Does the VSS still make skin look better in poser pro 2012? Just curious and wanted to know if i needed an updated version or something before i go and start messin around with it.

I heard something called James Shader? Is that by BB also? If so where can i downlod it?

It's all in this thread:

http://www.runtimedna.com/forum/showthread.php?64789-Which-node-SubsurfaceSkin-or-Scatter-Blinn

best regards,

Bopper.

The VSS is the tool. It's used to apply a shader to several materials and figures at once.

Incidentaly, it comes with a skin shader.

Yes, it still makes skin better in PP2012 - IF you're not using Scatter for your skin.

If you are, by all means don't mix it with the skin shader that comes with VSS, or replace it. Scatter can look much better. You can, however, make a new VSS prop with a skin shader that uses Scatter, like the ones in the link above, so that you can easily apply that shader to any of your previous characters easily using the power of the VSS tool.

Question on Using VSS...

It not a problem for my renders, but makes my node set up look junky as heck... 

When I use VSS to deliver a change to my shaders it seems to keep adding extra image map nodes on top  of whatever is currently in the material room and disconnects the old ones but leaves them in.  Is that just how it works? Or am I doing something wrong?

I'm not using the vss shaders themselves just building my own on the vss prop and using vss to deliver them to my figure

Quote - The VSS is the tool. It's used to apply a shader to several materials and figures at once.

Incidentaly, it comes with a skin shader.

Yes, it still makes skin better in PP2012 - IF you're not using Scatter for your skin.

If you are, by all means don't mix it with the skin shader that comes with VSS, or replace it. Scatter can look much better. You can, however, make a new VSS prop with a skin shader that uses Scatter, like the ones in the link above, so that you can easily apply that shader to any of your previous characters easily using the power of the VSS tool.

VSS can apply the shader using the textures you had before in your materials, but it has a few rules to do so:

-The Image_map nodes must be correctly named
-The Image_map nodes must be blank.

This means that, if you're placing actual images in your Template materials in the VSS prop, it'll use those exact images when it Synchronizes to your figure. That's why it's leaving your old image maps there, and using the same image you placed in the Template materials instead.

When you make your shader, in the Template (let's say Template Skin), create an Image_map node but don't point it to any image, leave it blank. Then go to you Python Scripts window, and in the VSS buttons go to Designer > Auto Rename Images. It'll rename according to what it's plugged to (so for this step you might want to link your Image_map nodes directly to Diffuse, Bump, Displacement, Specular etc in the poserSurface, and then fix the links after they're correctly named). Diffuse textures will be called Color Map, bump textures will be called Bump Map, and so on. With this correctly named and blank, rebuild your shader.

Reload whatever mat file you had for your character (so it has the correct textures placed again) and Synchronize. Worked? Save your VSS prop to library so you can use it again easily without having to set it up again.

Also keep in mind, nodes not addressed in VSS but have associations in shader set ups will be disconnected when VSS is synchronized.  This is a normal process, but annoying when you are trying to preserve shader integrity with a new set up.  Scrutinize the original shaders first and decide which nodes are absolutely necessary or are redundunt; clean up you node connections especially if one node is shared among several connectors.  This can confuse VSS and you may not get the intended results you are striving for.