Y-Phil posted at 2:00 AM Fri, 20 October 2023 - #4476532

DeeceyArt posted at 4:58 PM Thu, 19 October 2023 - #4476529

It's cool that the vascularity thread has inspired people to experiment with Poser's material layers. Loving it!  That looks great!

I have to say that I have difficulties to use efficiently PrincipledBSDF's specularity for the skin, I largely prefer a second skin with an AnisotropicBSDF, to the point that my toolbox has a dedicated function:

Perhaps this link in Blender exchange might help?

https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/13600/how-to-add-a-specularity-map-in-cycles

It's cool that the vascularity thread has inspired people to experiment with Poser's material layers. Loving it!  That looks great!

Yeah that looks great hborre!  Good job!

Intensity of the veins. I'm thinking either adjust the bump value, or maybe even adjust the texture map(s), maybe mixing with one of the color adjustment nodes. Thing is, you'd want to make sure that black areas remain black (for the masks). Grayer values would raise the veins less, brighter values would increase. However, once you reach pure white I think  you'd have to go with adjusting the bump/displacement value.

OK. Let's take V4 for example. The arm textures cover several different material groups. But just for grins let's say you add the vascularity to just Skin Arm and Skin Forearm.

The problem with deleting is, you have to select one material group at a time and delete the layer you want to remove before you change it to something else. In that case, a script wouldn't exactly be NECESSARY, as you can do it with a bunch of clicks. But a script might make things faster.

Of course, the other alternative to remove all those vascularity layers is to reapply the base material that you started with. That would remove ALL of the layers that have been applied to the character.

shvrdavid posted at 11:56 AM Wed, 18 October 2023 - #4476474

Just keep in mind that material layers saved in Poser can not replace one that was previously applied. You need a script to work with that as well.

Actually not necessary, It was never the intention to overwrite a existing structure, the Intention was keeping that structure adding a partial setup to it, in our case adding veins to the existing skin. If there is a existent layer in the model you have loaded it is having a purpose, the new one will just be added as additional effect not affecting or overwriting. So why should there now be a script that is doing exactly what had to be prevented ? 

To explain what Scott was getting at ...

Let's say you create several different material layers to change the color of the lips. You apply a red lip color layer and the lips turn red. Later you decide you want pink lips.

If you add the pink lips from the library, it will NOT replace the red lips, it will "stack" them, which might not produce the results you like. Instead, select the red lip layer, use the layer controls to delete it, and then apply the pink lip layer.

There is one more thing I need to investigate though, so stay tuned.

To save material layers:

1) Navigate to or create the material library folder to store your materials

2) Click the + button in the bottom of the library window to create a new material set

3) Set a name for the material layer (Like V4 Vascularity Layer or some such)

4) Click the Material Layers radio button

5) Click the Select Layers button. A dialog opens and lists all the layers in each of the materials you created. You can Select All, Select None, or check only the ones you want to include. Then click OK.

The material layer preset will be saved into the location you choose, using an MLC extension

Sure is a better choice then PY , I choose Bump for now that seems to do the trick, It gives a all new aspect to it all and most probably will also work to integrate it into a Pz2 file adding scales, Vascularity, Scars to loaded textured models in a all easy way, I just can't get over it passed day's for something that was right in front, thank you soo much for your help. 

Sure noted the Stacking LOL was so exited and hit the load a few times :)

I've been following this thread on and off and I can't believe layers didn't dawn on me until today. Slap forehead! OOPS! LOL

Displacement DOES work in Superfly, just that you have to subdivide the model at LEAST three times, which will totally bog down the system. 

Normal maps would be great too, but you'd still need to create an equivalent black and white "mask" to mask out areas where color and roughness should not appear. 

AND ... if I remember correctly, material layers SHOULD work in Poser 11 and up, which makes it a better choice than python.

By default when you create a new material layer the PoserSurface node is in there. I prefer the Physical Surface node. Just add it and set it to SuperFly root and the PoserSurface will be ignored.

Consider layers also for makeup (eyeliners, lips, etc), tattoos, sweat, dirt, etc etc etc. Same principle, different little tricks. The advantage is you can use them on the same base character.

OH .. one thing.  Layers STACK with each other. So if you want to replace a layer you have to delete it first, and then add the "new" layer you want to replace it with.

The above is presuming that your vascularity map is black and white, with black being no bump/displacement, and white or near white being areas that are raised.

Rhia474 posted at 8:06 PM Mon, 16 October 2023 - #4476373

The above was proposed by user oz_tangles and added to the shader for Cycles that ghostship2 published on these forums it works well. It is, however, a manual solution and it would be nice to have a python script written for it.

Anyway, let's say you're doing the arm.

1) Select the arm material.

2) Add a new material layer.

3) In that new material layer, add a phyisical surface node.

4) Change the Color chip to a blue veiny color. 

5) Connect the Vascularity map to the Opacity channel so that the color only appears in the veins.

6) Set the roughness to .5 or higher (you don't want it too shiny). Connect the vascularity map to that input as well.

7) Connect the vascularity map to the bump or displacement and set the value to whatever works well.

I THINK that is all you need to do ... I'm going by memory here.

Anyway, follow that same procedure for the other body parts until you get all the vascularity maps created and looking the way you want.

Then save it to the library. You SHOULD be given the option to save ONLY the material layers to the library, which should then work on any other skin base made for that same character.

NOTE that material layers are SuperFly only. They don't work in FireFly.

The height map shown above may benefit from some gaussian blur to soften the edges of the veins. I used a gaussian blur setting of 2 pixels in Photoshop. Maybe you can even go up to 4. This will soften the transition between the normal skin and the raised veins. 

Also remember ... bump maps only show accurately for polygons that are directly facing the camera. Displacement would be better, but you have to subdivide the mesh to get decent displacement in SuperFly.

The areas of the arm that are curving toward the back may be exhibiting the inverted appearance because they are not directly facing the camera. That is actually one of the reasons that I suggested adding the blur. 

Renderosity is a family friendly site. For adult oriented content, 'otica is the place for that. It's been that way for years.

And from what I can tell, said product for Genesis 8 IS A THIRD PARTY ADD ON that uses custom geometry to achieve all those morphs. You want one of those for La Femme, feel free to ask the person that made the product for the Genesis figures.

Genesis 9 does have a belly button, BTW. Well, an indent anyway. 8-)

And yes, I use DAZ Studio and Genesis figures, so this isn't meant to bash any figure for either app. Use what you like, OK by me.

Heading in the right direction. Your best yet 8-)