1 - Some skin shaders look roughly the same rendered or not, while others not at all.

Before render,  they look like some kind of weird shiny plastic, making it very difficult to guess how the light set is going to work and how the render is going to look like.

Why is that so?

2 - I just got a new character for V4 that has 2 set of shaders, a standard one and one for Poser Peo 2012 using SUBSURFACE SCATTERING.

It's quite difficult to appreciate the differences on the promo pics.

What is it, how does it work and is it worthwhile?

Thanks 

The cool thing about Poser is you get to play.

Set up 2 characters, load the two skins, render and see what you get.

PLAY!

1. well your preview window is just that.. preview.. if the shader is very basic and doesnt use much in the way of posers features. it will look pretty similar once rendered... This is a bad thing unless you want your renders to look like poser 5 or DS renders.  Those funky looking ones in the preview window will often render out much better as long as you set up your lighting and settings correctly.  Sub surface scattering, IDL and GC in PP2012 make for some fantastic renders.

1.  SSS shaders can be very worth it, though I cant comment on specific packages.  SSS is basically the scattering of light withing the surface of an object.  How it works in poser? ...  math math math AWESOME!!!   that is to say.. I dont know exactly but it does!

Oh, I do play alright! ;-)

I don't have PP2012 and the newer shader looks weird in PP2010 

What is SSS?

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/showthread.php?message_id=3889479&ebot_calc_page#message_3889479

Then the Sub Scatter is useless to you; PP2010 does not have the features to utility those extra nodes.  However, Bagginsbill's VSSPR3 Prop skin shader template fakes SSS in those versions prior to P9/PP2012.  Highly recommend it if you are interested in attaining realism.

The shiny look to the skin is probably caused by a "glossy" node or some other Lighting node. It only looks that way in the preview. You can look in the material room to check it out.

Thanks to you all for your helpful answers.

@Toxicwolf: I've realised it looks alright once rendered although a little shine sometimes subsists on the render. I don't know much about shaders, i must say it's rather hard to understand how it works.

I have 2 characters, one "normal" one shiny, both look fantastic (i don't know if I can mention the vendors)

Rendering of the shiny one takes much much longer (I'd say 4 to 6 times) even on PP2010, so without using the SSS.

Why is that so? 

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/index.php?image_id=2323011

Have you tried Real Skin Shader python script by face off here at rendo? Personally, I think its bloody brilliant!!! My picture new beginnings was my first go with it!!!!

The problem with Faceoff's Real Skin series, it is light dependent.  Change the lighting and you need to rerun the script.  Bagginsbill's VSSPR3 Prop overcomes that barrier and will give you acceptable skin quality under any variable light condition without needing to recalculate the script.  One time application, adjust lighting and render.

Most skin shaders are WAY overdone, and / or require a specific Poser version.

Try this simple one, for all Poser versions, and it works pretty well in Poser9/PP2012 with the new SSS Wacro too.

The texture, a Blinn node and Granite for the bump map.
Forget all the rest. Study the settings and I use inches as Poser Units.

Remark for the texture image map filtering;
For older Poser versions use Quality : Crisp only exist in the Poser9/PP2012.

Happy Posering.

Thanks for your suggestions.

I tried Bagginsbill's VSS3 'cause I had it and knew how to use it.

Render times are back to "normal" and the images look great!

I'll give the other methods a try asap.