itsjustme

Still a lot to do, but I liked the render.

It's the same Choreography...the back-lit image has two lights, the video is one of those lights spun around Sam and the lit one is the two back lights with an additional front key light. They aren't the best lighting setups to get a beauty render, but they were useful for setting the SSS and overall checking of things. Once I get the wrinkles in I'll see if I can do a better job of lighting.

Congrats!

The only material on this version of Sam is the basic cell turbulence displacement, SSS is 2.6, 1.7, 1.12, specularity is controlled by two decals (Spec size and Spec intensity) and all skin color is a decal which comes from a painted Krita image file where the layers can be adjusted or exported individually (each layer painted in 3DPainter, then adjusted in Krita). The backlit image is two back lights, the lit image is the same two back lights with an additional key light (not the best lighting...needs adjustment) and the animation is a single light spun around Sam over two seconds. I still need to add the wrinkles (maybe eyelashes), but I thought it wasn't a bad set of test renders. Sam_11_16_2021_light_spin.mp4

Looks great, Myron!

I never had much luck with displacement or bump maps using OpenEXR (not sure if it's a bug or not), I've been using TGA's. I think they work correctly...although I have been wrong before.

I was aware that that is the case for quick renders, but I haven't seen it in a full render. I also haven't checked earlier versions for quite a while. Here are some quotes from Yves from this post. I'm not sure if anything changed following that post. Considering the skin texture would be different on the lips, decals for the actual texture and one Group for the surface settings (SSS, etc) would be the way to go. I got some (what I think are) improvements by dinking with a few things. Here are some settings I've tried: Specular size: 3000 Specular intensity: 30 SSS: 3.9, 2.55, 1.68 (Skin1 settings multiplied by 3) I'm currently doing some flattening in order to paint the textures (I've been messing with 3DPaint and Krita along with a drawing tablet) and I've made the eyebrows sub-dermal. Hopefully, I'll have an improved render in a day or two.

Here's another test...the displacement is set to 100 and I added some more specular. I moved the lights to get a better view of the SSS as well. Currently, the material covers all of the skin, but I'll have to do some experiments with some Groups to have it different on the lips. Might have to paint it for that. I'll have to play with the color to warm it up a bit...I'll also look into painting a few areas. I'll try another one tomorrow. The hair is the hair material applied to Sam's brows...it does use MuhHair. However, I think it's picking up some of the changes to the underlying geometry as well. I might have to move the eyebrows to a sub-dermal layer to prevent that. Nice tests, Robert! I think the SSS is a bit too high on them, but the SSS settings I'm using might be a bit too low as well. For this image I went with the "Skin2" setting (1.3, .85, .56). -------------------- EDIT -------------------- It was actually "Skin1" settings (1.3, .85, .56)...same settings but wrong name initially.

I'll have to do more testing, but here is a composite of two of the images I rendered. The first image had no SSS and a displacement material, the second was identical except it had SSS. SSS requires a lot more displacement than I had time to mess with tonight, I had it set at 30 percent and didn't see anything...so, for tonight, I just combined the two images. So, there is a little SSS and some displacement. It's hard to see in a browser, you will get a better view in a paint program so that you can zoom in close. Of course, to do a decent job of it would require some color maps and I would prefer to use a bump material or map.

There is a Blender tutorial that I thought could be duplicated in A:M here...the issue I ran into was that currently bump maps and materials don't work with SSS (it has been reported). Displacement maps and materials work with SSS, but the render times would be higher and, depending on percentages, could noticeably bloat the character. Although for testing purposes, a similar material to the one in the tutorial with a 1 percent displacement should give you a good idea...or you could go the compositing route. I'll try to render an example tomorrow.

Incredible, as usual, Rodger!

I just posted an updated Squetch Rig, Squetch Rig Installation Tutorials and Squetchy Sam here...it's also in my signature. If you have any problems or questions, let me know.

Here is an updated Squetch Rig, Squetch Rig Installation Tutorial and Squetchy Sam. If you find an issue, let me know. Squetch_Rig_08_09_2021.zip Squetch Rig_Installation_Tutorial_Part_1_08092021.zip Squetch_Rig_Installation_Tutorial_Part_2_08092021.zip Squetch_Rig_Installation_Tutorial_Part_3_08092021.zip

Hi! Feel free to ask any questions you may have.

Very cool!

Looks great, Rodger! The only issue I saw was probably the video compression causing artifacts in the reflections on the trailers.

It's an old version of Squetchy Sam (2008) that has been altered. The Project won't open for me because I don't think the model was included in it.

Looks like fun, Rodney!

Stellar work, as usual, Rodger!

The new decal exporting solves the problem of making decals larger than your screen resolution. If you made an extremely large decal and then had to screen capture it, it would not be very accurate.

Happy Birthday, John!

If you select a point on the splines causing the issue, you can change the InMagnitude or OutMagnitude of the Bias...or rotate the bias handle to change the angle.

Looks fantastic, Rodger!

Time has gotten away from me...I've got several things in-progress, so I will eventually have a pretty good dump of updates. The Squetch Rig update is finished, but I want to make the updated installation tutorial before I post it, Bertram has been rigged for quite a while, now I'm working on his texturing...which will probably result in a flattening, decaling and texturing set of tutorials or mini tutorials. Sam's updates are done, but I decided to leave him with group colors instead of full-blown texturing. I've also rounded a few script ideas out...hopefully, I'll get some animation done eventually. Yup, I'm as slow as a glacier.

Better and better, Michael!