I need sometipsand tuts on modifying skin MRs to look more like real skin with uneven tone, imperfection, blemishes and other individualizing features. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Boni

Zevo has an imperfection .Psd overlay MR over at Daz, there's also a ton of various .abr files for free on the web to modify, retouch, and paint skin. Also, look at reference and paint your own for that "hand made" feeling. Really, one of the easiest texturing things to achieve... just make sure to do all of your overlays on a new layer.

Edit_ don't forget, you can also create your own custom brushes and fill patterns.

Fantastic help, thank you ... It seems obvious now that I see it.  Does anyone have some links to various resources?

I will look into the ones you mentioned. Thank you.

I've downloaded a plethora of Photoshop brushes ... hair, fur, skin ... and now I just need some tips on how to properly use them.  I know layering ... but now sure about scale, color and such for realism.  

Ok ... for your help I thought I'd show what I've done. 

BEFORE:  no alterations to the texture. Pure texture from MR.

AFTER:  with brush texturing for tone and "blemish" as well as eye area treatment and transmapped brow and texture.  Softening lip area etc.

This is just a beginning, but I wanted you to see that this is a great start and to thank you very much for getting me started on this!!

Boni

Boni, I hestitated to comment, because while i do see your effort, there is a lot missing. I see you have made some nice rosy cheekbones. But what i miss most of all, is depth and skin pores. Your specular settings are way too hight for this lightning.  Eyelashes and brows too blurry. I see you painted over a merchant resource. That is a good practice. In my example i used photos on the model( projection mapping) and painted a lot of details on the skin. I tried to get skin as oily as yours.

You have to built up the pores. I would take with a colorpicker the darkest color and the lightest. Then i would make a skin color chart for that skin, in other words, i pick different colors between the lightest and darkest color. I paste every color from light to dark next to each other. ( you can do same for make up) If you use photoshop, ( i fetch from my 3d painting program to photoshop.. via a plugin) try to use noise brushes to add some difference in the skin, and some sharpness. What you can do is, alter the scatter brushes( i alter them, so you dont need to download skin brushes) You can also make your own. If you need more help i will try to explain more:)

 Even though the example is still a wip skin, you can see bumps, irregular skin and even some scarring.  I painted a lot on the skin to remove shine on the diffuse map. I didnt get it quite as oily as you but colored skin absorbes light differently. and is most of the time oilier.

I've also got info on this on FB and getting some help.  My friends are showing me the same ideas you are ... and I must say you have done a lovely job here.  I'd like to get a good texture going and eyelid textures ... alas, all I have are MRs and my 60 year old eye lids would look sad on a 30 year old model. (or 20 or well, you get the idea.) WithOUT that epiphany ... here is my latest.  Again.  Very little texturing, but I did add a character morph.  and changed the base tone.

Adjustment ... added displacement mapping and vascularity clearer.

Boni.. the veins are too large. I will make a head neck texture for you and will add on a separate layer also veins.. so you can experiment.

I"m not on line much on the weekends ... so just here to say thank you and I look forward to it. to Boyonamission.

Threw this together this morning.  I need to work on the set details and textures, but I haven't put a lot of time into this yet.  WIP.

"Waiting With Dog".

Lower the vein opacity...

Thank you. :) Will do.

Also the limbs, eg legs is missing the veins overlay. It is ending by the torso map on the legs.

ZevO, thank you for the help ... silly me didn't see the pdf you added to the file.  Here is my finished piece, what do you and the rest think?

"Waiting for Appointment"

Doesn't hurt to add cute kittens.  Anyway.  Fixed the vasularity, added props, jewelry and changed lighting ... here you go.

Much better. Can you show a closeup of an area so I can see the opacity levels?

Totally.  Be back in a few.

This is the best I have so far ... I have a visual impairment and don't really see it ... so your input is important.

Please ignore the horrible mesh-mash of hands ... didn't catch that until mid render.

That looks about right for that skin tone:) You can also erase areas if you wish to lesson the amount that is visible, or even erase with opacity to make certain areas more transparent than others.