skin shader question

OctoKube

Hi, if im going to set up a skin shader for my character's face should i keep the uvs of the face separate from any other material, for example eyes and hair...or can i have them on the same uv map and assign the skin shader to the face only. I dont want any of the skin shader properties to affect the other areas.

ZippZopp

i would keep anything that needs skin separate. it makes it easier to manage

OctoKube

alright thanks ZippZopp, im sure you know your stuff. I love the apocalypto sculpt btw!

jfitch

You can also add a skin mask I believe. Depends on what your target engine is though, if you're just doing this as a portfolio piece then I'd say go ahead and make it a separate set.

almighty_gir

you can mask skin by using the alpha channel of your subdermis map in Toolbag2.

OctoKube

i played around with the masking but it seemed to me as if it still changed the overall appearance of the material sharing that uv space. Is it possible that by selecting the skin shader option it affects the overall materail definition regardless of the masking? I hope im being clear...

EarthQuake

Make sure you've placed your mask in the subdermis map alpha channel, and that your texture is saved as 32 bit rather than 24 bit (you can check the texture preview by pressing the magnifying glass icon to verify the alpha channel has been exported).

If you mask the non-skin areas on the RGB channels of the subdermis map, it will mask the subdermis effect but not the normal smoothing or shadow blur.