OK I'm using Superfly and Poser 11 pro. I love the subsurface options in the poser rendernodes, but without resorting to Physical nodes I don't have much control over the amount of subsurface scattering in skin ... or do I?

The most skin-like options are: Skin1, Skin2, Chicken1, Chicken2 (then there are others like Milk, Marble, Cream, Potato, Skimmilk etc) ... so I have a Goldilocks problem - what I want is somewhere between Skin1 (not much subsurface), and Chicken1 (too much subsurface!). Any advice on how to achieve this? I couldn't find a cheat-sheet on HOW much scattering each option provides.

Chicken - too much scatter:

Skin1 - almost no scatter:

OK I haven't tried this with faces yet, but the problem may be solved - I just tested Chicken2, and it looks like they turned down scatter on that - which is just what I wanted!

Here's the test:

Looks like Skin2 turns down scatter on Skin1 as well, so Skin2 is barely any scatter at all.

If you want even more control ... try the "physicalsurface" root node ... you can fine tune the individual hues of the scatter.

Thanks - yeah I was avoiding the physical node because I've gone to the effort of building the skin using the Poser node and it's just this alteration I need. I saw that excellent tutorial by Baginsbill though so I'll follow that if I make the jump to physical root :)

If I recall correctly, the physicalsurface root node was built for specific types of mapping associated with certain game engines ... but I've found it to be excellent for doing some great basic textures. I even made a set of shaders in freestuff from bubblegum to bronze.

I think the parameter to experiment with in the scatter node is the Scale. IIRC it relates to the size of the object where lower values result in more scattering - I used to set something around 1.5 to 1.8 for a human figure, though it has been quite a few years since I've used it ;)

1.6 is a good scale

Boni posted at 7:25PM Thu, 04 June 2020 - #4390900

If I recall correctly, the physicalsurface root node was built for specific types of mapping associated with certain game engines ... but I've found it to be excellent for doing some great basic textures. I even made a set of shaders in freestuff from bubblegum to bronze.

Thanks, Boni!!!

LOL! Thunderstone, you are welcome hope you have fun with them!

OH, I will in my next project.

Thanks Caisson :)

caisson posted at 3:08AM Sat, 06 June 2020 - #4390908

I think the parameter to experiment with in the scatter node is the Scale. IIRC it relates to the size of the object where lower values result in more scattering - I used to set something around 1.5 to 1.8 for a human figure, though it has been quite a few years since I've used it ;)

Yes, Scale is the value you change. I know why they called it Scale but it's dumb. The right parameter name for it would be Attenuation Multiplier. For each preset (chicken, ketchup, etc.) the implementation of the attenuation was created by the programmer against an arbitrary dimension of object. Because Poser doesn't even agree with itself as to what an inch is, we have the need to tweak this "nominal" attenuation. That's what Scale does.

Do note that the parameterization on the Cycles "SubsurfaceScattering" BSSRDF node is opposite. Increasing Scale on that node increases the scatter distance, meaning it is the opposite of attenuation.

Thanks bagginsbill - and for your excellent skin/surface tutorials over the years. Yeah I guess 'scale' makes programming sense but there could be a bit of a job done inside Poser in terms of user ergonomics / plain english. That said, I do find the UI about as ergonomic as it could be - one of the things that first attracted me to Poser was its simple/quick camera and animation controls :)