Jump to content
Hash, Inc. Forums

Doug's Den


Recommended Posts

  • Hash Fellow

The "Skin" and "Pharr Skin" plugin shaders can make convincing skin tones.

 

They are very fiddly because they have so many parameters but they can work. i like to use Render-lock to continuously update the view while I experiment with different parameters. Make Sure you have "Plugin-Shaders" ON in your render settings.

 

Skin.JPG

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Hash Fellow

Watch the whole process so you have a mental image of how it works, then try it on your model in some basic way.

 

The difference between his method and mine is that instead of flattening the face to meet a flat decal (his way), you wrap the decal around the not-flat head, but the painting stuff is pretty much the same either way.

 

Are you familiar with alpha channels?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Hash Fellow

Fabulous!

 

If you look in the "Channels" window for any color image you will probably see: RGB, R, G and B.

 

If you press the Add channel button at the bottom, it should add "alpha" that is all black.

 

Paint some white in it somewhere, then save it out as a targa, choose the "32-bit" option, and import that into A:M and decal it onto some model.

 

Only the part of the color image that is where you painted white in the alpha channel will show up.

 

That is how we can make decals appear to be shapes other than rectangles.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Hash Fellow

 

 

If you look in the "Channels" window for any color image you will probably see: RGB, R, G and B.

 

If you press the Add channel button at the bottom, it should add "alpha" that is all black.

 

Paint some white in it somewhere, then save it out as a targa, choose the "32-bit" option, and import that into A:M and decal it onto some model.

 

Only the part of the color image that is where you painted white in the alpha channel will show up.

 

That is how we can make decals appear to be shapes other than rectangles.

This is just a quick explanation of where and how to make an alpha channel and how to see it do something when you use the image in A:M

 

Have watched my quickstart video on decaling? that shows how to apply a decal to a model.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can't believe I called it a trick. I was tired what can I say. :facepalm:

I did do the create new channels. So did I have to have an image in there?

Hi Doug,

There is a basic PS & A:M Alpha Channels tutorial from 2002 by Jeff Cantin on the A:M Extras DVD. Tutorials > AlphaChannels.

But if you don't have the DVD, the tutorial can still be found on his website, here: http://tincan.sllabs.com/AM_&_Alpha.htm

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You do have to have an image in PS before anything will show in the channels window.

So do I put in an image of the face I am working on? I tried to do it like Jim but I could not get it to open another window like he said it would when I turned the percentage off also it did to my knowledge have the mesh flatten in A:M. Thanks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Hash Fellow

 

I tried to do it like Jim but I could not get it to open another window like he said it would when I turned the percentage off also it did to my knowledge have the mesh flatten in A:M. Thanks.

 

I haven't watched it in a long time.... what is "another window" intended for in his method?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey Doug, quick mention as far as adding quick shading to a toon image. If you go to options-settings-Toon Render-On-Override shading-on-Method toon-click the triangle beside method to open gradient-right click on the gradient bar-presets. Then you can select some pre-done auto shading options. I added a couple of pics to show how to get to the settings and the different results (from left to right - Thermo/3 tone/anime)

 

shade options.png

 

different shading options.png

 

Sorry if you already knew about that just thought i'd mention it coz I saw you were talking about making the toon render less flat.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Hash Fellow

How can I do this without the hair being o the face? Or is there a way to delete that once you style? Here(Hair) is an example.

Three possibilities...

 

-If your splinage was exactly where you needed it you could apply the hair material to a group that included just the patches where you wanted hair

-There is a length tool in Styling mode that may let you shorten hair to zero but that is still on a per-patch basis.

-Use a density map to control where hair grows. This can turn hair on or off anywhere on the model regardless of patch boundaries. I will eventually talk about hair density maps in my decaling series.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Four: Create additional patches (do not need to be connected to the head model), which have the exact right shape you need the hair to grow from, make them close to invisible (99.999% transparency) and apply the hair material to them.

Put the additional patches very close but slightly above the head.

 

See you

*Fuchur*

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...