Given how I keep discovering new things, I'm not sure there will ever be a "final" VSS shader. I suppose you could say that the PR3 skin shader is actually a "final" shader. Given what I wanted it to do, it does all that about as well as I know how to do it. Other shaders, such as teeth and eyes need more work. So does the software to go with it. I'm doing this in my spare time, of which there just isn't enough. So I don't really have a plan.

The real point of VSS is for you to be able to easily apply shaders to multiple material zones. The skin shaders I've given out really aren't an integral part of VSS. They are just something I throw out there because people like free stuff, and it really demonstrates how VSS makes life easier. You could use face_off's shaders just as easily. VSS doesn't care about the shaders.

What I really want/need to do is extend what VSS does to include the concept of separated shader effect layers that you can enable and disable. That way, if you really don't want AO, you can leave it out. In principle, if you examine all the effects that can be added or deleted to a skin shader, there are hundreds of variations. There's always going to be somebody that wants features A, B, and C, but not X, Y, and Z. Somebody else wants all of them.

Consider the following features that can optionally be incorporated into a typical face shader. (I have published how to do all of these at one time or another in the past.)

1. SSS
   2) Freckles
2. Moles
3. Lipstick
   5) Eyeshadow
4. Eyeliner
5. Displacement
   8) AO

These can be reasonably wanted or unwanted in any combination. That's 256 different shaders that are possible. If I consider a few more effects:

9. Bruises
   10) Cuts
   11) Dirt
   12) Blood
   13) Mud
   14) Tattoos
10. Water droplets

I have published all of these as well. That brings us to 32768 possibly different node setups! How do you want to deal with that? I can't reasonably put out a product catalog with thousands of different shaders that you have to choose from.

To do all this well, I need to make a really powerful graphical user interface. I'm struggling with that right now. (Have been for months)

Meanwhile, on your speed issue, there are many factors that come into play. First of all, which version of Poser are you using? Each new version is faster than the last.

I also wonder what you think is "slow" - meaning, many folks have come to expect 60 second renders, but that comes at the expense of realism. My shaders are all about realism, so we have to give up some speed to get that. But maybe you're actually struggling with some fundamental limit of your version of Poser or your computer. For example, there's a huge difference in performance when you run out of RAM. Some shaders features will cause more memory use. If you have enough RAM, the additional work may only double the render time. If you run out of RAM, it can increase render time a hundred fold.

I'm using a laptop for a lot of work and it often goes kablooie on a render (hours), while the same thing on my desktop (which is actually considerably older than my laptop) will finish in 10 minutes.

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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)