck/patio out of 102 poser boxes. I needed to adjust the shader for the wood of the deck. Did I do that 102 times? No I did not. I did it once and VSS copied it 102 times.

Copying the same skin shader to 8 skin zones is just one example. VSS has nothing to do with skin shaders.

I only showed this because it is the most common problem of shader copying in the Poser world. There are probably less than 1,000 Poser users who have ever needed to copy an updated shader to 100 or more props. But there are at least 250,000 Poser users who have needed to copy an updated skin shader to 8 skin zones, and they've been doing it over and over and over. So I demo the skin shader. But the skin shader is not the point of VSS.

It is not Versatile Skin Shader

It is Versatile Shader System

I'll keep pounding this point because it is important.

VSS is not about skin. VSS is not about figures. VSS is about copying shaders. VSS does not define the shader, you do.

I - bagginsbill - give you some free shaders to play with VSS. That is a bonus. That has nothing to do with VSS.

Do you want to use VSS with other shaders? No problem. For example, suppose you want to use a face_off shader on a character that isn't supported by face_off's Real Skin Shader (RSS) system. Suppose you want to use the RSS for V4 shader on Rikishi. (I'm making this up. I don't know much about RSS or what characters it supports. Please do not correct me on this point - it is for illustration only.)

I know that RSS and VSS look like similar names. RSS is Real Skin Shader. VSS is Versatile Shader System.

So you load a RSS skin shader from V4 into your VSS prop. You remove all the hard-coded images in the Image_Maps - changing them to None. (You'll need to do a couple other steps in the Designer - we'll talk about this another day.) Then you load Rikishi and hit Synchronize. Boom - your V4 skin shader, written by face_off, is applied correctly to Rikishi.

Another example. You buy one of the P.I.C.K. (Poser Indoor Creation Kit) products at RDNA. This has props for walls, floor tiles, ceiling tiles, etc. You load these and arrange them to make whole rooms or corridors. For example, you buy the Sci-Fi set and make a spaceship interior out of 30 or so props for walls, floors, chairs, etc. Now you decide the color is not quite what you want - you want blue on the walls, and a darker black on the floors.

Using VSS, you create a P.I.C.K. Sci-Fi control prop. On it you have templates shaders for all the different kinds of pieces in your scene. You adjust the Template Wall and Template Floor shaders, then Synchronize. VSS goes through all the props and copies the shaders to the right places, regardless of how many props and how many types of props you have. If the prop has a "Wall" material - it will copy it. If the prop has a "Floor" material zone, it will copy it. It does not matter what type of prop it is.

Sorry, I haven't read absolutely every post. Some of the stuff is way over my head. I have never liked Node based Shader systems, its why I chose Max over Maya and why I like Blender because it is slot based like Max.

A prop or mesh that contains multiple material zones in Poser is similar to a Multi/Sub object Material in Max. But they work completely differently. In fact, Poser can't read Max's Multi/Sub materials if they go over 10 zones. But Max can read Poser's without problem (most of the time).

So I can see how your shader system is an extreme benefit. But what I'm not getting is, for example, VSS; when applied to a human mesh, adds things like freckles, a kind of SSS (even if its not real just simulated) and redness. Things you wouldn't necessarily want added to let's say a concrete wall.

So, I'm a little confused that's all. VSS has a lot of Math functions (I have no idea what these things do, Max doesn't have Math functions).

BTW: is there a significance as to why your avatar is textured like a Wakins Goldfish?

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Quote - A prop or mesh that contains multiple material zones in Poser is similar to a Multi/Sub object Material in Max. But they work completely differently. In fact, Poser can't read Max's Multi/Sub materials if they go over 10 zones. But Max can read Poser's without problem (most of the time).

I'm guessing that you're referring to importing .3ds files from Max?  Try exporting/importing with .obj format instead - I have .obj files with multiple dozens of material zones on one mesh (100+) and Poser imports them fine.

Quote - So I can see how your shader system is an extreme benefit. But what I'm not getting is, for example, VSS; when applied to a human mesh, adds things like freckles, a kind of SSS (even if its not real just simulated) and redness. Things you wouldn't necessarily want added to let's say a concrete wall.

Re-read what he posted above a few times until it sinks in... - "VSS" (Versatile Shader System) is the set of python scripts that reference a prop in the scene to get rules/instructions and material/shader templates.

• Those scripts copy those  "shader templates" to other figures' material zones, based on the rules (instructions).
• The included example templates and rules happen to be a skin-shader he provided, meant to be used on humanoid figures.
• ...but there's no reason new/different rules and templates couldn't be created/used for other types of meshes.

Quote - So, I'm a little confused that's all. VSS has a lot of Math functions (I have no idea what these things do, Max doesn't have Math functions).

The math functions that you see in the shaders in the Material Room are part of the example shaders he happened to provide with the VSS - if you brought up one of his his example shader templates and deleted all those math nodes and just created a really simple image->diffuse channel shader/material, the VSS would copy that new template to your figure, based on the rule-set (which is basically just material-name pattern-matching).

Does that help?

Another example / analogy / perspective...

• Somone hands you a pistol with "blanks" in it.
• You say "but what if a bear comes for me? - surely this pistol won't help me in that situation"
• The person tells you: "replace the blanks with real bullets". [ the real/better answer is - start praying :) ].

VSS is the pistol.  What it fires (ammunition) depends on whatever you load it with (the shader-templates and rule-sets on the prop).

The confusion crept in because everyone started talking about the (excellent) example shaders - and not as much about how / whether the scripts copied the shaders around.

There are some texture maps in the RSS for the Unimesh, so i guess it won't apply correctly on a figure that doesn't share the same UVs. But it's not possible, as you could still make yourself a similar map for the desired figure. So it's really really handy :)

*I'm guessing that you're referring to importing .3ds files from Max?  Try exporting/importing with .obj format instead - I have .obj files with multiple dozens of material zones on one mesh (100+) and Poser imports them fine.

Nope. I never use .3ds. I always use .obj. In fact I have a 3rd party plug in for Max that is able to optimize exports to Poser. If I go over 10 material zones. I get squat in Poser. Sometimes I'll get a piece of the mesh, but no more.

"VSS" (Versatile Shader System) is the set of python scripts that reference a prop in the scene to get rules/instructions and material/shader templates.

I'm having a hard time understanding this. I know there is a prop involved. And it has to be there. But I'm not even going to pretend to know why its there or what it does. It gets rules, OK. What does that mean, I don't know.

So, how do I load the material/shaders to work with other things in my Poser scene? This is not a question I am able to answer yet. I know how to operate it, just like I know how to operate my Telephone, but don't ask me how electrons transmitted over some thin wires is able to exactly duplicate the voice of the person on the other side.

Like many people here, a lot in this thread is over my head. I'm just a hobbyist. Not a mathematician, programmer, or professional artist. But I know just enough to cause a great deal of damage if I start tinkering with VSS without really know what I'm doing. And I know just enough to kind of understand what's been talked about but not fully. Kind of like a child listening to an adult conversation. *

You know that someone had sex with someone else, and you know who the people are, but you don't know what sex is and you don't understand how it affects the marriage of to other people you've never heard of.

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Quote - Nope. I never use .3ds. I always use .obj. In fact I have a 3rd party plug in for Max that is able to optimize exports to Poser. If I go over 10 material zones. I get squat in Poser. Sometimes I'll get a piece of the mesh, but no more.

Hmm... the guruware plugin maybe? (if not, you might want to search for and try that).  I don't have experience with Max, so I can't comment directly, but it sounds like the exporter is not actually giving you 'optimized' results for Poser :).

If you can post a simple example mesh/.obj file (just a cylinder or something) wih more than 10 materials on it, I'd be happy to take a look at it for you - if not, you can look at it yourself... just load the .obj file into any text-editor and do a search for "usemtl"... see how many different ones there are (or, more specifically, which ones are missing).

If the exporter outputs a .mtl file, that might be easier to look through (much smaller file)... look for "newmtl" in a text-editor.

Quote - I'm having a hard time understanding this. I know there is a prop involved. And it has to be there. But I'm not even going to pretend to know why its there or what it does. It gets rules, OK. What does that mean, I don't know.

So, how do I load the material/shaders to work with other things in my Poser scene? This is not a question I am able to answer yet....

Right... the system is still in test stages, so BB hasn't had a chance to finish documenting it yet, so that may come later.  But basically, if you select the prop and look at it's materials in the Material Room, you'll see where all that stuff is stored.

The idea is that you'd create a new prop-of-templates for use on different types of models.  Then you'd just load the correct prop, depending on what shader set you wanted.

The idea is that you'd create a new prop-of-templates for use on different types of models.  Then you'd just load the correct prop, depending on what shader set you wanted.

Wouldn't that entail making hundreds of props? Wouldn't you need one for Buildings, Vehicles, Interiors, Exteriors, Clothing etc.

Hmm... the guruware plugin maybe?

Yup.

If you can post a simple example mesh/.obj file (just a cylinder or something) wih more than 10 materials on it, I'd be happy to take a look at it for you

Very kind of you. But it isn't something that tends to be consistent. I've tried tests myself. I've created a 12 sided polyhedron and applied 12 different materials, and it works. Then I create a model with 12 material zones (Sci Fi panel with various digital displays) and all I get is one of the displays and the rest of the model is invisible. Its this inconsistency that I get with Poser that frustrates me and gets Poser shelved for months at a time.

My lack of experience and the time I have to devote to solving problems also gets in the way. I'd rather spend what precious time I have learning Max than trying to master Poser. I spent a lot of money on Max. ;)

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I really love this! You are on to something great here. I think it produces fabulous results. Here is my try with Vicky 4.2. Indoor lighting.

can you cut a small pieace out. the breast and left arm? i think if we dont see the fake face and hair then it looks very realistic.

Quote - Hey people. I'm very close to finalizing my upcoming freebie Versatile Shader System (VSS). I'm not really ready to discuss that. I'm here to get opinions.

I'm putting together some sample scenes and shaders to go with it. One of the hardest problems is realistic outdoor composition. Here is a sample.

Also, I have a brand new 24" Samsung SyncMaster monitor with a freaking 10,000 to 1 contrast ratio. I'm a little concerned that what looks great to me (now) doesn't look so great to you.

So, how does it look?

(Click for full size)

Looks fantastic, even on the ancient 19" CRT generic monitor I use on my Linux system because it was too big to make an effective paperweight :)

I thought I would try the VSS and skin shader with a light set that I have put together based loosely on a tutorial over at Aery Soul's site. The set uses two HDRI IBLs (images available at the site) and a couple of point lights. One as the main and a second for fill. Also has a Rim spot. I've been using the light set on most of the recent images I've done because it would give me consistent results with various textures. I thought it would be interesting to see how the Skin shader would work out of the box with these lights. So I took an existing scene, applied the texture without any tweaking, hit Synch and rendered. Used the Ver2 prop and BB's suggested Awesome render settings. Got an almost perfect image with slight artifacts. Per suggestions up thread change the AO ray bias to .3, hit Synch and rendered. I'm very impressed with the look. I've also used BB's suggested Gamma Correction Shader on the hair. I love this skin shader and I love the VSS. The ability to tweak a single template and have it apply the shader changes to multiple zones, no fuss, no muss, thats something that gets me excited..... At this point I'd buy it "as is". BB are you taking pre-orders??

Quote - I really love this! You are on to something great here. I think it produces fabulous results. Here is my try with Vicky 4.2. Indoor lighting.

Damsel: Looks great to me! Thanks for the render. No suggestions?

Quote - IBB are you taking pre-orders??

Holler: That looks really great. Thanks for the render, and the excellent right-up of how you did it.

No need to order anything, of course. VSS and the basic shaders are free.

I still have to sort out some of these problems with MACs and P6. I'm so busy with my real work, right now - I just can't find the time to work on this. Then there's all the documentation that I need to write. Thankfully, this thread has given me a lot of insight into what needs explaining.

Any suggestions for changes or new features?

Don't forget it wasn't just the skin - it replaced your eye shader and teeth shaders, too. Nobody has mentioned them even once, good or ill. I didn't really spend much time on them - they need some improvement, I think.

Quote - > Quote - I really love this! You are on to something great here. I think it produces fabulous results. Here is my try with Vicky 4.2. Indoor lighting.

Damsel: Looks great to me! Thanks for the render. No suggestions?

Not so far, I'm loving the results. As far as the eyes, they looked really good in the render that I did. I'll have to play with more lights and let you know any other things, but so far, it's great! :-)

*Quote "Don't forget it wasn't just the skin - it replaced your eye shader and teeth shaders, too. Nobody has mentioned them even once, good or ill. I didn't really spend much time on them - they need some improvement, I think."

 * Sorry about focusing only on the Skin. Very happy with the eyes and teeth as well. Compared to previous versions of this scene where the eyes had no reflections and the teeth were not really visible. As you mentioned elsewhere the typical dark Poser look.  Thanks for all your work and for  letting us test drive this. As far as suggestions let me play with it some more and I'll let you know.

 

Quote - I thought I would try the VSS and skin shader with a light set that I have put together based loosely on a tutorial over at Aery Soul's site. The set uses two HDRI IBLs (images available at the site) and a couple of point lights. One as the main and a second for fill. Also has a Rim spot. I've been using the light set on most of the recent images I've done because it would give me consistent results with various textures.

I have not found this specific tutorial over there. Can you help me find it?

EDIT:

Think I found it... [TUTORIAL] Poser Pro-Light part 01-A ibl Trick

BB,

Hi I have some feedback, and questions.

1. For the eye materials on Daz Gen3 figures, and eyebrow/brow/lashes I changed after running the python to my own preferences instead of VSS.  Can I "teach" VSS my settings  on those materials, or disable VSS from over-ridding my settings?

2. I am working on a character that is very very pale Deep Winter with black hair. (Think Snow White) The skincolor is like sand to a wet sand color, (would you call that be pale olive, sallow, or soft beige?)  I'm finding that VSS has trouble with that. The color the shader adds in the shadows to rosey-pink instead of a sallow beige and that spots clash with the skintone. Is it possible to alter the color of the spots to one that is the right color for my target skintone?

Sample image posted is NOT retouched for AO spots and banding.

1. For my test render for pale skintone above, I got what looks like the "banding" on the skin texture and small AO dark spot artifacts. The lighting I used was BlueEye's IBL. The overall effect is the skin looks lumpy and dull.

My target skintone and coloring is Dita Von Teese. She has beautiful luminous pale skintone.
This photo is not retouched since it is a raw from the red carpet.
super large version of photo below here: 
http://z.about.com/d/fashion/1/0/n/n/2/57536796_10.jpg

more examples of Dita's skintone: 
http://www.helpinganimals.com/photos/640_dita_von_teese.jpg
http://cdn.maximonline.com/uploadedCmsFiles/Slides/82_dita_von_tesse_3025.jpg

Would it possible to have VSS handle a skintone like this in either the commercial or free base shaders?

1. I plan to take the pale character and drop him into Film Noir type lighting situations. Other VSS users have found that VSS prefers brights light and doesn't performs as well under dramatic lighting.  I haven't tried it yet, but I will.  So my question is, if this true, will there a future version of VSS for low-lighting situations and dramatic lighting?

Thanks. ^^

bB - like i mentioned over at DAZ, you might try  changing the SSS hue to be more yellow and less red.  iirc, it's Mac and PC go backwards, but on a PC i'd try somewhere between 8 and 16, depending on adjustments

change the color the skin feeds into to let it go "dead."  i feed it into an HSV instead of simple color, pull down the saturation, send it through a greenish swatch and raise the value. 

change the second spot color.  i did that immediately, anyway.  the closer it is to white, the less it's freckled.

and as much as i'm trying to get the performance i want in low light, it does perform well there, and looks beautiful (imho).  it's just a lot harder to get a range of darks. if you look earlier in this thread, i asked if 50% grey wasn't actually 50% light, why was it called that?  and stewer i think it was said that it's because everyone agrees that that's what it's called and sometimes 2 wrongs do make a right.   well, you add GC, and the Poser lights aren't doing the second wrong there.  so their 50% light on a GC surface doesn't give me anywhere near what is called a 50% grey, if you catch my drift.  it's not the fault of of the default VSS skin shader, which uses GC, but it does mean that without something to put the lights' intensity dials on a scale similar to that of a GC corrected surface, they're a lot harder to control at extreme darks.  going to black is fine, but getting to what image editors would say is 5% or 8% brightness with a light at full strength probably means going somewhere below 1%. 

attached is the image i was working on before trying for your ideal (Asian and pale).  i think it looks pretty good, actually.  just to ask,do you want him to look alive?  because i achieved pale and kind of dead looking ages ago.  i'm fighting to get the right amount of not dead.

oh, and in answer to 1), that's exactly what VSS is for. it's not a skin shader.  it's a way to template your materials.  i have no clue how to use the designer yet, but when i do, i'll be making skin templates like a fiend.  right now i save single materials, apply it to one material, change the textures, copy the new material to zones that take the same textures with ShaderSpider, copy to one new texture mat zone, go to that zone and load the correct textures, copy those to the zones that take the same texture, etc.  doesn't take but so long, but it is definitely a PITA.  i can't wait to be able to just save a group of texture independent settings.

sorry for the lack of tag above!  could some kind mod add a nudity tag to my post, since i can't edit it now?

this is my best attempt at not dead, pale and Asian with the Alice texture as a base.  2 white spots and IBL at 12%.

and this is my best attempt at dead (or undead) with the same 2 spots but the IBL at 8%.  i  haven't bothered looking for eyebrow textures to go with either of them, i could go even lighter and maybe higher contrast with the skin, and just generally, there are people better at this than i.  but i think  it's not bad for what's basically 9 different tries, including messing around with the lights.

I got some time today so ive been playing with VSS.  Pics to follow.

Beach Lights with AS Alice textures.

Sunset Lights with Art Collab Piper.

One thing, Piper originally has shiny lips and I liked this look what would I need to adjust to add it back?

Original Image with Piper.  I want to say 4Blueyes IBL Classic light set but that may not be right.