I've tried the skin shaders that come with pwSurface, but they come out looking a little odd (particularly the dry skin) when rendered.  Does anyone know what shader and lighting settings to use?

hello PapaBlueMarlin!

I had the same problems when i started with pwsurface - it all takes a bit of time.

1. try lowering the diffuse value (at a 90% instead of 100%)
2. lower the Ambient Occlusion value to 30-40%
3. in the subsurface scattering node add the corresponding texture map.

I usually play around with the diffuse rim and  fill colours as well as AO colour to get the thing right.

have a look at this thread
forum.daz3d.com/viewtopic.php

here's  a little something Poseworks posted as regards skin:
Do the Tutor (in Shaders/pwSurface Resources), that should help you in visualizing what all of the different features do.

The basics for a good skin material:

• Diffuse Softness at 60-90%.
• Either a steel blue or a swampy yellow-green Diffuse Rim Color, not very saturated. This color will help it look like there are tiny hairs on the skin catching light. Diffuse Rim width should be 0.4-0.65.
• If you want the skin to look flushed, a dark red Diffuse Fill Color (like RGB 55 15 15). If you want a cooler skin tone, use a low saturation olive. The great thing about skin tones is that just about any color can go into them.
• For oily skin, increase the Specular Softness to 30-40%. For dry skin, increase the Specular Softness to 50-60%. For sweaty skin, keep Specular Softness at 0%.
• Don't use Translucence for most models. It comes in handy with hair though, or on things like bat wings. You may want to use Density-Based Translucence if you want to really accentuate the light coming through the ears.
• I don't use Ambient Occlusion much for skin. If you do, try using a dark red-violet for the AO Color.
• Toggle on Subsurface Scattering. It's pre-configured for skin on figures who are on the same scale as V3. Good Subsurface Colors are usually between a creamy orange-pink to a deep and saturated red.
• If you want more light scattering through the surface, add 4 to the Subsurface Scale. Maybe it's just the way my brain is wired, but I always feel that I get the most satisfactory results with this feature in increments of 4
• Make sure that each connected surface uses the same Subsurface Group number, and that other objects that use Subsurface Scattering don't use the same number--otherwise they will be treated as though they are connected. See the example in the Tutor for more info on this. This is only a concern in scenes with multiple figures/objects that each use SSS. If you're only using SSS with one figure/object, you don't need to concern yourself with this.

Thanks for your help :)