[Released] Altern8 - Skin Shader System for Genesis 8 [Commercial]

3Diva

giselle3000 said:

Finally got around to taking these shaders out for a spin and... I am impressed! The amount of options these shaders provide to tweak the skin makes it worth every penny! I had always used and loved NGS' skin results, but I gotta say I'm loving the combination of both these shaders and NGS! I'm probably going to be using these for every render moving forward, that's how impressed I am!

Here's some comparison renders (same light; though the eyes materials are from macro eyes):

 

And here's a version with some postwork to enchance the sharpness and color correct the final result:

Oh sexy! heheh He did come out a tad pale and "cool" - perhaps one of the warmer SSS Tints? Most of the "character" presets are designed to help with some of the "orange" that some of the "8" figures have. To offset that, when using the character presets with other figures, you might add a bit more of a warmer SSS Tint or Translucency color. :) 

These renders do look really good though - very nice!! 

Gorgeous character, by the way! What character is that? Or is he a custom or dial-spun figure?

FenixPhoenix

Divamakeup said:

giselle3000 said:

Finally got around to taking these shaders out for a spin and... I am impressed! The amount of options these shaders provide to tweak the skin makes it worth every penny! I had always used and loved NGS' skin results, but I gotta say I'm loving the combination of both these shaders and NGS! I'm probably going to be using these for every render moving forward, that's how impressed I am!

Here's some comparison renders (same light; though the eyes materials are from macro eyes):

 

And here's a version with some postwork to enchance the sharpness and color correct the final result:

Oh sexy! heheh He did come out a tad pale and "cool" - perhaps one of the warmer SSS Tints? Most of the "character" presets are designed to help with some of the "orange" that some of the "8" figures have. To offset that, when using the character presets with other figures, you might add a bit more of a warmer SSS Tint or Translucency color. :) 

These renders do look really good though - very nice!! 

Gorgeous character, by the way! What character is that? Or is he a custom or dial-spun figure?

I will play with these shaders more! This time I went more with what looked good rather than try to match his original skintone :). And yes, he is a spun dialed character (love making them). I probably mixed 8 different characters (all different generations), then fine tuned with several different morph packs. I also took out his eyebrows and used oh my brows and oh my lashes to make him more unique.

3Diva

giselle3000 said:

Divamakeup said:

giselle3000 said:

Finally got around to taking these shaders out for a spin and... I am impressed! The amount of options these shaders provide to tweak the skin makes it worth every penny! I had always used and loved NGS' skin results, but I gotta say I'm loving the combination of both these shaders and NGS! I'm probably going to be using these for every render moving forward, that's how impressed I am!

Here's some comparison renders (same light; though the eyes materials are from macro eyes):

 

And here's a version with some postwork to enchance the sharpness and color correct the final result:

Oh sexy! heheh He did come out a tad pale and "cool" - perhaps one of the warmer SSS Tints? Most of the "character" presets are designed to help with some of the "orange" that some of the "8" figures have. To offset that, when using the character presets with other figures, you might add a bit more of a warmer SSS Tint or Translucency color. :) 

These renders do look really good though - very nice!! 

Gorgeous character, by the way! What character is that? Or is he a custom or dial-spun figure?

 

I will play with these shaders more! This time I went more with what looked good rather than try to match his original skintone :). And yes, he is a spun dialed character (love making them). I probably mixed 8 different characters (all different generations), then fine tuned with several different morph packs. I also took out his eyebrows and used oh my brows and oh my lashes to make him more unique.

He's so good looking, you did a great job on him! :D I think if he was in the store I'd snatch him up (and I rarely buy male figures lol).

Thank you for using Altern8 - I'm so glad you like it. That's awesome to hear! 

FenixPhoenix

Divamakeup said:

giselle3000 said:

Divamakeup said:

giselle3000 said:

Finally got around to taking these shaders out for a spin and... I am impressed! The amount of options these shaders provide to tweak the skin makes it worth every penny! I had always used and loved NGS' skin results, but I gotta say I'm loving the combination of both these shaders and NGS! I'm probably going to be using these for every render moving forward, that's how impressed I am!

Here's some comparison renders (same light; though the eyes materials are from macro eyes):

 

And here's a version with some postwork to enchance the sharpness and color correct the final result:

Oh sexy! heheh He did come out a tad pale and "cool" - perhaps one of the warmer SSS Tints? Most of the "character" presets are designed to help with some of the "orange" that some of the "8" figures have. To offset that, when using the character presets with other figures, you might add a bit more of a warmer SSS Tint or Translucency color. :) 

These renders do look really good though - very nice!! 

Gorgeous character, by the way! What character is that? Or is he a custom or dial-spun figure?

 

I will play with these shaders more! This time I went more with what looked good rather than try to match his original skintone :). And yes, he is a spun dialed character (love making them). I probably mixed 8 different characters (all different generations), then fine tuned with several different morph packs. I also took out his eyebrows and used oh my brows and oh my lashes to make him more unique.

He's so good looking, you did a great job on him! :D I think if he was in the store I'd snatch him up (and I rarely buy male figures lol).

Thank you for using Altern8 - I'm so glad you like it. That's awesome to hear! 

Aw, thank you, means a lot coming from you! I hope to one day learn zbrush and try that out!

SF-Design

very nice!

DarwinsMishap

I'm quite excited to play with this product and see what I come up with.  Thank you, Diva, for such a great product. :) 

3Diva

DarwinsMishap said:

I'm quite excited to play with this product and see what I come up with.  Thank you, Diva, for such a great product. :) 

You're most welcome! Keep in mind it's a Merchant Resource (just need to adjust any included maps to be unique to your character), if you wanted to use it for your gorgeous guys! :) I think Altern8 looks good with your characters. (Not that they don't look wonderful to begin with!). :)

Here's your awesome Giovanni with Altern8. 

You don't have to use Altern8 for your characters, of course, just putting it out there in case you didn't know it was an option (the fact that it's a merchant resource is kind of buried in a "wall-o-text"). 

willowfan

I'm really loving the details that Altern8 brings out in skins, but I don't know if I'm doing something wrong but applying the Altern8 settings always overides any characters makeup, eg Charlotte 8's gothy black lipstick look. I apply the makeup then Alternat8 nomaps but when rendered the black lipstick etc are gone.

The hints say to apply makeups etc then use the "no maps" shader options. I've resorted to applying the Altern8 shaders then using LIE products to apply any makeup.

What, if anything am I doing wrong?

 

3Diva

willowfan said:

I'm really loving the details that Altern8 brings out in skins, but I don't know if I'm doing something wrong but applying the Altern8 settings always overides any characters makeup, eg Charlotte 8's gothy black lipstick look. I apply the makeup then Alternat8 nomaps but when rendered the black lipstick etc are gone.

The hints say to apply makeups etc then use the "no maps" shader options. I've resorted to applying the Altern8 shaders then using LIE products to apply any makeup.

What, if anything am I doing wrong?

 

Many of the "Official 8" female characters use Diffuse Overlays for makeup and sometimes brows. Try using the "Diffuse Overlay - A Face" and "Diffuse Overlay - A Lips" settings to bring the Diffuse Overlay makeup back. :)

willowfan

Will give it a go, thanks.

Got it all working now, I knew it was probably something ultra obvious :)

Dkgoose

So, this is a character morph and texture from Michael 3, Levi who was previously sold at ArtCollab years ago, applied aging maps from ZeV0’s overlays, saved and converted for Genesis 8 Male.  I used N.G.S Anagenessis 2 and Altern8

3Diva

dkgoose said:

So, this is a character morph and texture from Michael 3, Levi who was previously sold at ArtCollab years ago, applied aging maps from ZeV0’s overlays, saved and converted for Genesis 8 Male.  I used N.G.S Anagenessis 2 and Altern8

That was originally a Michael 3 character!? Wow! 

The combination of Anagenessis and Altern8 looks like it gives a nice look. I saw a couple other renders with that combo too and they all look pretty good. Very cool! Thank you for sharing your render with us!  (Your character made me laugh - something about his expression there that tickled my funnybone! lol)

Dkgoose

Ya I used the aging morphs on him so it was hard to get him to smile lol

IceDragonArt

nicstt said:

IceDragonArt said:

Finally had a chance to try this out and wow!  I'm loving it so far!  Unfortunately my first render with it is NSFW and can't be posted here lol. If you are interested in it, its in my Deviant Art gallery.  I will be using this quite a bit!

Damn your post on DA is really good.

Thank you very much!

3Diva

I posted this over in a thread in the commons but thought I'd post it here as well, for anyone who might be interested. 

You can often darken some of the lighter skin textures to be used for darker skinned characters. 

Here's Kagiso with Ollie 8's skin - the settings adjusted with Altern8 plus one manual adjustment to the Base Color setting:

Here's the Altern8 formula for the above look with Ollie 8's skin textures:

• Olympia 8 A - No Maps
• SSS Tint O
• Translucency Color H
• Translucency Strength B
• Transmitted Measurement Distance .12
• Skin Shine - Ultra Low

And then manually adding a Light Gray color to the "base color".

Hopefully some of you guys find the formula helpful. :)

PS - I also used "HDR A" and "Render Settings B" - in case anyone wanted that info as well. :)

PhilW

I'm pretty much using Altern8 on every render that I do now, thanks for such a wonderful (and convenient) product. Most of the Morena Hair promos were redone at the last minute to include it!

3Diva

PhilW said:

I'm pretty much using Altern8 on every render that I do now, thanks for such a wonderful (and convenient) product. Most of the Morena Hair promos were redone at the last minute to include it!

hahah That's wonderful to hear - I'm tickled pink that you are enjoying Altern8! Knowing that other PAs are enjoying and using Altern8 is beyond my expectations and makes me very happy to see. 

Thank you, PhilW - I appreciate the kind words and really appreciate you purchasing and using it. You put a big smile on my face! :)

fastbike1

I'm having a little trouble with preserving the LIE makeup. I'm using Charlotte 8 with one of her makeup choices.

I started with the Charlotte 8 Maps setting. While I like the resulting skin tone, the makeup is replaced by a default. I reset to the Charlotte 8 makeup and tried the Altern8 Charlotte 8 Nomaps setting. Same result.

Here is the Daz skin and then the Altern8 skin. I know this has probably come up in this thread, but it's late here and I'm tired.

TIA for any help.

3Diva

fastbike1 said:

I'm having a little trouble with preserving the LIE makeup. I'm using Charlotte 8 with one of her makeup choices.

I started with the Charlotte 8 Maps setting. While I like the resulting skin tone, the makeup is replaced by a default. I reset to the Charlotte 8 makeup and tried the Altern8 Charlotte 8 Nomaps setting. Same result.

Here is the Daz skin and then the Altern8 skin. I know this has probably come up in this thread, but it's late here and I'm tired.

TIA for any help.

 

 

If you change makeup or eye color use the "No Maps" preset. The "Official 8" characters don't use LIE makeup, rather Diffuse Overlay makeup. After you apply the makeup you want to use on the character and the "No Maps" shader you can reapply the makeup by using the "Diffuse Overlay - A Face" and "Diffuse Overlay - A Lips".

fastbike1

@Divamakeup

Thanks so much, worked perfectly. 

RAMWolff

I know this is OT but will the diffuse overly makeup's look lush and colorful as just mapped makeup options?  I don't use LIE but still trying to figure out good ways to keep a package down in size....

fastbike1

@RAMWolff

Ignore the skin tone. This is Charlotte 8 with one of her standard makeups. Lush enough?

To my eye, you can't tell the difference between a mapped makeup and a diffuse overlay makeup. The makeup will be as dramatic or subtle as the artist wants.

RAMWolff

Looks great but do you need to fiddle with the face transparency to get it to match the rest of the body?

fastbike1

@RAMWolff "Looks great but do you need to fiddle with the face transparency to get it to match the rest of the body?"

I honestly can't tell you. I have made only this one render with the "stock" Charlotte. this was part of my Altern8 test so It may also be Stock Charlotte makeup on Altern8 skin.

I typically don't see a mismatch between face and torso on Daz Originals.

 

RAMWolff

OK.  Thanks so much.  Perhaps Diva can make a tutorial to further explain at some point. Stuff like this excites me like Altern8 does! 

fastbike1

I may not have understood your question. I thought you were asking about the stock diffuse overlay makeups. The diffuse overlay makeups will match the Altern8 skin tones without further adjustment if applied as Diva explains about 8 posts up. Quoted below.

"If you change makeup or eye color use the "No Maps" preset. The "Official 8" characters don't use LIE makeup, rather Diffuse Overlay makeup. After you apply the makeup you want to use on the character and the "No Maps" shader you can reapply the makeup by using the "Diffuse Overlay - A Face" and "Diffuse Overlay - A Lips"."

RAMWolff said:

OK.  Thanks so much.  Perhaps Diva can make a tutorial to further explain at some point. Stuff like this excites me like Altern8 does! 

 

3Diva

RAMWolff said:

I know this is OT but will the diffuse overly makeup's look lush and colorful as just mapped makeup options?  I don't use LIE but still trying to figure out good ways to keep a package down in size....

I'm not sure I understand the question. But if you're asking if the Diffuse Overlay makeup looks just as good as makeup on other characters, then yes. You can use the "Official 8" diffuse makeup on other characters and it looks just as good. If you have Aiko 8, Edie 8, or Monique 8 you should be able to use their makeup settings on any G3 or G8 character. Most of the other "Official 8" makeup is set up to ALSO load the character's face texture map, though. So if you wanted to use any of the other characters diffuse overlay makeup on another character you'd have to manually navigate to that characters texture file and manually add the diffuse overlay makeup maps in the surfaces tab. 

Here's Aiko 8's and Monique 8's makeup on Olympia 7:

 

And you can make the makeup as intense or as subtle as you want. Here's the Monique 8 makeup again but dialed down to 38%:

Diffuse Overly makeup is very versatile. You can even often adjust the color by just adding color to the "Diffuse Overlay Color" channel. :)

 

RAMWolff

OK, very cool.  So these makeups are saved out as PNG's with no skin, correct?  This is going to be fun me thinks!  :-)

3Diva

RAMWolff said:

OK, very cool.  So these makeups are saved out as PNG's with no skin, correct?  This is going to be fun me thinks!  :-)

Yes, correct. :) I recommend (if you can swing it) purchasing one of the Daz Original "official 8" female characters and take a look at how they have their makeup set up. It's really so versatile the way that Diffuse Overlays work. The only drawback (which some people hate) is that the makeup is only visible in the Iray Preview (and not the other preview options). But as I've said, I think that drawback is far less in comparison to how versatile Diffuse Overlay makeup is. :) I love that I can use the Diffuse Overlay makeup on any G3 or G8 character (though again, some might need manual loading depending on how the material preset was set up) and I love how the color can be changed as well as the makeup's intensity. It's quite a nice way to do makeup, imo! 

PhilW

Divamakeup said:

RAMWolff said:

OK, very cool.  So these makeups are saved out as PNG's with no skin, correct?  This is going to be fun me thinks!  :-)

Yes, correct. :) I recommend (if you can swing it) purchasing one of the Daz Original "official 8" female characters and take a look at how they have their makeup set up. It's really so versatile the way that Diffuse Overlays work. The only drawback (which some people hate) is that the makeup is only visible in the Iray Preview (and not the other preview options). But as I've said, I think that drawback is far less in comparison to how versatile Diffuse Overlay makeup is. :) I love that I can use the Diffuse Overlay makeup on any G3 or G8 character (though again, some might need manual loading depending on how the material preset was set up) and I love how the color can be changed as well as the makeup's intensity. It's quite a nice way to do makeup, imo! 

It's how I did my Ultimate Make-Up set so that it can be applied to any figure so I have to agree that I love how versatile it is!