hello guys! I am trying to create a realistic portrait. It is inspired on myself, but since I did not have good pictures for textures creation I had to change a bit, so the likeness is not the main point.
I would like to obtain a shader that can work decently in different lighting conditions.
The base model is done in blender, the fine sculpting in zbrush and the textures are painted in mari. Then, back in blender for rendering.
Right now I am really working hard both on textures and shader. The sculpting is not top notch maybe, but I already did it twice and for now I believe is doing its work.
Here are three renders done in daylight, interior artificial light and a backlight only to test out the SSS under more extreme condition.
Then the textures and the node setup. (sorry for textures not in 2d, but I have separated UVs and mari mess up a bit the borders, so it was hard to understand anything on the unwrapped maps)
Constructive comments and critics are really welcome!
My impression is that the SSS is still a touch too strong in some area, but on the other hand in some other place I feel that the skin is lacking the oily and deep feeling. I could try to add a bit of glossyness or maybe create a SSS map.
Yeah, the SSS is too strong. If you make the spec pass a touch less rough and maybe increase the bump a little bit, you might get more of what you’re looking for. An SSS map helps. Key areas are the ears, lips, nostrils, a bit of the cheeks, chin, and areas around the eyes.
I know you probably don’t want to change the model at this point, but it seems to me that the eyes are also a little bit small and the forehead is a little bit big.
It really nice and a hell of a job. The biggest issue for me is the waxiness of the SSS. Set up a really strong rim light (hdie all others), and adjust the scale of your SSS node, try .5 .1. .05… until it looks right. And you can’t see the SSS radius, but of course that should set to a pink.
Ok, I did some change. Lowered sss, increased glossy and bump. Also changed some color of the various maps. Still not there, but I think is closer. Tomorrow I want to check the specs maps because I think I need to get a more oily look in some place.
I also made the eyes slightly bigger.
Here are the new renders (lower samples, I need to go sleep )
Oh yeah, very nice. That last interior render is so close. I might increase the brightness levels on the spec map on the cheeks, tip of nose, lips and forehead. It really depends on the person but it general there is noticeably more gloss there.
I’ve exaggeratedit it a bit here.
Maybe it’s the lighting, or perhaps this is how you want it but the bottom of the nose seems to really drop down harshly in the bottom render, whereas in the exterior it seems much softer.
Of course now the missing eyebrows and lashes jump out.
I think it turned out great! The only thing that seemed strange was the eyes, but I can’t really tell what is off about them. It’s quite possibly the lack of eyebrows, which is understandable at this phase.
One thing about the eyes is that there isn’t a lot of blending between the corners of the eyes and the rest of the surrounding area. There should be some more wrinkles and just general detail around that area. The shape of the eyes is very important. Another thing I’m noticing is that your RGB radius seems to be a little off. Can we see the values for that?
thanks for the further help! As I said this evening I am going to work on the spec to bring the oily parts further out.
Also as you said, the eyes need further work. About the shape I am going to leave it for now, as the lack of the eyebrows and eyelashes I think makes it hard to properly evaluate. On the other hand I’d like to work on the inside, so that it will look wet and “meaty”.
I also noticed something off about the nose… I am going to check it in the evening as well.
I really like this head mesh. The skin and eyes are great. My only comment is about the proportion of the head. Even though your head is inclined slightly forward, where the jaw will be slightly foreshortened, I think the cranium seems too tall. Meaning the area of the skull from eyeline to the top of the cranium. I attached an adjusted photo with some points as well as one of your work, with the head photochopped to make it slightly shortened. I can’t say if its accurate, as its your head. The adjusted head might be too short. Its simply there for comparison.
And like I said, I really like this work.
proportions of the model, forehead, eyes, nose, other small things.
specs map, trying to locate the places where more oily look was needed.
material, decreased further SSS scale and other minor tweaks.
I also changed the lighting of the indoor scene.
I think in general is another step forward, even if I still fill that the cover is too small for the SSS, as while in the ears look like there is even too much SSS, in other areas I still lack a bit of “organic” feel.
Dude, Very solid! The indoor render has good skin tone and color. The outdoor lighting is great almost GI looking, IMO the bottom pic is very good. Not certain if it needs more underlying color but its very close!
In the absence of other more experienced feedback, I’d experiment with a bit more underlying color in the SSS. Particularly around the nostrils, nose tip, inner part of eye orbit, upper part of the ear, and the mouth.
I went on refining the new bump and tweaked further the other maps and the model. I think I still need to improve it a bit more, but I am happy with the result.
Here are couple of renders.
Soon I am starting the creation of hair and other stuff because I want to move on.
Great! Much better. I tried comparing side by side to determine difference. The head on the left of each pair is the earlier version.
Overall, I see subtle change. In the outdoor scene, there is more of a faint general underlying warmer pink/blood in the second attempt. As opposed to a more bloodless hypothermia appearance in the earlier outdoor scene.
Now, though, more refined advice is needed for various areas of the face, IMO. Subtle color stuff, as well as “more” underlying red/blue/purple in specific points.
PS: Something which helps feedback is maintaining the same (or very close, yours are good by the way) camera angle for shots. I was bad about shifting camera angles. Include the last ref pic as well. It greatly Aids comparison and consistency for tracking changes.
Additionally, a checklist of data relevant to each render pic helps alot
Number of samples
Number of passes for each focus area, transparencies, etc
And even strengths of various SSS nodes.
This assists the more experienced community users gain a feel for what corrections or improvements can be made
)
As I said this evening I am going to work on the spec to bring the oily parts further out.
