Fri, Jan 3, 4:56 AM CST

Renderosity Forums / Poser - OFFICIAL



Welcome to the Poser - OFFICIAL Forum

Forum Coordinators: RedPhantom

Poser - OFFICIAL F.A.Q (Last Updated: 2025 Jan 02 11:49 pm)



Subject: Differing facial specularity using alpha masks


DeathMetalDesk ( ) posted Sat, 07 February 2015 at 6:49 PM · edited Mon, 16 December 2024 at 7:27 PM

Hoping I can describe this clearly...

I'm trying to set up a glossy/blinn blend (which I often use with an alpha on the lips material) on the eyelid region of a texture. At the moment the overall facial specular is a blinn which will be modified by a specular map. Painting the required alphas for the shader is the easy part, figuring out the rest and their input order is proving difficult. I'm thinking it's similar in part to a makeup overlay. Anyone have any suggestions how I would go about creating such a set up? Illustrations would be very helpful.

(Whispers a prayer to the shader gods)


Teyon ( ) posted Sat, 07 February 2015 at 8:28 PM · edited Sat, 07 February 2015 at 8:38 PM

Why not just paint a single specular map that is used for the face and lips, with the lips being brighter on the map so they appear more specular?  (note: where most people fall short with this method is they don't have a cavity map to lay on top of the specular in a paint program to make sure the crevices stay fairly dark.)


DeathMetalDesk ( ) posted Sat, 07 February 2015 at 9:06 PM

Hi teyon,

that would be a simple enough solution but one of the shader models for the lips is a glossy+blinn+blender using a mask to feather the effects and avoid a hard line at the material border. I've managed to set up all of my lip material shaders to my liking and they render well, these were mostly inspired by some things bagginsbill was doing in his vss shader and a little of my own humble fiddling.

Now I would like to create some wet eyelid/eye region specular to blend with a more subdued blinn for the rest of the face. If I were to create a spec mask for the face that had more white in the eyelid region (stronger influence of the blinn in area), I still would only be modulating how much of the base blinn is "shining through" rather than creating a glossy effect in that specific region. As far as I can tell I'm going to need to blend two entirely different specular node sets into one material zone using some kind of mask/maths combination.

Thanks for your input, really liked that lizard man figure you were working on btw. That was some damn beautiful displacement map work you did on that...


DeathMetalDesk ( ) posted Sat, 07 February 2015 at 9:27 PM

"(note: where most people fall short with this method is they don't have a cavity map to lay on top of the specular in a paint program to make sure the crevices stay fairly dark.)"

Agreed. The maps I'm working with are all hand painted, including bump and displacement. No burnt in specular or shadows. I spend an obsessive amount of time in Photoshop... 


DeathMetalDesk ( ) posted Sat, 07 February 2015 at 9:54 PM · edited Sat, 07 February 2015 at 9:56 PM

Ah well... I'm sure I can figure this out if I spend a good deal of tomorrow scouring the web and trying different combinations of things found there (thinking perhaps the secret may lie in a corinthianscori video on YouTube that I watched). I'm certain there are several gurus looking from on high to whom this problem is small potatoes... 

Therapeutic suffering is supposedly good for artists anyway.


Teyon ( ) posted Sun, 08 February 2015 at 3:00 AM

I don't really know the node system very well - all my stuff I try to do with the least amount of difficulty, so I won't be much help with that. I'm certain someone will pop in with a solution.


Teyon ( ) posted Sun, 08 February 2015 at 5:02 AM

Oh! And thanks. Sadly nobody's bought it. With every Poser forum having a do not advertise rule, it's hard to get the word out. :)  The fact has kind of slowed my development on his gear add-ons. 


pumeco ( ) posted Sun, 08 February 2015 at 6:10 AM

@DeathMetalDesk
Sounds like you need a dose of Baggins, I know the feeling :-D

@Teyon
I'm sorry to hear he's not selling, I didn't think he'd sell well being a creature but I thought he'd do better than that.
Hopefully word of mouth will build-up and get him into a few Runtimes.


DeathMetalDesk ( ) posted Sun, 08 February 2015 at 8:57 AM

@ pumeco,

I was actually hoping that the venerable wizard would pop in on this one, I know for a fact that he could solve this problem in a matter of seconds. I'm pretty sure that the solution can be found in his old vss thread... Even if I manage to find clues there amidst it's 100 some odd pages I'll still have to figure out how to isolate it from that incredibly mathematically complex shader. Sigh.

Been trying a combination of 3 blinns; one for the overall skin, 2 blended with different settings for a diffused spread and tighter highlights for reaction with the bump, running this through a mask, running this through 2 blenders. The highlights are good but it's bypassing the mask for some reason and applying to the whole face (right shader, wrong connection heirarchy). I'm also trying various reflection setups, which is working as intended with the mask but isn't giving me the result I'm looking for.

@ Teyon,

I'll have a look about for it, didn't realize it was available... I collect standalone/creatures like others collect v4 skankwear. I think I only have 2 reptilian humanoids in my corrall, it would be a welcome addition.


DeathMetalDesk ( ) posted Sun, 08 February 2015 at 9:13 AM

 I could use any number of hacks to solve this problem, including post, If I didn't plan on potentially sharing the results. I'll spend a few hours today working on the solution and then I'll have to move on to other things for a while and put that particular effect on the back burner. Doesn't help that I've been working 60+ hour weeks in the real world lately; more money for future toys, less time for personal projects now.


DeathMetalDesk ( ) posted Sun, 08 February 2015 at 11:15 AM

Think I may have found a solution in a material that is part of a fabiana character set, I'll create a variation of that using 2 masks (need to paint a second) and test the results... after a little nap. It's sunday and I'm having a massive sugar and caffeine crash.


DeathMetalDesk ( ) posted Sun, 08 February 2015 at 2:57 PM

Figured it out... time for a reward hoagie! (Maniacal Laughter)


pumeco ( ) posted Sun, 08 February 2015 at 3:14 PM

Well a hoagie sounds like fun, and you deserve it after that lot ;-)


Privacy Notice

This site uses cookies to deliver the best experience. Our own cookies make user accounts and other features possible. Third-party cookies are used to display relevant ads and to analyze how Renderosity is used. By using our site, you acknowledge that you have read and understood our Terms of Service, including our Cookie Policy and our Privacy Policy.