About once in a year I'm trying to improve my textures used for poser 
people.

Here is my latest attempt: media based SSS and lot's of pigment_patterns 
(for non uniform specularity and transparency), also the makeup is not a 
pre-painted texture but created by various pigment_pattern maps that are 
combined within POV-Ray and are made with the help of a friend of mine 
who is makeup-artist at our local opera house.
It is really incredible what can be learned about real world things I 
never have thought I would be interested in (like making a pro-blush) by 
using POV-Ray.

I had hoped it would turn out better but at least it is different to the 
effect seen by most professional renderer as most people seem to use the 
same skin shader there that gives this overdone and waxy look.
And my last minute addition of this feather earring was a bad idea as it 
throws a quite unfortunate shadow.

As for this image my attempt was again to go for this "Wong Kar-Way 
movie look" I did add a transparent plane with a granite pattern in 
front of the camera to simulate some film grain.


Criticism as usual quite welcome,
-Ive

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Ive <"ive### [at] lilysoftorg"> wrote:
> Here is my latest attempt: media based SSS and lot's of pigment_patterns
> (for non uniform specularity and transparency), also the makeup is not a
> pre-painted texture but created by various pigment_pattern maps that are
> combined within POV-Ray and are made with the help of a friend of mine
> who is makeup-artist at our local opera house.

procedural makeup.  Now I've seen everything...

> I had hoped it would turn out better but at least it is different to the
> effect seen by most professional renderer as most people seem to use the
> same skin shader there that gives this overdone and waxy look.

The skin is very well-done, except perhaps for the ear.  But why not pov's new
SSS feature?

Hair could get a bit of an overhaul.

I also believe some catch lights would do wonders for the eyes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch_light

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Stunning picture. Great work of art.

Don't take nemesis's post to heart - he tries to live up to his nickname ;-) 
I did not even notice anything wrong about the ear before he pointed it 
out - in fact I did not notice the ear at all because the picture is this 
perfect and lifelike. And IMO especially the eyes are captivating.

All I can say is: WOW!

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Really beautiful across the board, in lightng/texturing/composition.  Reminds me
of your equally-stunning "Myrna Loy in Technicolor" image from awhile back (one
of my favorite POV images.) The girl's dress pattern is quite nicely done as
well.

How did you 'apply' or use all of those skin pigment patterns you speak of?  Was
it done using uv_mapping? (Sorry to ask such a simplistic question--I'm *still*
not familiar with that technique.) Or is it a procedural technique? (Or both?!)

I tend to agree with nemesis--a little bit of glint in the eye would be nice. In
many behind-the-scene photos of 'old Hollywood', you can see a small light
attached to the motion-picture camera, usually above it, to get just such an
effect in an actress's eyes, especially in close-ups.

Ken

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As an intensive Poser user, I feel ashamed at my laziness to not do at least 
something about the skin textures. You have done a great job, reminiscent 
indeed of your Myrna Loy picture. Very well done indeed.

Like Kenneth, I am interested in knowing how you applied your technique. It 
sounds like fully procedural for creating the textures, but I imagine that 
the final run is uv-mapped on the figure?

Thomas

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On 2009-12-13 15:34, TC wrote:
> Stunning picture. Great work of art.
>
> Don't take nemesis's post to heart - he tries to live up to his nickname ;-)
> I did not even notice anything wrong about the ear before he pointed it
> out - in fact I did not notice the ear at all because the picture is this
> perfect and lifelike. And IMO especially the eyes are captivating.
>
> All I can say is: WOW!
>

I think Nemesis' criticisms were spot-on.  The ear looked weird to me 
too.  I think the strong light makes it look too washed out. And 
although I didn't realize why, I also thought the eyes looked rather 
lifeless.  I think her hair looks fine, though.

This is a fine piece of work and a real accomplishment, but it's not 
perfect.  Don't let a little constructive criticism get you down.

The only criticism I have about the feather is that it doesn't seem to 
go with the style of her outfit.  The shadow highlights the outline of 
her face for what it's worth.

In any event this is a great picture.

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Rick Gutleber wrote:
> I also thought the eyes looked rather lifeless.  

I did too, although I attributed it to the 1000-league stare. Swivel the 
eyeballs to point at the camera, as if there's actually a brain back there 
in control, and it might look better.

> In any event this is a great picture.

Seconded.

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   Human nature dictates that toothpaste tubes spend
   much longer being almost empty than almost full.

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Darren New escreveu:
> Rick Gutleber wrote:
>> I also thought the eyes looked rather lifeless.  
> 
> I did too, although I attributed it to the 1000-league stare. Swivel the 
> eyeballs to point at the camera, as if there's actually a brain back 
> there in control, and it might look better.

This is a very good observation too.  As it is now, she looks a bit like 
Boomer in a bad day...

>> In any event this is a great picture.
> 
> Seconded.

Thirded. (if such a thing exists)

-- 
a game sig: http://tinyurl.com/d3rxz9

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> Here is my latest attempt: media based SSS and lot's of pigment_patterns
>  (for non uniform specularity and transparency), also the makeup is not a
>  pre-painted texture but created by various pigment_pattern maps that are
>  combined within POV-Ray and are made with the help of a friend of mine
> who is makeup-artist at our local opera house.

   Great work, and very well researched as usual!

> It is really incredible what can be learned about real world things I
> never have thought I would be interested in (like making a pro-blush) by
>  using POV-Ray.

   One of the main reasons I use POV-Ray, indeed.

> I had hoped it would turn out better but at least it is different to the
>  effect seen by most professional renderer as most people seem to use the
>  same skin shader there that gives this overdone and waxy look. And my
> last minute addition of this feather earring was a bad idea as it throws
> a quite unfortunate shadow.

   Yes, your skin texture is really different, and more convincing than 99%
I've seen... I too was thinking there was something a little wrong with it,
but then, when I opened a newsreader window to write this message, the upper
half of the image got hidden, and suddenly the image looked like a photo:
the skin looks beautiful, and the lips are just so real... the lower part of
the nose is also really convincing. So I think there is a problem with the
eyes zone, but I can't say exactly what it is... Perhaps is the makeup layer
which is somehow occluding the SSS efect?

   Regards,

-- 
Jaime Vives Piqueres

http://www.ignorancia.org

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El 14/12/09 17:01, Darren New escribió:
> Rick Gutleber wrote:
>> I also thought the eyes looked rather lifeless.
>
> I did too, although I attributed it to the 1000-league stare. Swivel the
> eyeballs to point at the camera, as if there's actually a brain back
> there in control, and it might look better.

   My one and only experience with this, seemed to show that the whole thing
works better when the eyes look to the camera, and even better if you make
the eyes lines converge on the camera location... in my case, given the ugly
head I modeled with Wings3d, it was even scary!


-- 
Jaime Vives Piqueres

http://www.ignorancia.org

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