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slimy tentacles / SSS Research and Materials

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#81

Blaine91555: Luckily I can still focus if it is less than four feet which is a huge plus when going to the toilet without glasses or contacts :stuck_out_tongue:

Regarding materials there are many modifiers that only have a visible impact when doing a best render. However the Current Material icon updates with all the Best Render attributes, minus the effects the Light > Shadow settings have. I often use that to determine a value change. There are also some material modifiers that are dependent on other material modifiers being active (above/below 0). For example the High Dynamic Range only affects the Diffuse and Specular modifiers at Preview render (I think). But it affects other modifiers at Best Render time. But again the Current Material acts as a Best Render, without the shadows, so judge the material by that.

slocik: Did you apply low intensity and low saturated colors/textures to your models? The render will most definitely come out as over lighted if not. A green color, for example, with very little saturation and intensity is boosted after baking by the Render > RGB Levels curve you load. If you choose higher intensity/saturated colors/textures you will need to adjust the RGB Levels curve.

The material and the baked material are nothing special. But using this method you can concentrate on creating a low intensity/saturated render with shadows and highlights in the right places that are turned into highly saturated and intensified values after baking. getting the highlights right in the first render should help in getting the SSS effect across. It might seem a little gimmicky but the main point was to show the baking aspect. And since the shadows are baked all you have to worry about is the final look, which speeds up productivity.

Hope you get it working if not PM me and I can maybe record a script showing the steps involved.
#82

Or maybe Iā€™m stupid, but, if you can make a script, i think this one should be so helpful ! Thank you !

#83

Iā€™m still trying to get a good render out of :one pass & one material !
Since there are no settings for a SSS-material in Zbrush-at this moment- we have to fake the effects of SSS-render !
In my opinion we have to do it by using a material with settings for outer and inner colors in combination with ambient occlusion, and high dynamic range in order to ā€œfakeā€ the look of light penetrating the thinner parts of materials that are -to some degree- transparent and therefore translucent ! e.a. plastics,glass and skin !
Radial- and backlight can do the rest to enhance this effect !..renderengineā€™s like Vray have a lot of material options to do this, but it takes a long time to render !..Zbrush has to ā€œfakeā€ it but takes a fraction of the rendertime, these two renders take less then 10 minutes at a 1280-960 size -one layer no transparency-so thatā€™s a major plus !

ā€¦

In this render i included a smaller picture showing the effects of the light and fog-settings on a simpler material

jantimneelix06aC.jpgneelix06-glass.jpg

#84

Great render , and materialā€¦ youā€™re the material master!

#85

Wow, awesome latest renders, Jantim! They look the best yet.

#86

:grimacing:
Thatā€™s just incredible! That looks almost as good as any SSS material Iā€™ve seen from any other high end rendering engines.

Is the SSS material dependent upon the lighting and fog settings? If so, will the lighting and fog setup work together with other materials very well? For example a creatureā€™s skin uses your SSS material, but his clothes are a leather material. Would the leather then be effected differently than in normal lighting conditions? If it works or if thereā€™s a way to make it work, then this would just further prove how ZBrush could be used for rendering finished art.

#87

Best i could do using your material Tveyes :confused: I bet im doinig something wrong, i dont know how did you get those efekts in that mini tutorial of yours :confused:
btw, i tried to render a model with your matrerial, but i think i will stick to more classical way, this is to much playing with the settings :stuck_out_tongue:hmmm.jpglol.jpgglowa.jpg

#88

Looks like you have some excellent 3dmax skills so i thought i could ask you for some help with a problem iā€™m having! Hereā€™s a screenshot of what i have in max so far. I have a displacement map and a diffuse that were both exported out from zbrush. The problem iā€™m having is when i put my diffuse map in the slot and try to render, max shuts down on me!! it just freezes up and when i go to task manager it says program not responding! Should the diffuse and diplacement be on separate channels, or should i be using a completely separate material for this or composite or multi sub object material for this? I dont understand. The diffuse will render fine by itself and the displacement will render fine by itself, itā€™s just when i put them together, it freezes on me! Please help if you can.

thanks,
ryanmax-screenshot.jpg

#89

ā€¦this one does not look slimy, but i like the strange ā€œlit-from- withinā€ look !
That is the cel-shader setting in S2ā€¦if you want to know!
KrakenCMT : the fog, light AND material work together to create the effectā€¦if you used more then one material in your render you would have to bake the layersā€¦all the light needed to create the effect would "burn"all the other material setting to pure white e.a as in an over-exposed photograph !

material is simpleā€¦but can be of useā€¦i hope

jantimalienembryo02.jpggreen-glow01.zip (14.6 KB)

#90

Nice to see, that this thread made it into the top row :slight_smile:
For the Max-and Vray rendering guys.
The SSS in Vray is a combination of glossy refraction, fog color and - the most important thing! - the lighting.
!!!Backlight is the key to a nice SSS with vray. !!!
I based my rendering on the great tutorial of Richard Roseman at http://www.richardrosenman.com/vray_absorption.htm

Take a look at his rendersettings and thoughts behind itā€¦

Regards,

Thomaskl

#91

Thomaskl - Congrats on the top row. Realy usefull thread. Iā€™m learning lots about materials and have a interesting collection going.:+1:

Jantim - Nice one. I love the effect.

#92

Thomaskl ā€¦i visited the Richard Rosenā€™s website !..interesting stuffā€¦i thought that translucent absorbsion was almost the same as SSS !..i tried to mimic the result(s) seen on the websiteā€¦i even used a deespoona-model:D

and some newbie-tips for using such a shader in ZBrush

ā€¦

and the material used in the first render :

the setting can be easily adjusted to create the look of the other renders

jantimmeat-glass-athena.jpgcel-settings.jpgpaint-&-material.jpgmeat-glass.zip (14.2 KB)

#93

COOL MAN !
That`s what i wanted to see. These results are really the best of all the results here in that thread. Working very well on this model. I have to do some tests, at once !
:+1:small_orange_diamond:+1:small_orange_diamond:+1:small_orange_diamond:+1:small_orange_diamond:+1:small_orange_diamond:+1:small_orange_diamond:+1:small_orange_diamond:+1:small_orange_diamond:+1:small_orange_diamond:+1:small_orange_diamond:+1:small_orange_diamond:+1:small_orange_diamond:+1:small_orange_diamond:+1:small_orange_diamond:+1:

Congrats man - you`ve cracked up the SSS Nut in Z !

Regrads,
Thomaskl

#94

Excellent! And thanks a million for sharing this:+1:small_orange_diamond:+1:small_orange_diamond:+1:
Lemo

#95

Thats freaking wonderfull, Jantim, Thanks to sare too!

You should work on a SSS skin material, would be freaking great!

Thanks again man!

#96

woarg great rendering, its a cgrendering ,post it !!! :smiley: :lol:

#97

Whoa! Simply Superb Skills- THATā€™s that SSS stands for! :grimacing:
Thanks so much for sharing such a cool shader and for the tips, Jantim!

#98

Thomaskl : Yes, the results of the rendering have a lot to do with the sort of model-a nice combination of sharp and round curves- and the render and material settings !..in Vray it must be more technical do do the rendersettings
in ZBrush you need more of a good eye for harmonious settingsā€¦like they advertise : ā€œits a tool made for artists ,by artistsā€ .
And to be honest, i donā€™t know anything about the sort of renderengine thatā€™s used by ZBrush, in a technical way i mean !

lemonnado : Thanks !

Sebcesoir : A skinmaterialā€¦i alwayā€™s use Sokarā€™s material:) ā€¦and i have a feeling that a good texturemap does the trick better then a materialā€¦but now i have been thinking in using a texturemap in one specific color, in combination with a materialā€¦the settings of a material sometimes reduce or enhace the colors used on texturemaps !..perhaps this could be a new angle ?

smileman : If i had made the material AND the model ā€¦perhaps,ā€¦:wink:

Tidalias : Happy, you found it to be of interest to youā€¦thats what the forum is all about !

jantim

#99

Many thanks to all for this thread! Great last render, Jantim!

#100

Thanks, Erklaerbar :slight_smile: ā€¦one more for the road !
ā€¦and i hope Thomaskl, that you will not be disapointed that i not realy ā€œcrackedā€ the nut of SSS-shading !..that canā€™t be done in ZBrushā€¦but you can get the ā€œlookā€ of a SSS-render !

here i tweaked the setting to get a nice jade !

jantimathena-green01.jpg