shvrdavid posted at 7:01 PM Thu, 18 May 2023 - #4465736

vopehov507 posted at 5:56 PM Thu, 18 May 2023 - #4465733

This will be my Last post after the Act of Renderosity banning my Original "vopehov506" account !!!!

Y-Phil posted at 4:10 PM Sun, 21 May 2023 - #4466039

JanusJsenwark posted at 3:53 PM Sun, 21 May 2023 - #4466034

Is ther only one bump?....oops

Honestly, nobody needs your vulgarities, I think that you'd better get some rest, thanks in advance.

You're right! It will never happen again. I promise it.

Dusted off Pauline. I have not rendered anything with her in a while.

Combination of my morphs and Ero's. Biscuit's hair with Ghostship shader on it. Tempesta3D textures that I tweaked on Pauline.

Y-Phil posted at 11:59 AM Sun, 21 May 2023 - #4466000

shvrdavid posted at 11:24 AM Sun, 21 May 2023 - #4465999

Thalek posted at 9:30 PM Fri, 19 May 2023 - #4465848

I recommend VoidTools "Everything" search engine, indexer and database. Both free versions and a modest fee version are available.

I use Everything, very handy indeed. It is far faster than Windows search, even if you have to wait on it to reindex the entire system because you don't load it with Windows.

Everything loaded 100% of the time 

Now if I could just figure out how PzDB broke.  It appears that it fails when I try to create or update a record (such as updating a catalog), and after giving an error message about not being able to find the database file it just let me look into, it then crashes.  I'm suspicious of the timing of a Windows 10 update, but not having much luck. And it was just long enough ago that I can't roll back the update, either, which is what some of the Access sites are recommending under similar circumstances.  [mutter, grumble]

Thalek posted at 1:38 AM Mon, 22 May 2023 - #4466104

Did you checked Win10's Events journal? you may find a hint. Or maybe the support could help you if it is about more "intimate" () things proper to Poser 

JanusJsenwark posted at 1:58 PM Fri, 19 May 2023 - #4465794

I didn't mean it badly. But that's all way too technical for me, here's a little blue, 0.02 of that a little... where's the fun, the beautiful and interesting? Maybe I'm not in the right place. I'll keep my mouth shut in the future. Sometimes I piss myself off.

I think part of the situation (I won't go so far as to call it a "problem", because I don't think it is one), is that the posts here have two different philosophies behind them.

Many of the posts are from the technician artists, a category I would fall into if I was an artist.  They find art in getting the shaders just right, doing the math for the most realistic effect, or the most spectacular or most beautiful effect. They're concerned with the minutia of the right depth of field settings, the subtle differences of lighting techniques, bump/displacement/normal maps, subdivision of meshes, reflections, transparency settings, all of the "mechanical" settings that can affect the calculation and appearance of the rendering of the image. So, some of their images have given less thought to poses and expressions and look more like technical how-to drawings.  They're a bit like song writers who don't necessarily sing well, but their art also lies in the area of creation.  There's nothing wrong with that, per se.  They are the ones who give us incredible shaders, amazing figures and props, powerful scripts, and tutorials on how to do some of the harder stuff, or some of the more obscure stuff, or the stuff newbies need to know, but don't seem to get from the manual.

Then there are the Art For Art's Sake people.  They may or may not know anything about the shaders or how to tweak them, could not care less about f-stops or if the light is at 104% or 107%.  They may never use anything but pure stock shaders, but rarely pure stock expressions or poses. Or they may, but that's not how they create. They create from intuition. They are the ones who put laugh lines around the eyes, know how to make those marbles look like eyes with a rogueish sparkle in them, the tilt of the head, the spontaneity of the candid shot (very hard to reproduce in computer generated art where there's damned near zero spontaneity in the process), they've studied body language, and how hair blows in the wind or looks on a humid day.  They don't know the difference between what looks natural and what looks like a mannequin; they FEEL the difference.  One kind of artist knows how to make a character look like they're actually touching the ground, the other knows how grass feels on bare feet and how it sticks out between the toes.  How a walk on sand looks different than a walk on grass.  Some of its conscious, an awareness of perspective and negative space, and making of point of not making the centering of a pose TOO perfect.  And some of it is intuition. But this is the sensuous artist, the one who pays attention to the senses of both the intended audience and the characters they create. They make it possible to not just see the roses, but smell them, too.

But amazing things happen when the intuitive artists and the technician (maybe engineering, as engineers DO create things; technicians tend to use things instead of creating them) talk to each other and share their skills, offer creative criticism and in short, help fill the gaps in each other's strengths. Not everyone can take constructive criticism, just as not every actor can take direction.  The ones who can are usually the better off for it.

Y-Phil posted at 1:53 AM Mon, 22 May 2023 - #4466106

Thalek posted at 1:38 AM Mon, 22 May 2023 - #4466104

Did you checked Win10's Events journal? you may find a hint. Or maybe the support could help you if it is about more "intimate" () things proper to Poser 

It's one of the reasons you guys haven't had any of my renders inflicted on you lately.

It's one of the reasons you guys haven't had any of my renders inflicted on you lately.

None of your renders has ever been inflicted on me, at least not in my eyes... 
Just in case: Win10's events journal can be opened by right-clicking on "My PC" or "This PC" or "This computer" icon (my Windows is in French) and by choosing "Manage" in the contextual menu.

Distant Lands

@Hemall, I love those kind of pictures! It's exciting to see such fantastic vehicle's hanging in space between star's and planets. It's majestic and epic.

Did you make this ship? I tried several times to make one, but I can draw them better than model them.

Y-Phil posted at 1:53 AM Mon, 22 May 2023 - #4466106

Thalek posted at 1:38 AM Mon, 22 May 2023 - #4466104

Did you checked Win10's Events journal? you may find a hint. Or maybe the support could help you if it is about more "intimate" () things proper to Poser 

Haven't checked the events journal, can't consult Rocketship's support, and haven't consulted Microsoft support.  And PzDB is a standalone.  I can drop selections on Poser, but it doesn't need Poser to be running for me to use the database.  I can confidently assert that the problem is unrelated to Poser as I haven't even turned it on the last several days while I concentrate.

It's one of the reasons you guys haven't had any of my renders inflicted on you lately.

hornet3d posted at 12:42 AM Mon, 22 May 2023 - #4466098

shvrdavid posted at 5:46 PM Sun, 21 May 2023 - #4466058

Dusted off Pauline. I have not rendered anything with her in a while.

Combination of my morphs and Ero's. Biscuit's hair with Ghostship shader on it. Tempesta3D textures that I tweaked on Pauline.

Oh, I do like that, Pauline seems to be almost forgotten right from her inception.

Omg ........

Omg ........

I render a Mammouth today

Postwork was done in ON1 Some contrast,Vignette and snow storm

I render a Mammouth today

Postwork was done in ON1 Some contrast,Vignette and snow storm

Love it ❤

Y-Phil posted at 1:53 AM Mon, 22 May 2023 - #4466106

Thalek posted at 1:38 AM Mon, 22 May 2023 - #4466104

Did you checked Win10's Events journal? you may find a hint. Or maybe the support could help you if it is about more "intimate" () things proper to Poser 

Haven't checked the events journal, can't consult Rocketship's support, and haven't consulted Microsoft support.  And PzDB is a standalone.  I can drop selections on Poser, but it doesn't need Poser to be running for me to use the database.  I can confidently assert that the problem is unrelated to Poser as I haven't even turned it on the last several days while I concentrate.

It's one of the reasons you guys haven't had any of my renders inflicted on you lately.

A little Song for you

A little Song for you

A Poser doddle really.

Y-Phil posted at 2:45 AM Mon, 22 May 2023 - #4466110

Thalek posted at 2:36 AM Mon, 22 May 2023 - #4466109

It's one of the reasons you guys haven't had any of my renders inflicted on you lately.

None of your renders has ever been inflicted on me, at least not in my eyes... 
Just in case: Win10's events journal can be opened by right-clicking on "My PC" or "This PC" or "This computer" icon (my Windows is in French) and by choosing "Manage" in the contextual menu.

I tried using the events journal, and even noted the time when I created the latest crash.  Couldn't find anything. I think I've reached the limits of my technical expertise.

JanusJsenwark posted at 9:33 AM Mon, 22 May 2023 - #4466119

Thalek posted at 2:36 AM Mon, 22 May 2023 - #4466109

Y-Phil posted at 1:53 AM Mon, 22 May 2023 - #4466106

Thalek posted at 1:38 AM Mon, 22 May 2023 - #4466104

Did you checked Win10's Events journal? you may find a hint. Or maybe the support could help you if it is about more "intimate" () things proper to Poser 

Haven't checked the events journal, can't consult Rocketship's support, and haven't consulted Microsoft support.  And PzDB is a standalone.  I can drop selections on Poser, but it doesn't need Poser to be running for me to use the database.  I can confidently assert that the problem is unrelated to Poser as I haven't even turned it on the last several days while I concentrate.

It's one of the reasons you guys haven't had any of my renders inflicted on you lately.

Thanks for the time you put into writing this. Wise words that made me think. I have no idea about forums and how to behave in them. Despite my old age, I'm still learning. And you're right, a lot of different philosophies meet here and I took mine too seriously. I'll keep watching and posting funny pictures. Thanks!

Behavior in a forum is much like behavior at a party where you know only about half he people: politeness is the oil society uses to prevent us from rubbing each other raw.  The primary difference is there is no body language or tone of voice.  It's why I add descriptions.  My friends who know me best can tell when I'm being sarcastic or deadpan, but it's harder for others.  Especially when we live in an era where Poe's Law had to be formulated.  ("It is impossible to satirize an extremist in such a way that everyone knows that it IS satire.")   Despite knowing this, many of us will still take a text statement the wrong way sometimes.  It happens.  Being quick with a clarification and quick with an apology are two of the ways the two parties deal with misunderstandings. I took me a long time to learn to apologize when I'm wrong, and I still don't always do it well.

It's not that you took  yourself too seriously, it's that you temporarily forgot that there are additional approaches. to art.  I myself don't like abstract art, but I've always been literal-minded.  Someone once described a certain era of art history as "trying to invent the camera before it existed", and that is the kind of art I personally find appealing.  I find it hard to consider standing on a ladder and spattering a canvas with paint to be art.  In my narrow view, art is supposed to convey a message.  So for me, gravity-induced splatters convey no message at all, except maybe that he left a mess for the maid to clean up for him.

[shrug]  And however firmly I believe my view to be correct . . . well, it's really only correct for ME, right? Get two artists together and you'll probably get three opinions on art.  Get an artist and a non-artist together, and that probably jumps to five opinions.  [grin]  And there are some people that don't consider photography an art.  (Which is probably because, like every other branch of art, some of the photography isn't art at all.  But I'm amazed at some of the artistry that goes into even illustrative technical photography. A photograph of a complex optical experiment becomes magical with a hint of fog to make the laser beams more visible.)

I'm fortunate that I can learn so much from you, from the more technically oriented, and even from painters and photographers who have long studied light and perspective and shades and creative viewpoints.

So in urging you not to stay your opinions when they occur to you, I'm being more than a little self-serving, as well. [grin]

TheAnimaGemini posted at 12:17 PM Mon, 22 May 2023 - #4466130

I render a Mammouth today

Postwork was done in ON1 Some contrast,Vignette and snow storm

Thalek posted at 2:36 AM Mon, 22 May 2023 - #4466109

Y-Phil posted at 1:53 AM Mon, 22 May 2023 - #4466106

Thalek posted at 1:38 AM Mon, 22 May 2023 - #4466104

Did you checked Win10's Events journal? you may find a hint. Or maybe the support could help you if it is about more "intimate" () things proper to Poser 

Haven't checked the events journal, can't consult Rocketship's support, and haven't consulted Microsoft support.  And PzDB is a standalone.  I can drop selections on Poser, but it doesn't need Poser to be running for me to use the database.  I can confidently assert that the problem is unrelated to Poser as I haven't even turned it on the last several days while I concentrate.

It's one of the reasons you guys haven't had any of my renders inflicted on you lately.

Try setting back the Windows compatibility one or two versions and see if that corrects the issue.  That should bypass any Windows 10 update that may be interfering.

TheAnimaGemini posted at 12:17 PM Mon, 22 May 2023 - #4466130

I render a Mammouth today

Postwork was done in ON1 Some contrast,Vignette and snow storm

Beautiful work!  I like the touch of fogginess; it adds something to the realism, something I can't quite put my finger on.  Well done!

TheAnimaGemini posted at 12:17 PM Mon, 22 May 2023 - #4466130

I render a Mammouth today

Postwork was done in ON1 Some contrast,Vignette and snow storm

Love it ❤

Merci beaucoup. :)

Thalek posted at 2:36 AM Mon, 22 May 2023 - #4466109

Y-Phil posted at 1:53 AM Mon, 22 May 2023 - #4466106

Thalek posted at 1:38 AM Mon, 22 May 2023 - #4466104

Did you checked Win10's Events journal? you may find a hint. Or maybe the support could help you if it is about more "intimate" () things proper to Poser 

Haven't checked the events journal, can't consult Rocketship's support, and haven't consulted Microsoft support.  And PzDB is a standalone.  I can drop selections on Poser, but it doesn't need Poser to be running for me to use the database.  I can confidently assert that the problem is unrelated to Poser as I haven't even turned it on the last several days while I concentrate.

It's one of the reasons you guys haven't had any of my renders inflicted on you lately.

I have gone back to Poser Search, which is pretty fast and with the exclude option (- preceding the exclusion) is pretty usable now.

JanusJsenwark posted at 9:33 AM Mon, 22 May 2023 - #4466119

Thalek posted at 2:36 AM Mon, 22 May 2023 - #4466109

Y-Phil posted at 1:53 AM Mon, 22 May 2023 - #4466106

Thalek posted at 1:38 AM Mon, 22 May 2023 - #4466104

Did you checked Win10's Events journal? you may find a hint. Or maybe the support could help you if it is about more "intimate" () things proper to Poser 

Haven't checked the events journal, can't consult Rocketship's support, and haven't consulted Microsoft support.  And PzDB is a standalone.  I can drop selections on Poser, but it doesn't need Poser to be running for me to use the database.  I can confidently assert that the problem is unrelated to Poser as I haven't even turned it on the last several days while I concentrate.

It's one of the reasons you guys haven't had any of my renders inflicted on you lately.

Thanks for the time you put into writing this. Wise words that made me think. I have no idea about forums and how to behave in them. Despite my old age, I'm still learning. And you're right, a lot of different philosophies meet here and I took mine too seriously. I'll keep watching and posting funny pictures. Thanks!

You honor me.

Behavior in a forum is much like behavior at a party where you know only about half he people: politeness is the oil society uses to prevent us from rubbing each other raw.  The primary difference is there is no body language or tone of voice.  It's why I add descriptions.  My friends who know me best can tell when I'm being sarcastic or deadpan, but it's harder for others.  Especially when we live in an era where Poe's Law had to be formulated.  ("It is impossible to satirize an extremist in such a way that everyone knows that it IS satire.")   Despite knowing this, many of us will still take a text statement the wrong way sometimes.  It happens.  Being quick with a clarification and quick with an apology are two of the ways the two parties deal with misunderstandings. I took me a long time to learn to apologize when I'm wrong, and I still don't always do it well.

It's not that you took  yourself too seriously, it's that you temporarily forgot that there are additional approaches. to art.  I myself don't like abstract art, but I've always been literal-minded.  Someone once described a certain era of art history as "trying to invent the camera before it existed", and that is the kind of art I personally find appealing.  I find it hard to consider standing on a ladder and spattering a canvas with paint to be art.  In my narrow view, art is supposed to convey a message.  So for me, gravity-induced splatters convey no message at all, except maybe that he left a mess for the maid to clean up for him.

[shrug]  And however firmly I believe my view to be correct . . . well, it's really only correct for ME, right? Get two artists together and you'll probably get three opinions on art.  Get an artist and a non-artist together, and that probably jumps to five opinions.  [grin]  And there are some people that don't consider photography an art.  (Which is probably because, like every other branch of art, some of the photography isn't art at all.  But I'm amazed at some of the artistry that goes into even illustrative technical photography. A photograph of a complex optical experiment becomes magical with a hint of fog to make the laser beams more visible.)

I'm fortunate that I can learn so much from you, from the more technically oriented, and even from painters and photographers who have long studied light and perspective and shades and creative viewpoints.

So in urging you not to stay your opinions when they occur to you, I'm being more than a little self-serving, as well. [grin]

Another Poser doodle.

The Solaris Complex tweaked for emissive lighting and Poser 13.

Es ist wunderbar zu wissen, das es Menschen wie dich auf diesem Planeten gibt....

wimvdb posted at 12:25 AM Tue, 23 May 2023 - #4466202

PDB has stopped working for me a few years ago. I tried to contact Rocketship at that time, but the company had disappeared and email to support gave no reply. It was a very nice search tool for Poser runtimes. 

I have gone back to Poser Search, which is pretty fast and with the exclude option (- preceding the exclusion) is pretty usable now.

I should look into Poser Search as a backup plan, though.

hborre posted at 1:00 PM Mon, 22 May 2023 - #4466133

"Try setting back the Windows compatibility one or two versions and see if that corrects the issue.  That should bypass any Windows 10 update that may be interfering."

Tried Windows 8 and Windows 7 without good results.

I revived a zombie thread about PzDB problems a day or two back, in faint hope that I can stop clogging this one and get an answer.  (Would anyone be offended, should I get a useful answer, if I shared a link to that post here, just to keep anyone interested in the loop?)

JanusJsenwark posted at 9:33 AM Mon, 22 May 2023 - #4466119

Thalek posted at 2:36 AM Mon, 22 May 2023 - #4466109

Y-Phil posted at 1:53 AM Mon, 22 May 2023 - #4466106

Thalek posted at 1:38 AM Mon, 22 May 2023 - #4466104

Did you checked Win10's Events journal? you may find a hint. Or maybe the support could help you if it is about more "intimate" () things proper to Poser 

Haven't checked the events journal, can't consult Rocketship's support, and haven't consulted Microsoft support.  And PzDB is a standalone.  I can drop selections on Poser, but it doesn't need Poser to be running for me to use the database.  I can confidently assert that the problem is unrelated to Poser as I haven't even turned it on the last several days while I concentrate.

It's one of the reasons you guys haven't had any of my renders inflicted on you lately.

Thanks for the time you put into writing this. Wise words that made me think. I have no idea about forums and how to behave in them. Despite my old age, I'm still learning. And you're right, a lot of different philosophies meet here and I took mine too seriously. I'll keep watching and posting funny pictures. Thanks!

You honor me.

Behavior in a forum is much like behavior at a party where you know only about half he people: politeness is the oil society uses to prevent us from rubbing each other raw.  The primary difference is there is no body language or tone of voice.  It's why I add descriptions.  My friends who know me best can tell when I'm being sarcastic or deadpan, but it's harder for others.  Especially when we live in an era where Poe's Law had to be formulated.  ("It is impossible to satirize an extremist in such a way that everyone knows that it IS satire.")   Despite knowing this, many of us will still take a text statement the wrong way sometimes.  It happens.  Being quick with a clarification and quick with an apology are two of the ways the two parties deal with misunderstandings. I took me a long time to learn to apologize when I'm wrong, and I still don't always do it well.

It's not that you took  yourself too seriously, it's that you temporarily forgot that there are additional approaches. to art.  I myself don't like abstract art, but I've always been literal-minded.  Someone once described a certain era of art history as "trying to invent the camera before it existed", and that is the kind of art I personally find appealing.  I find it hard to consider standing on a ladder and spattering a canvas with paint to be art.  In my narrow view, art is supposed to convey a message.  So for me, gravity-induced splatters convey no message at all, except maybe that he left a mess for the maid to clean up for him.

[shrug]  And however firmly I believe my view to be correct . . . well, it's really only correct for ME, right? Get two artists together and you'll probably get three opinions on art.  Get an artist and a non-artist together, and that probably jumps to five opinions.  [grin]  And there are some people that don't consider photography an art.  (Which is probably because, like every other branch of art, some of the photography isn't art at all.  But I'm amazed at some of the artistry that goes into even illustrative technical photography. A photograph of a complex optical experiment becomes magical with a hint of fog to make the laser beams more visible.)

I'm fortunate that I can learn so much from you, from the more technically oriented, and even from painters and photographers who have long studied light and perspective and shades and creative viewpoints.

So in urging you not to stay your opinions when they occur to you, I'm being more than a little self-serving, as well. [grin]

Poser-13 Artwork

My nails are bumpy?????

JanusJsenwark posted at 3:24 PM Sun, 21 May 2023 - #4466030

.

It's almost summer!

Yup, it sure is almost there:

I cannot remember if I ever posted my final version of the Material Layers overlay I decided upon or not.  It went from elegantly simple to somewhat complex to elegantly simple again, with the aid of @Richard60's logic nodes.  So, while I wait for a demo image to render, here is what I discovered about creating tattoos or "decals".

On the PhysicalSurface root node,  Color is set to white, Transparency is set to 1.0, TransparencyMode is set to Transparent, and Roughness is set to 1.0.

The image map node is absolutely normal.  Load in your compatible tattoo image on a white background, and plug it into Color.

The magic happens in the Cycles/Conversion/Math node.  This is a binary comparator, with the image map also plugged into Value1, the threshold is controlled by Value 2 and is usually set to 0.5, and Value 3 is 0.0.  The math operation is set to Greater Than.  This creates our transparency map even with colored images.

In the Greater Than operation, it's a comparator. It outputs, for each pixel, either a 1 (pure white) or a 0 (pure black). This is necessary, because any black that is not 0,0,0 in its RGB components makes the image slightly transparent, and even blacks in the tattoo image come out a dark brown instead. The threshold value in Value 2 controls how aggressive the box is at converting the image into a texture map. Any image pixel in the image map that is greater than the threshold gets forced to pure white.  Any pixel that is equal to or below the threshold gets forced to pure black and becomes part of the transparency mask.

The reason for adding a threshold control is that a lot of tattoo art contains colors, some of them pastels or light greys.  If you want them to show up, you need to set the threshold higher so that those parts of the tattoo DO NOT become transparent, as they would normally. (Some of the tattoos I "converted" had greys so light, I didn't see them because they looked white.  Assuming that the artist wanted them visible, even though I couldn't originally see they were there, I cranked the threshold up. And some had pastel colors, which made it easier to tell that parts of the tattoo had gone missing.)

The only flaw to this method is if you need the edges of the mask to be softer or blurrier; this technique results in sharp edges. If you have a way of processing the image that will soften and blur the edges using only black, that would work.  Anti-aliasing, which would create shades of grey, won't work.

And the jet engine whine of my fans appears to have quit, so my render is now available.  After all, it's supposed to be mostly about rendering in Poser 13.  (Everyone get their notice that a new update has been posted?)

The outfit was intended as a compromise between maximum available skin to show tattoos, and still preserve a modicum of modesty.  Using multiple material layer overlays, I added about thirteen tattoos to the sides we could see, without a single line of Python code. The tattoos can even overlap if that is desirable for some reason. Make certain that the one you want most visible in that area is the last tattoo you install; lower layers can be seen with some difficulty through the upper layers, according to the experiments I've done so far.

I cannot remember if I ever posted my final version of the Material Layers overlay I decided upon or not.  It went from elegantly simple to somewhat complex to elegantly simple again, with the aid of @Richard60's logic nodes.  So, while I wait for a demo image to render, here is what I discovered about creating tattoos or "decals".

On the PhysicalSurface root node,  Color is set to white, Transparency is set to 1.0, TransparencyMode is set to Transparent, and Roughness is set to 1.0.

The image map node is absolutely normal.  Load in your compatible tattoo image on a white background, and plug it into Color.

The magic happens in the Cycles/Conversion/Math node.  This is a binary comparator, with the image map also plugged into Value1, the threshold is controlled by Value 2 and is usually set to 0.5, and Value 3 is 0.0.  The math operation is set to Greater Than.  This creates our transparency map even with colored images.

In the Greater Than operation, it's a comparator. It outputs, for each pixel, either a 1 (pure white) or a 0 (pure black). This is necessary, because any black that is not 0,0,0 in its RGB components makes the image slightly transparent, and even blacks in the tattoo image come out a dark brown instead. The threshold value in Value 2 controls how aggressive the box is at converting the image into a texture map. Any image pixel in the image map that is greater than the threshold gets forced to pure white.  Any pixel that is equal to or below the threshold gets forced to pure black and becomes part of the transparency mask.

The reason for adding a threshold control is that a lot of tattoo art contains colors, some of them pastels or light greys.  If you want them to show up, you need to set the threshold higher so that those parts of the tattoo DO NOT become transparent, as they would normally. (Some of the tattoos I "converted" had greys so light, I didn't see them because they looked white.  Assuming that the artist wanted them visible, even though I couldn't originally see they were there, I cranked the threshold up. And some had pastel colors, which made it easier to tell that parts of the tattoo had gone missing.)

The only flaw to this method is if you need the edges of the mask to be softer or blurrier; this technique results in sharp edges. If you have a way of processing the image that will soften and blur the edges using only black, that would work.  Anti-aliasing, which would create shades of grey, won't work.

And the jet engine whine of my fans appears to have quit, so my render is now available.  After all, it's supposed to be mostly about rendering in Poser 13.  (Everyone get their notice that a new update has been posted?)

The outfit was intended as a compromise between maximum available skin to show tattoos, and still preserve a modicum of modesty.  Using multiple material layer overlays, I added about thirteen tattoos to the sides we could see, without a single line of Python code. The tattoos can even overlap if that is desirable for some reason. Make certain that the one you want most visible in that area is the last tattoo you install; lower layers can be seen with some difficulty through the upper layers, according to the experiments I've done so far.

Excellent! It can be used to add a logo or whatever picture to a cloth, too.

Y-Phil posted at 1:33 AM Fri, 26 May 2023 - #4466414

Thalek posted at 12:55 AM Fri, 26 May 2023 - #4466412

I cannot remember if I ever posted my final version of the Material Layers overlay I decided upon or not.  It went from elegantly simple to somewhat complex to elegantly simple again, with the aid of @Richard60's logic nodes.  So, while I wait for a demo image to render, here is what I discovered about creating tattoos or "decals".

Excellent! It can be used to add a logo or whatever picture to a cloth, too.

I don't doubt that someone like BagginsBill or Ghostship could create more sophisticated versions that would be more accurate in simulating a given appearance. But for a number of applications, this technique might work just as well.

Just a handy tip from your uncle Ghostship: You might want to de-saturate and lighten the tattoo so it looks natural and "under" the skin. You can do this in Photoshop or by using a HSV node. On the old shader I used to use I achieved this look by plugging the natural skin map into the Separate RGB node instead of  the map with the tattoo. If you use a seperate tattoo layer something else has to happen. Notice that the colors and blacks are not deep or saturated, you would not expect that from a real tattoo on real skin. Also make sure that the tattoo layer is using the same bump map and values.

I'm guessing this may be a good way of applying makeup elements as well?  BUT this is for Physical Surface Root Node so how would one do this using Cycles? 

The only issue I see in this arrangement is that the intended transparency map is still exhibiting a gamma correction of 2.2.  You should run the color image through a gamma node with a setting of 1, the way a proper transparency map should be.  Someone try making this adjustment and see if it makes any difference in the render.

I'm guessing this may be a good way of applying makeup elements as well?  BUT this is for Physical Surface Root Node so how would one do this using Cycles? 

A cat.

An epic battle in the mud pits.  Mud Maidens doing what they do best.

My new graphics card arrived today. I had to try them right away. The fat part just barely fit into the pc case. 3 floors up... Ok. It wasn't the big chunk, just an RTX 4070 ti. But it's going well...

The second image witout any PostFX.

Don't tell me the nails are bumpy... :)

Okay, we won't tell you.