6 layer SSS skin rendering

[SaltyCowdawg]

I was cruising around "the web" not looking for anything in particular and stumbled upon an archived web article showing a multi-layer approach to rendering skin tones with SSS shaders. I have to confess I'm not sure I follow all the logic used in creating this shader but I've adapted it to my own work and here is a sample:

Six Layer SSS

In addition to the SSS node work I have the combination of a Vornoi and Nose node that are used to create a bump map to emulate skin pores. Node setup is here:

Skin Pore Displacement

I'd place the SSS nodes here but they take up much too much room on the screen to get in one view.

[joepal]

Looks nice.

A standard test is the shine-through of thin parts, think holding up hand against sun to watch the light dispersion through the top layers of the flesh. Any chance you could test the render with a strong light mostly behind the model rather than in front?

[SaltyCowdawg]

Looks nice.

A standard test is the shine-through of thin parts, think holding up hand against sun to watch the light dispersion through the top layers of the flesh. Any chance you could test the render with a strong light mostly behind the model rather than in front?

Thank you Joe. From you that means a lot to me.

I am actually incorporating changes based (OK, stolen from) the "Defloration of Rose" entry. I liked the way the glossieness and pointyness were being handled. I took my SSS nodes and replaced the single done he has in his and added my displacement for pores the mix.


Here's the interim results

Improved version

[SaltyCowdawg]

Here's a different model (no hair) backlit and closeup of ear.

dat ear!

[joepal]

I think you might need a point light for this to work rather than a back-lit scene.

If you look at the index and long fingers here, you can see a bit what it's supposed to look like, i.e looking like some of the light shines through the material instead of bouncing off it.

[badwolf]

would you be willing to upload the blend somewhere and link it here??

[SaltyCowdawg]

I certainly will. I'm still tweaking it though so not yet.

[SaltyCowdawg]

woof, do I have some work to do. Fingernails shouldn't have pores in them! I think I need to employ a mask for the bump texture. Which brings up a point: one of the observations (by driving my family crazy looking closely at their skin) I notice different parts of the body have different shapes of pores. I may be overthinking this since in a typical render either the model is too far away from the camera for it to make a difference or you'll have a situation where you're only looking at one part of the body at a time, such as a face shot or whatever.

[joepal]

Fingernails shouldn't have pores in them!

Why not simply assign another material to those? They are in reality (of another material).

[SaltyCowdawg]

Fingernails shouldn't have pores in them!

Why not simply assign another material to those? They are in reality (of another material).

That's one of two thoughts I have in mind.

1) Separate material for finger/toe nails (Similar to a paraffin material)
2) Pore mask to mask out the hands themselves