Updated to Poser5 some weeks ago. At the moment I'm working on a Black V3 texture, but it simply doesn't look as real as I expected. Black skin seems to be more shiny than white skin, but I cannot figure out how this P5 material system works. Compared to P4 it seems to be very complicated. Which settings are recommended for skin (Just put the bitmap to the diffuse layer until yet)? How can I make it more shiny/reflective? Is there a good tutorial on P5 material room somewhere?

The easiest way would be to simply change the specular_color, specular_value and highlight_size parameters, that'll result in highlights comparable to Poser 4's simple Phong shading. For better results, I'd recommend experimenting with the specular nodes (phong, blinn, glossy, etc) in combination with the built-in specular_color and specular_value parameters. You could e.g. plug a blinn node into the alternate_specular channel for a general smooth shininess of the skin and use a separate map in the specular_color channel to mask our more oily/shiny parts of the skin.

There's actually a Skin node. I guess you could change the base colour of that to a darker tone :o) I think it's in the basic materials too (I'm not at my Poser pc right now, but I know I've seen it) Alternatively you could add a little specular, set it to a dark grey instead of black.

Thanks for the fast answer to both of you. Stewer, I think this is going into the right direction. Have to take a closer look at that Blinn thing. This material room is capable of many things and I have to learn that. Just played with Bryce materials until yet As I often render scenes in Vue 4.2, I wonder how this will come out there. Thanks - Walter

Attached Link: http://www.keindesign.de/stefan/poser/

Thanks a lot, very helpful!

My basic recipe for skin in Poser 5 is: The standard diffuse, specular and ambient set to zero. The texture plugged into a skin node. The skin node plugged into alternate diffuse. A blinn node plugged into alternate specular. Play with the values of the skin and the blinn node. The standard values of the skin node are a good starting point, but turn down the ka (ambient strength) for high contrast outdoor lightning. Play with the values of the Blinn node to get the shininess right. Don't have poser here, so I can't look up the values I use at the moment.

Thanks for the help quinlor.