One of my projects I am busy with is called Vascularity. Basically you will be able to add veins to any displacement/bump map, as well as an underlying vein colour for the skin texture on any V4/M4 set. It is designed to use Daz layered image editor. It will also come with Psd files so you can create your own. They are transparent files so all that is visible are the veins, so intergrating it onto your favourite texture set is easy. It will be for V4 and M4 UV's for now. Most of these current sets that include displacement maps with veins are not 100% accurate. They are just there to add detail. I have mapped the entire human vein system of both male and female on a model in zbrush and will translate that into seperate transparent layers for colour and displacement, which you overlay on your favourite texture sets either in Daz via layered image editor or 2D apps such as photoshop. You can just load the displacement or the colour overlay or both. You will get results like the attached pics below (just a photo example for now), where you see a little displacement and the vein colour. Oh..It will also come with a few body morphs (genesis only) for Extra details in the hand and feet and other parts. I did not make those details for gen4 figures because there are already products available for it. For poser uses, they will have to use transparency masks since poser cannot preserve transparency in image files. Stay Tuned:)

You will also be able to do this.

A screenshot of the Mapping process on the mesh. From here they will be cross checked with the 2d reference files to make sure they are accurate.

The legs.

Seems interesting so far.  I'm looking forward to seeing how this incorporates into the final product.

Will have some pics in less than a week:) still busy translating the data from the pics above into transparent layers..Must trace each vein carefully lol.

Very interesting project. Looking forward to seeing more pics and the final result. Good to see that you are going for anatomically correct maps. Some of the displacement maps for veins I've seen seem to have veins in random places. I just get rid of these. If this works out well it will definitely improve some of the rather featureless skin textures that are flying around.

Here is a foot test. I must still fade the vein edges out and refine them. These are renders without any. One with displacement and one without. I made these strong so you can see them. Looks much nicer at lower opacity.

without displacement

cool I'm trying to figure how to map the bats vacular system working on modeling different bats body parts and hope to map their vascular system with red and blue to show the flow of blood. probably little different than what your doing. but will make models more realistic I'm always for that. also working in zbrush and other apps

Would love to see those..The hardest part is finding the right reference.

I'm a bat rehabber so have all the med books available the wing you can actually see the veins I'll work with a couple bat vets in the US and Europe to make sure it's accurate. still working on the regular models bones, organs will be a few months from now then the viens maybe next year. down the road yet. working  on ideas of prototype for a real model with micro motors for the wings to move and fold. These micro robots are pretty amazing today they can do just about anything.  wonder if one of those 3d printers can make me a decent prototype.

Zev0, this is awesome work - I'm sold regardless of price! This will add another level of realism to figures, and I'd love to see a merchant resource kit too. There is nothing like this out there right now, and good reference is very hard to find, I've looked a few times, so even just for ref this will be sooooo useful.

Interested in your workflow too - have you tried exporting a 16-bit displacement map from Zbrush and using this both for displacement/bump and as a mask to add colour to an existing texture at all?

Looks very nice... look forward to seeing more

Thanks for the looksie so far, Zev0...

Excellent idea and progress....

> Quote - Zev0, this is awesome work - I'm sold regardless of price! This will add another level of realism to figures, and I'd love to see a merchant resource kit too. There is nothing like this out there right now, and good reference is very hard to find, I've looked a few times, so even just for ref this will be sooooo useful. > > Interested in your workflow too - have you tried exporting a 16-bit displacement map from Zbrush and using this both for displacement/bump and as a mask to add colour to an existing texture at all?

By exporting from Zbrush you have no transparency. Be it colour map or displacement. In order to preserve it, the veins had to be manually hand traced as .png or a format that preserves transparency. Think of it like a photoshop PSD. When you add a new layer and draw a line, you can still see the layer beneath, and all thats visible from the new layer is the line you drew. Exact same principle. Basically the displacement texture comes from the diffuse so they are an exact match. All you do is change the colour to white and overlay that on the displacement or bump. Hope this makes sense:) I will have presets made but if you wish to do it yourself then that is all you need to do:) Say you only want veins in certain areas. Just erase on the png, and save. To make a displacement of that map, all you do is turn colour to white and save. This is why I made transparency layers. Its so easy to edit. If these had full fill in the BG you would run in to loads of trouble. This way only the veins are affected. Unfortunately in order to get them to work in poser, it will require a mask, since poser cannot preserve transparencies. But if you want to edit your textures yourselves, the above technique is easier. I will be making a shader with masks for poser, but how you wish to apply it will be up to you:) And it will definately be a merchant resource as well. Probably released seperate in order to keep the price of the product down.

That does make sense, and I can see the benefits to editing from your workflow (and it would be simpler if Poser supported transparencies!).

Really looking forward to this, the potential is amazing - would love to see more renders in the near future if possible ;)

Will have some more test renders in the week hopefully. Want to finish the mapping first with a bit more refinement.

Updates on the M4 colour mapping. Still busy but its getting there. Then its on to refining the displacement.

Another render.

This is going to enhance skin so much! It adds a subtle but powerful level of realism, I'm looking forward to seeing more results - thanks for these renders zev0!

Excellent pictures. Adds alot of realism. I hope this or equivalent will be available to the general public soon.

Working Day and night on this. All mapping is complete for M4 and V4. Just busy with Presets and sorting out the merchant resource structure and tutorials..

Here are some more picks..still refining the Presets and displacements but once thats done, creating variations will go quick. What is cool with this product is that if you dont want a vein colour or displacemment in a certain area, just erase:) And Obviously save as a new file lol...

inside leg

feet

Inside arm

Outside arm

That looks excellent! Definitely looking forward to this being available

Am I right in thinking... from your earler image... that you are working on vascularity maps for the M4 and V4 face / head / neck parts too, for this?

Everything..:) Here is a test render..havent touched the displacement refinement for the torso and head yet but you can get a rough Idea from this pic...Takes a damn long time to refine cause you must render with lights from all angles. Say the veins displacement look great from light angle one, but too strong from angle two. So its constant refinening..:)

Thanks Zev0. Very nice work so far!

Really nice...Any estimated date for release?

By end of the month should be done.. I have to make the Daz version, Poser version, Merchant resource, and all the tutorials and shaders...lots of work:(

you should look into the free Advanced Shaders thingy over at RDNA .. its basically a python plugin thats lets you create and use partial shaders .. like LIE but for poser. It has very good documentation with it on how to install it and create shaders

If I'm not mistaken with that you would be able to make a one click solution to adding your vascualrity diffuse/displace maps to any m4 v4 in Poser.

Lyrra

I'll probably try and get somebody to do it for me. I've been out of the material room for quite sometime and I don't have a lot of time to experiment and catch up myself. In return they will get the product and merchant resource for free:) PM me if you are interested. You must be able to set up shaders/folders/files for product distribution as well. You will also get credited:) I will only choose somebody who has great knowledge and experience. I can't afford to have the entire poser community hating me because their version doesn't work right LOL.

Here is a shot of the Head and Torso Veins...Now I can move onto V4..

Quote - By end of the month should be done.. I have to make the Daz version, Poser version, Merchant resource, and all the tutorials and shaders...lots of work:(

 

ohhh, this looks so cool! And a Poser version, awesome. I do hope I'll be able to use it in an older version of Poser, say like Poser 7. Yeah, I know, I'm way behind, but my computer is old and money is tight :/

Well if the material presets dont work, you can apply them manually. It is very easy and tutorials on how to do it will be included. Basically you just drag the vein layer on top of your texture and save it, then link it in your characters material settings:)All you need is photoshop or Gimp. Very easy process.

I hope not to be berated by BagginsBill, but I think that all the shaders can be loaded on previous Poser versions, they can read the functions they "know" and ignore the newer ones, as SSS.

Quote - Well if the material presets dont work, you can apply them manually. It is very easy and tutorials on how to do it will be included. Basically you just drag the vein layer on top of your texture and save it, then link it in your characters material settings:)All you need is photoshop or Gimp. Very easy process.

 

I hope your tutorial is going to show us how to do all that. With or without the presets. Never done either presets or manually before. Speaking of DAZ of course.

It will:)

OK. Vascularity is complete. The merchant resource will be released first, followed shortly By the Daz version. The Poser version will be out soon after that.

Awesome

Ok update.The Daz version works with Daz studio 3.0.1.120. So those who haven't upgraded to version 4 can still use it. Will post some pics when I finish the promo's.

Out of curiosity, will the Daz version have metadata?

nope...

Promo of The Merchant Resource.

Promo for the Daz version. Poser version is still being worked on. It's at shader stage.

Looking fantastic

I'm waiting for the Poser version myself. Glad to see you're releasing the Merchant Resource version though too...

Updated the one promo..

Merchant Resource has Just Gone Live. Daz version to follow.