So I'm back working on a character I hope to have in the store at some point.  I know my characters don't sell well, probably because I'm mostly an unknown but he will have cycles skin options if I have to sell my soul to the devil!  LOL  I like making characters as poor L'Homme isn't loved very much.  So with that said my question.

I have a sort of setup for the skin/lips/inner eye.  I'm finding that the skin looks very velvety rather than have a moisture balance and the darned eyebrows geometry seems to be picking up something from one of the many nodes and I can't figure out where that's coming from.  So I'm at a loss with where I'm going with this effort.   

So here is a render showing the skin and the cycles setup.  Also the nodes haven't been copied to his lips yet in this render so I know they look wonky!  LOL

This again is for Poser 11.  I know things are improved in Poser 12 and probably more so in Poser 13 but to keep the base happy for those that will not or cannot afford to upgrade I want to keep Poser 11 users happy too.  

Thanks for any tips and tricks I can try.  

Richard - RAMWorks

---Wolff On The Prowl---

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The eyebrow issue is likely because part of the eyebrow geometry is intersecting the forehead. You will either need to morph away the eyebrows or morph them so they aren't intersecting.

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Available on Amazon for the Kindle E-Reader Monster of the North and The Shimmering Mage

Today I break my own personal record for the number of days for being alive.
Check out my store here or my free stuff here
I use Poser 13 and win 10

I think I got it figured out.  So pleased with the results.  

---Wolff On The Prowl---

My Store is HERE

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I personally liked him better with the lower gloss. To me, most figures look like they're about to break into a sweat or pimples. But that's a personal preference.

---

Available on Amazon for the Kindle E-Reader Monster of the North and The Shimmering Mage

Today I break my own personal record for the number of days for being alive.
Check out my store here or my free stuff here
I use Poser 13 and win 10

I agree with RedPhantom, the skin is too glossy.  IMO, that is not natural under normal conditions.  

This shader arrangement resembles Snarly's EZSkin Cycles, an arrangement that I am not fond of.

You need to change the color space on your Bump-Normal node to None, do not leave it on Color.  The scale on the Subsurface Scatter node is too low, try 0.025 and adjust until you get satisfactory results.  Also, the eyes are too reflective and I suspect that it is using the glossy node as part of the material shader.  I have moved away from using the glossy node for the eyes and switched to using the glass node in the shader.  IMO, it gives a more realistic environmental response.  

Making better progress but now back to my Achilles' Heel, getting the genital conformer to blend out.  Without the use of the PrincipledBsdf and my particular skin shader setup I'm at a loss here.  Here is the setup and the map just sitting there waiting for some direction.  Example of the Cycles skin and the current pubic set up which is how the rest of the skin is set up for L'H.  I just need a way to connect the transmap to the main output to give that soft blend out.  I thought seriously of just making a merkin in ZBrush  and going around all this that way.  BUT if I can tackle this without all that extra work I'm game. 

I'm pretty sure Ghostship gave me instruction on this but I can't find my notes.  At the time my rotator cuff issue (still ongoing but much better) was causing me a great loss of sleep so that whole time is a blur for me!  

Please ignore the facial hair, I don't have those shaders for Poser 11 done yet.  

---Wolff On The Prowl---

My Store is HERE

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OK, I found my notes.  Let me fiddle around for a while.  WHEW.  

---Wolff On The Prowl---

My Store is HERE

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What is the Veins node connected to and what does it look like expanded?

It's a normal map that gives the genital conformer some veins.  

---Wolff On The Prowl---

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Nope, not for displacement.  In Poser Cycles, you need to drive your map node through a math node to expect some level of displacement in your mesh.  The way you have set up the shader, that normal node will not make any difference.  Prove it to yourself by rendering with and without that node and comparing the images.  And to have an effective displacement, you will need to subdivide the mesh considerably to see a difference.  

I assume that the skin shader was generated through EZSkin3, the pattern looks familiar.  I am not convinced that this shader is optimal for Skin texturing. 

Hiya,

No, no EZSkin for me.  I never cared for all the nodes being renamed as I have a hard enough time figuring out what they do with their default names.  So I don't go down that path.  

You are correct, the normal doesn't do much.  I think it does a tiny bit but not veiny enough for my tastes.  SO which math node would I choose to experiment with?  

Sorry for the delay, I'm doing a hilight on a client right now so shuffling back and forth here and to the other room where I'm doing my clients.  

---Wolff On The Prowl---

My Store is HERE

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The displacement should be done with a proper displacement map connected to a math node set to multiply.  The illustration below shows the arrangement of nodes.

Ignore the Value3 channel, that is used for different functions.  Value1 is the controlling variable.

Thanks so much!  

---Wolff On The Prowl---

My Store is HERE

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So the nodes I found are a bit different and there is no lift using them.  Not sure if you mistakengly used the Poser 12/13 nodes or ?  Here are the two I'm using and like I stated there is no lift off displacement wise.  I even made a custom Displacement map to really bump things up but nada.  SO not sure what going on.  These are both dedicated Cycles nodes.  I looked for a more extended math node in the older nodes> Math slide out menu but nope.  So this is what I got..... 

---Wolff On The Prowl---

My Store is HERE

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How high did you push the Value1 variable?  1?  2?  3?

The Color Space on the ImageTexture node should not be set to Color.  You don't have the Preview Displays open on the nodes so it's difficult to judge the maps.  And did you subdivide the figure?  

ATM, the nodes you are using is correct for Poser 11.

Yea, the ImageTexture is not set to Color, it's set to None.  I kinda just reset everything and did a basic set up.  I'm back to having major issues getting the Transparency working correctly to blend in the Pubic area to L'Homme's body so that's been a struggle bus as well.  I really wish I had a local friend that could show me how to go about this in real time.  Bums me out that I have to keep bothering you and others with my idiot mind that can't seem to figure these things out!  LOL 

---Wolff On The Prowl---

My Store is HERE

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I've shelved the Cycles mat set for LH since the whole hookup for the genital conformer (pubic area) is just too hard to figure out the set up without the Principled node there to make the hook up easier to handle. 

Not sure if anyone has actually made a male character pack using the Poser 11 Cycles with a genital conformer set of mats.  If there is one link me up and I'll buy it so I can study it!  

Thanks folks! 

---Wolff On The Prowl---

My Store is HERE

My Freebies are HERE  

Honestly I'd just keep it simple and put as much detail in the diffuse maps as you can get.

P11 "cycles" works better for props than skin, and is likely why you don't see much of any characters using it. There may be a few for La Femme but I don't recall seeing any.

If you haven't already done so, invest in some texture resources from 3d.sk and use those in zbrush to create a more realistic skin.

Optionally you can get skin alpha brushes to add detail and create normal maps. Biscuits has a nice set of them here in the store.

Look at how LH's default skin trans maps are set up as a guide to set up yours. The LH Pro version has a few options for SS skins you could look at for reference too.

Thanks.  Yea, I have all those bits and pieces from Biscuit's, she is a wonderful artist and subscribe to her blog.  I also have MANY figure photo shoots from 3d.sk like folder and folders of them.  I do use them for little things like elbow and knee details.  Eyebrows and pours for the face but my whole thing with this thread was to find out if anyone knew of  perhaps ONE male character set up using the Poser 11 Cycles set up that included a setup for the genital conformer.  

Here is a screen grab of all the folders from 3d.sk 

---Wolff On The Prowl---

My Store is HERE

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To answer your question, no, not as far as I have seen.  And even if there were one, it may be incorrectly set up due to Poser users learning how to use Cycles in the first place.  Snarly's EZSkin using the Cycles root was either hit or miss and trying to emulate Blender means searching for a tutorial that doesn't involve nodes absent in Poser.

YUP, there's that too.  Many of the call outs in the documentation for Cycles has one going over to the Blender side and then you realize you can't replicate it because of the missing nodes!  :-( 

---Wolff On The Prowl---

My Store is HERE

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I have taken a look at a simple Cycles skin shader in Poser 11 and I'm beginning to suspect that the arrangement involving the SubSurfaceScatter node is broken.  I constructed a skin shader in P13 and everything rendered as expected.  I need to play with it in P11 to see if I can duplicate it.

I got pretty far with my Cycles in Poser but again it's the hook up for the conformer that killed my moving forward.  It's too bad the team at the time didn't think of introducing a more robust Cycles.  It is what it is I guess! 

---Wolff On The Prowl---

My Store is HERE

My Freebies are HERE