ok so i am using the M4 hi texture map for my figure. after i render with VSS the 5 o,clock shadow almost goes away completely. What i am shooting for is a more darker/visible 5 o,clock shadow. Maybe BB you can help me achieve this.

Or maybe its best to figure out how to do it in photoshop? Not that im an exspert in photoshop eather lol

if the 5 clock shadow is in the texture then you are using to bright lights.try using darker lights.

do oyu have in the render settings GC turned on?

GC? whats that. I am using kind of low lights as it is i beleave. but ill try lower and see what happens. I am only using 3 lights, just like BB has taught me.

Meltz has Poser 7, so he's not using render GC.

yes thats right, i always forget to mention that. Hey but with the VSS it renders just as good as poser pro right?

As long as the VSSProp version matches your Poser version, no difference.

i guess it does lol

meltz,

I'm working on a solution, but the only color map I have is the default one that comes with M4 free.

Can you post two renders for me?

Head shot without VSS.
Head shot with VSS.

Does this color map have beard stubble or you're trying to add that?

Does this color map you're working with have head hair and/or eyebrows in addition to the beard stubble (if it has it)?

wow that looks awsome. yes the head map has stubble, head hair and eyebrow hair as well. ill go and post those renders right now, let me render them

also one more quick question. when i load the VSS prop from my props runtime, i load the one with the two fighting guys (VSSgeneric) right? cause there are two others in there as well i just dident k now what those did

That's not with VSS. Other than the change in camera position, they're identical. Did you forget to synchronize?

Is that texture the same as I have, just higher resolution? Or is it the default one? It doesn't look like much. I thought you had a better/different texture set.

The two guys fighting, VSSGeneric, is the oriignal. If you're using that one, you needed to load a new skin shader in it because that's what is different in PR3 - the skin shader is better.

Instead of assemblying it yourself, you should be using the PR3 control prop that was built for me by some helpful friend and I uploaded later.  It's in the PR3 Control prop zip file on the VSS home page.

There are two props in there - VSS_PR3_AO and VSS_PR3_No_AO - the icons are had shots of bald Simon.

yeah i messed up the vss i beleave. yeah its the same texture you have i think, the one that came with M4 just the hi res one. i have the pr3 control prop zip. which one do i use then the VSS_PR3_AO    or the VSS_PR3_NO_AO   ?

That's up to you. If you want faster renders and don't care about maximum realism, skip AO altogether. But I suggest using AO for realism.

You have two choices - you can manage AO on the IBL light, or you can have it done in the materials. The VSS_PR3_AO does the AO in the materials. The NO_AO does not.

You test render lighting could be better.

Use an infinite light at 80%.

Use a low intensity IBL. What level is impossible to tell you unless I know what IBL image you're using.

Or use an IBl without an image. Go into the IBL material. Disconnect the image. Set

Color = WHITE RGB 255, 255, 255
Intensity = .1 (10%)
IBL Contrast = 1

so i just load the AO one instead of the VSS generic ? 

i was using the IBL at 30%

Load VSS_PR3_AO if you want the AO. Load VSS_PR3_NO_AO if you don't. Is this a new area for you? I get so used to just saying AO this AO that, I sometimes forget it might be a mystery.

AO (Ambient Occlusion) is a ray-tracing shadow effect that is used with IBL to generate darker areas in crevices and tights spots, like armpits, the eyewhite near the lids, etc.

ok very cool. yes its defently new to me, i been playin around with poser for along time but just recently started to take it serious. So im defently sorry if i sound like a totle newbie, well i guess i am lol

oh one more thing, do i first load the VSSgeneric prop, then load the AO prop over it? or just the AO prop alone will work?

The AO prop alone. The Generic prop is the same thing but with older shaders on it.

cool thanks BB, should i try and get a different sampl for you again? or is it not needed now? i think we were using basicly the same thing

No need - I'm packaging up a new shader for you.

sweet. you are the man BB

I'm having great difficulty getting this to work right.

The technique I'm using is to compare the luminance of the color map with a specific threshold. I darken anything below that threshold.

The trouble is there are plenty of parts of him that are facial hair with a luminance that is actually higher than some other hairless parts of him.

So the threshold test is picking up other areas that are not hair, but darkening them anyway because it can't tell the difference.

Here's a render without the hair enhancer.

You'll see that the inside of the elbows, the outer forearm, the collar bones, and parts of his nose are being darkened as well.

I'm wondering if this is an unworkable technique. Perhaps you should just edit his facial map in Photoshop or something.

Ah well, maybe it will work better on your M4 textures.

I uploaded it for you to try.

It's in this folder:
http://sites.google.com/site/bagginsbill/free-stuff/random-shaders

look for VSSM4HairBooster.zip

It contains a modified VSS control prop. All the shaders in there were tuned for M4. The Template Skin shader has some surgery I did. You'll find a Blender node stuck in there near the parameters. That is the hair enhancer. The Value_1 parameter is gray - make that white to stop the enhancer. Make it lighter gray to reduce the effect. Make it darker gray to increase the effect.

I included the shader without AO - until you're ready to really dig into material AO tweaking, it's better to do it with the light. I used to say otherwise, but you have Poser 7 (SR3 I hope) and that does a good job with light-based AO, and it is easier to manage.

You'll want to install that prop in your runtime wherever you like. It has a different name than all the other VSS props so it can go with those if you want.

Load that prop. If your scene already has another VSS prop, delete that first.

Awesome BB ill download it tommoro and try and find some time to play with it this weekend. Once again you are the man