Hello,

I'm trying to re-create a certain cyborg character in PoserPro2010 and Michael 4 which comes with a metal nose of all possible bodyparts. And I need some help, please.

With all the blending possibilities I've seen, I was wondering if it is possible to have M4s nose nice and shiny and metallic looking rather than just painting the texture? I was thinking of something like bagginsbills tattoo tutorial but I don't know about the metallic look...

Maybe someone would be so kind to give me a tutorial for it or link me to one if it exists? Thanks so much in advance.

yes, it's possible, but you need a mask for your two materials (skin and metal).  you could probably get away with not painting a mask for legs or arms, but the easiest thing for a nose is definitely painting. well, technically.  if you want a hard line between skin and metal, you could use a pen vector tool.  that would actually be pretty quick work.  as in about 2 minutes.

once you have your mask, and assuming the nose part is white, use a Blend node to combine your skin and your metal.  just to keep it simple to start with, make you metal a Reflect node with colored reflection and your skin node a diffuse texture  plugged into a Diffuse node.  then plug the Diffuse node into the first input, the Reflect node into the second input, and the mask into the third input.

once you have that going, you can get fancier with your skin and metal materials.  my suggestion is to get the basics first before playing around.  that way you aren't making lots of changes at once.

Or use the Grouping tool to separate out the nose as a new material zone.
Should be fairly easy with a protruding part like a nose.

Then you won't need any complicated paint-work; you can just apply a
metallic material to the nose zone.

Thanks you two. That sounds not as hard as I feared. Now I'll try and see which works best.

 I'd go with the Grouping tool method myself :) That way it's also easy to add the metal without complicated math and you can add a slight displacement to it as well and have it look right :)

Make a nose mask. White = nose. Everywhere else black.

Load into face material an Image_Map node with the nose mask.

Add a Math:Subtract node to produce 1 - nosemask. This is the not-nosemask.

*** Split instructions here: Goal is to disable diffuse reflection where the nose is.

Typical Case: If Color is connected to PoserSurface node Diffuse_Color, your skin shader is using built-in Diffuse. Connect the not-nosemask (Math:Subtract) to the PoserSurface DIffuse_Value.

Other Case: If Color is connect to an explicit DIffuse, Clay, Toon, Velvet, or other type of diffuse lighting node, find the equivalent to Diffuse_Value on that node and connect the not-nose mask to it.

In either case, you are trying to get the skin color to be normal except where the nose is. There we want it black.

*** Merge back to common instructions.

Add a Reflect node connected to white Reflection_Color.

Connect nosemask to .8 Reflection_Value.

Now we must deal with specular. Skin has broad-weak specular, metal has tight-strong specular.

We could use a single Blinn node and modulate all three parameters, but the easier way is to use two different Blinn effects and blend them via the mask.

Do as I've done here, but the first Blinn should be whatever you already have if you have a Blinn node. If you do not already have a Blinn node, and your shader is using the built-in specular of the PoserSurface, turn it off via Specular_Value = 0 and add a Specular node with the same settings and connections as you had on the PoserSurface built-in specular, and use that as the first input to the Alternate_Specular Blender.

 BB.. I have a question to your solution. Let's say you wanted to use VSS on the figure as a whole.. Could you still incorporate the mask? I'm not saying it can't be done, mind you, but I just think itn this case it would be a lot easier with a separate material zone for the nose, and since it's exactly the nose and the nose is protruding, it's a matter of like 2 seconds with the grouping tool, a side view and wireframe (so you select both sides at once) and .. whalla.. you have a new material zone for the nose.

The mask method certainly work, but what if the face texture needs those other channels which are now used to separate the nose?

well, that's why i made the suggestion i did.  his way still uses the Poser root node, which can't be mixed. it works really well, but i thought for some reason mihoshi1de mentioned using the VSS sample skin shader, so i figured a solution that applied to materials with complexity before the root node  would be better.  i must have been confused by the mention of the tattoo tutorial and that face paint blending thread.

it's not a difficult solution.  you make your skin shader, you make your metal shader, then you blend them.  totally separate processes, just like blending root nodes.

 But still (clinging stubbornly to the "new material zone wit the grouping tool" method)  wouldn't it be equally easy (if not easiER) to just give the nose its own material zone. it IS a 2 second solution with the grouping tool.. ok 10 second then, but still.. easy!)

Seems to me like too many people shy away from the groupng tool when it's capable of so much. IMO it's silly to disregard the options inside Poser, whether it's the possibility to use an awesome shader OR the option of using the Grouping tool...

ignore the many, many node lines in this image.  they're from my face shader, which uses layers of makeup, material based sRGB correction (i don't have PP), and other features.  and i know the metal doesn't include conservation of energy, or any other more realistic effects, but i wanted to show how to use a very, very simple metal material.  but i did want to show how this method allows you to use a totally different type of specular than the skin.  not that you couldn't bagginsbill's way. 

on the grouping tool:  actually, i've used it.  a fair amount, even.  i hate it with a passion.

it took me longer to make the image showing how to do this than it did to make my mask and set up my material. 

it took me longer than either to select exactly what i wanted in my very simple clothes to do some testing earlier today.  and the topology of my clothes is way simpler than a Version 4 face.  someone else might be totally faster, but for me, that way would be a waste of time.

i can save this material as a map to use with any V4.  very light-weight file.  to save the grouping, i'd have to save a new character file.  not at all light-weight.

i can blur the mask to make the transition softer.  i can shred the mask's edges to distress it (should my metal nosed character enter a conflict).    if i used grouping, i'd have no options.  and using grouping i have a truly hard line.

i'm not saying the grouping way is worse, because for some people it would be better. it just seems like skill at using that tool is  uncommon among average users.  and i've read tons of posts saying how awful it is by really skilled modelers.  since my own experience has supported this, and it's a very limited and fixed solution (which is something i always end up having a problem with), it's not the solution i personally would recommend.  it's great that you and ockham are here to suggest it as an alternative.  just not what i would do, you know?

oh!  and just to add, i can do a lot of very easy adjustment to my nose mask because it's a vector shape.  if i find after looking at a certain angle, i want a different line around the nose, no problem.  but if you use the grouping tool, you're limited to the lines the polygons make.  if you don't want to use an existing edge loop but do want a straight line (not a stair-step one), well, you're S.O.L.  i don't like to depend on other people's designs like that.  and just to make changes with the topology, you have to select or deselect an edge loop.  for me, that seems like a lot more trouble than moving a max of 4 control points.

and again, i look at things that way because i personally always find i need to make changes and adjustments, and things never work exactly as i planned.  for a lot of people, i'm sure that isn't true.

To me the grouping tool might be useful but only if the polys on that match or give a smooth transition. It could be that you would have a very jagged selection.

I don't have time to show you, but I actually first built the demonstration using a zebra texture instead of a nose mask.

If I had shown you metallic zebra stripes mixed with ordinary skin, we'd not be having this discussion about the grouping tool.

You may wonder though why I didn't acknowledge or mention the grouping tool. Well, you guys already said you could use it, and I don't have anything to add to that. Then some said why/when you couldn't use it, and I have nothing to add to that either, other than what to do when you can't use it, which is what I posted.

Remember, I'm the guy who is abrupt, which some read as rude and dismissive. Actually the problem is that it is the weekend and if I keep talking to you people my wife will divorce me. I am only home 2 days a week this entire month.

Now that the metal nose is sorted all we need is the Jane Fonda morph and a couple of banjo players :)

Mmmmm, Jane Fonda as Cat Balou or Barbarella. Excuse me whilst I go all a quiver.

Thanks bagginsbill for the tutorial and for taking the time. :)

I liked all suggestions, actually. I never knew the grouping tool is actually that useful... I knew it was a good decision to choose Poser over DAZ studio. And not just because I always liked the cloth room. Obviously Poser can do a lot which I know nothing of.

However, bagginsbill solution has two advantages for me right now: I now know that the nose can be done like I thought and feel clever.The nose texture can be as detailed and big as I want and I can resize it in Poser or replace it anytime if I want wooden leg etc., and I now know another nifty trick without touching the original texture.

Also, I can give Rudolph a shiny red nose for Xmas now. lol Yay!

The grouping tool is fine if the character's nose is ready and done, but I haven't finished his face yet. Nothing wrong with having a nose prop ready.