Rhia474 posted at 7:08 AM Mon, 17 April 2023 - #4462452

And this is why it's such a pain to get decent renders if you are just an end user and rely on vendor maps. Your average Poser user doesn't have ZBrush or Maya or any other tool like that. They got Poser and expect a semi-decent render. 
Please understand I'm not bashing those who very generously share their knowledge here (it is incredible generosity); I'm just trying to come to this, for years and years now, as someone who purposefully and for the lack of time and finances, have no tools other than Poser and whatever freeware one can scrounge up.

Photo references have also changed over time. They weren't as high resolution, and also not as evenly lit as they are today. There were also a lot of areas in the photos that had highlights. Darker skin, in particular, exhibited the highlights moreso than light skin, which is why there aren't as many dark-skinned characters available. So there is that.

Modern resources use cross-polarization to minimize highlights and shadows from the photographs, so the result is a more evenly toned skin. The best examples of modern skin resources can be found at texturing.xyz, in their VFace product line. There, all of the skin detail like pores and wrinkles is found in the displacement map, not in the base texture. Problem is, the cost for a commercial license to use them in a for sale product is entirely prohibitive for our little niche market. A commercial license for ONE of those VFace packages costs more than Poser itself. And that is only for a head texture. 8-)