Does anyone know where I can find a good African-American texture for Michael 3? I've got one called "Bryant" but it's not that good.... very flat, unrealistic color to the skin. I've been looking around but can't seem to find any. Thanks -

You probably won't find one for free. There was one "Daren" but it's no longer available.

I would suggest this one "Mandingo":
www.lluque.com/3dcart/index.php
It's inexpensive, under $5.
Or "Nuru 2":
www.lluque.com/3dcart/index.php
Even cheaper, under $3.

Panko's Vietcong Hong might be acceptable with the right skin shaders; I find he darkens well.

http://www.vanishingpoint.biz/freestuff.asp?StartNo=371

And, of course, you could use a V3 African-American skin.

Sorry I can't be more help. Most of my black guys are Apollos, since there's a very good African American skin included with the model, and, y'know. He's free. :)

Skin shaders - I've seen a lot of talk about them, but I know very littel about them. I've got a texture or two for V3..... they'll work with M3, too?

They will, since M3 & V3 are unimesh & share the same mapping.
You could try one & see how it looks...I think I know of one texture for V3 Male...let me hunt for it, OK?

Edit: Found it!!
www.anat.creativedreamers.com/freestuff.htm

I didn't know that! And that sounds good, Kimber. Time to get some shuteye here. I'll check back tomorrow. Thanks!

While you were sleeping......lol

I found the V3 Male one but there are some seams issues. Here it is on M3:
img517.imageshack.us/my.php
Link to the texture is in my previous post.

If you decide to use a V3 texture on M3, some things to check.
The lips & nipples don't always line up.
Check for painted shadows under the breasts, they look odd on M3.
Preferably use a texture without makeup & painted nails.

If your M3 will be clothed, a couple of those won't matter as they won't show.
You can also try other Mil3 textures on M3. A3, H3, Laura, Luke, SP3, D3, The Freak, The Girl (V3UV), & MilBaby3 are all unimesh & can wear each other's textures as well.

So, if you're really daring, you could try these MilBaby3 textures:
www.sharecg.com/v/28739/poser/Baby-Face
www.angellsgraphics.com/Freebies/characters.html

That image doesn't look bad at all. I plan on having him clothed, so like you said it won't be an issue. And even if I have him with a shirt off, a little post-work would fix that right up. Don't know if I'm gutsy enough to try the MilBaby textures  :) but I might give 'em a go.
Thanks for all the help!

I plan on having him clothed

Isnt that, like, against the Natural Order of Poser Things? :)

Quote - A3, H3, Laura, Luke, SP3, D3, The Freak, The Girl (V3UV), & MilBaby3 are all unimesh & can wear each other's textures as well.

Slight correction: A3/H3 use a separate mapping system, for reasons known only to DAZ. You can use their textures on each other but not on the other 3rd generation characters.

Re: skin shaders -- most of the ones I've seen are basically just colors layered on top of the texture to change it subtly. There's some very good packs on RDNA that I know I've linked to before... um.... ha!

http://www.runtimedna.com/mod/filelib/viewed.php?file_id=3778

(Warning! That's a direct download link.) If you surf through their freebies section there's a couple of others too.

Some small samples:

http://www.sunsetgrillcomic.com/index.php?page=cast

Pretty much all of these characters were made with RDNA shaders layered on top of a skin (with the exceptions of Fausto, Riley, Travis, and Tara). Elroy's skin is the same as Travis's. So yeah, you can get a lot of variation out of a single skin by using shaders.

I've had pretty decent success using M3 maps on H3. There are issues at the thighs, but that's no biggie for me.

Quote - > Quote - A3, H3, Laura, Luke, SP3, D3, The Freak, The Girl (V3UV), & MilBaby3 are all unimesh & can wear each other's textures as well.

Slight correction: A3/H3 use a separate mapping system, for reasons known only to DAZ. You can use their textures on each other but not on the other 3rd generation characters.

Nope, A3/H3 do not have separate mapping than the other Mil3 figures...look at a V3/Mil3 map & a A3/H3 map, they are identical.

The only difference is the thigh material zone which has a different name on A3/H3. That's why when you apply another Mil3 skin, the thigh zone doesn't change...very easy to fix by just copying the settings from another material zone & applying to the thigh zone.

Apollo Maximus has a great African-American texture and, while he is free, I think he is better than M3. Unless you have to use M3, that is.
If you don't have AM you can't go wrong getting him. He resides at http://www.antonkisieldesigns.com/~akfiles/htmlpages/ApolloMaximusFree3dhumanfigure.htm