skin shader a la Alsurface pleaseeee

[Bigguns]

Well, no luck, when install it, start max.. error it says the specified module cannot be found.. I put it in pluging, vray plugin , i have max design 2014.. does it change something from max standard?

[Bigguns]

I upgraded my vray to the last version and it work's!! play time now

[Bigguns]

Here's a comparaison between SSS" and Alsurface for Vray... as you can see.. it's HUMONGOUSLY BETTER Vlado, would be really cool if you can integrate also the 4 sss modes Later on if you are too bored after finishing this one

BTW, both pretty much default ( I only added reflection to alsurface since by default the color were black so.. and put one of the sss color a bit more red and that's it!

Also, notice how the sss is deeper, the reflection SO MUCH BETTER!! and how the sss keeps MUCH more details, back ssss wayyy better, etc etc etc ! It's better on a daily and weekly !

By the way, the displacement is the one of max, only at 4 subdiv.. not the one of Vray, it was just for test so, .. it's faster ^^ but it removed most of my details..

[Bigguns]

and hop, a quick one, took my daniel craig, just used the displacement map and diffuse for this simple test and I got this.... this shader is awesome Can't wait to tweak it has hell hehe!

[Moriah]

Wow, this is looking great! Will it work with RT GPU Vlado?

[vlado]

Wow, this is looking great! Will it work with RT GPU Vlado?

Eventually, but let me make it work on the CPU first.

Attached is one more comparison with the Arnold shader; looks quite close overall.

Best regards,
Vlado

[Ihno]

I've tested it with Emily:


It looks quite Impressive! Good job Vlado
Bigguns is right, it keeps more detail of the displacemant and works mutch better on those skin on skin areas above the eyes and between the lips.

But I couldn't get the reflections to work they just don't render. I use the 2017 version with the latest nightly.

Keeped the material as it is except the sss mix which I set to 1. Afterwarts I put it in Emilys blend map tree to get reflections.

I'm wondering how the diffuse strength and sss mix work. Diffuse Strength makes the material dark till its black. And mix seems to blend between diffuse and sss till about 50/50 ratio at 1.
So I can't get the pure sss, at least i've found no way.
It seems to be buggy here so I don't know if it turned out as it should.

I rendered some other work while I was rendering this. So posting rendertimes wouldn't make any sense.

[vlado]

But i couldn't get the reflections to work they just don't render. I use the 2017 version with the latest nightly.

Hm, but you seem to have reflections in your renders?
[EDIT] Nevermind, I saw that you blended with another material. You need to set the reflection color to white and the reflection strength to 1.0.

So I can't get the pure sss, at least i've found no way.

Keep the "diffuse strength" to 1.0, and set the "sss mix" to 1.0 - this will give you pure SSS without a diffuse component. Check the docs on the original shader here:
http://anderslanglands.com/alshaders/alSurface.html

Best regards,
Vlado

[Ihno]

Keep the "diffuse strength" to 1.0, and set the "sss mix" to 1.0 - this will give you pure SSS without a diffuse component.

So I did

Diffuse
The diffuse layer sits underneath both specular layers and so its intensity is scaled according to the Fresnel transmission of both the specular lobes.

Strength
Multiplier on the intensity of the diffuse reflection.

I don't get it, its a reflection Strength? So it turnes my render black because the reflections are not working?
But if that is the case, where is the ior and gloss. Or does that mean it's the strenth of the light reflectig to the camera and scene.
Which I beleve would be the same as the output curves or rgb multiplier. But what would be the point about adding it then?

[vlado]

Here is a scene that demonstrates reflections.

Best regards,
Vlado

[Ihno]

Ah, I treated the roughtness like the glossines in other materials.
So I was playing with values between 0.8 and 1 which results in almost no noticeable reflection in a scene where the only possible reflection source is a very small Light.
Now I get reflections.
Thanks for clarifying!

[vlado]

Ah, I treated the roughtness like the glossines in other materials.

Yup, in tune with all the PBR stuff that's so popular lately, the alSurface shader uses roughness, which is the inverse of glossiness.

Best regards,
Vlado

[Bigguns]

Hi Vlado,

first congrats for that port of the Alsurface to Vray it's amazing It offer new possibility to Vray with nex gen shaders and.. none the less , it will make it more easy to switch peoples from Arnold to Vray . The advantage of Arnold are vanishing with this shader ^^ . It was his main advantage over Vray so.. plus, having it working the same way exactly in max, help us a lot to work in max and alsurface to arnold and alsurface, becauseme and some other guy are in max vray and the rest of the pipeline are on arnold.. so it was hard for us to test the maps and know how it would look like in arnold with alsurface.. it was a lot of back and forth to make it work correctly but now, it will be SO easy! Here I'm giving you my 2 cents again, if I were you, I would integrate al hair also and fully implement the Alsurface with the gazillions parameters ^^ . That way, it's easy for peoples to work and switch and use the 2 in production ^^. Single person benefit from outstanding shader and enterprise from interoperability, so you gain more clients ^^ . That's my point of view.. and it's share by everyone here at the studio also ^^ they are all very exited about this hehe.

Can you plese, compile a version of the shader for max 2013 or 2016, it's what I'm using at workl please

EDIT : Can you name the sss component the same as in alsurface, because now it's sss1,sss2,etc.

EDIT : I know you'r not finish with the shader, but just to make sure, we need the backlight control also

[vlado]

Can you plese, compile a version of the shader for max 2013 or 2016, it's what I'm using at workl please

If you go the link I posted originally, I updated the archive with a recompile for 3ds Max 2016, and you can also get it from the Github page of the project here:
https://github.com/ChaosGroup/vray_al_surface/releases

EDIT : Can you name the sss component the same as in alsurface, because now it's sss1,sss2,etc.

Hm, they are named sss1, sss2, sss3 etc in the shader code. What are you used to them being called?

EDIT : I know you'r not finish with the shader, but just to make sure, we need the backscatter control also

Yes, it's on my "to do" list. Out of curiosity, what do you use it for?

Best regards,
Vlado

[Bigguns]

Fantastic!! It's great time Vlado to be part of Vray haha. After it will be the turn for Alhair ok? and then we are in business , no more need for anyone to switch to arnold

I think in Katana it's named : Front scatter, mid scatter and Deepscatter. Have the third layer blue of the sss , made me think.. hmm ok, are they in the right order lol. I don't know too much that shader, since I don't use it so I was like ha ok.. but let me check again when the guy are back from diner ^^ .

Backlight can be used for back of the ear, but also for cartoon character, or object with sss ,like strawberry let's say, it's good to have that control Vlado! Always better to have more control then less as an artist, trust me ^^