Quote - If you look at my image, you'll see that the skin of the characters look very different. Light is key.

General recommendations, from the top of my head and from my own experience (others will have different opinions). Please note that I still use SkinVue6 although I have Vue7. If you have SkinVue7, the recommendations may not apply.

David, I love your package but, IMHO, it's still not perfect. Maybe SkinVue7 is, I have to buy that sometime. :-)

About light:

• Use environment mapping, but try several different maps to see which one you like the best. There are many free HDRI available on the net.
• Do not put light balance to 0% (the proposed default when you use environment map). Instead, put it between 5% and 20%
• Use point lights to create the highlights in the skin (environment map alone does not do it)
• Use GR

About skin:

• Take care with the slight luminosity that SkinVue materials have. In GR, it could look like light leaks and look strange (for example, it's very common in the ears), especially in Vue7 (in Vue6 it wasn't that noticeable). I normally tweak that manually.
• The lips in SkinVue generally look good in women with make-up only, due to its color and highlights. In men this doesn't look very natural, I always tweak that manually.
• The eye-reflect material that provides the reflections in SkinVue also prevent shadow from the eye lids in certain conditions, which looks fake. I also tweak that manually.
• Use a highlight map if the skin you're using has one (it would be called specularity map). Note that this doesn't translate from Poser into Vue, you have to apply that manually.
• Use a bump map if the skin you're using has one. Tick displacement if you see jagged edges in the shadow-light transitions. Note that sometimes the bumpmap does not translate from Poser into Vue, you may have to apply that manually, sometimes.
• Experiment with different bump strengths. Different skins need different values. The lips also need a different value from the face.
• Use SSS for the teeth. The normal poser teeth look horrible.
• Avoid skins that are too smooth and flat, very doll-like. The best ones are the ones with small imperfections, pores, etc.

There's many other things, many small details, but I think this is a good start. :-)

Good points all Rutra.  A couple of comments:

1.  SkinVue7 is more friendly when using GR atmospheres - less light leak caused by SSS.  However, in some cases you may have to turn SSS way down depending on the GR gain.

2. GR can produce very nice results with Skin renderings but you have be very careful in how it's used as it can produce too much color bleeding.  I've found that using the "Optimizing for Outdoor Rendering" switch and turning down the GR gain can help.

3.  For me anyways, I normally use GI atmospheres for character renders since it's easier to produce better looking shadows and control the overall lighting.