Black Is Beautiful II

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  • HylasHylas Posts: 5,026

    During the recent sales I purchased three black female characters. Hope to get some renders out soon, will post them here!

    Rather disappointed in Shangrila by Mousso. Her morph is lovely but her skin lacks depth and is waaaay to yellow and orange. Even worse is that her face has a different tone than the rest of her body, so when I tried to balance out her complexion by adding blue to her skin, either her body or her face were always not quite right. I just requested a refund.

    This is only my 2nd Mousso character. The first one (an Asian character) has great skin, so I'm not sure what happened here. Or perhaps it's just me... the promos look alright. But then again, I never had problems like this with previous black characters.

    I'm much happier with Darcy 8 and Aniyah for Darcy 8. Face morph and skin are great for both characters, especially Aniyah. I don't particularly love their body morphs - both characters are very skinny - but it's not hard to dial in some curves.

  • GordigGordig Posts: 10,100
    Hylas said:

    Rather disappointed in Shangrila by Mousso. Her morph is lovely but her skin lacks depth and is waaaay to yellow and orange. Even worse is that her face has a different tone than the rest of her body, so when I tried to balance out her complexion by adding blue to her skin, either her body or her face were always not quite right. I just requested a refund.

    Not mentioning any names, but there are some PAs here who probably shouldn't be creating black characters.

  • Slightly adding onto this, I highly respect the vendors who tell you what light set they use or render multiple examples. In an interesting reverse from Hylas, I remember when I bought a character due to one of the vendor's forum renders after ignoring the store renders (which were heavily washed out).

  • vwranglervwrangler Posts: 4,890
    edited February 2020
    Hylas said:
     

    Rather disappointed in Shangrila by Mousso. Her morph is lovely but her skin lacks depth and is waaaay to yellow and orange. Even worse is that her face has a different tone than the rest of her body, so when I tried to balance out her complexion by adding blue to her skin, either her body or her face were always not quite right. I just requested a refund.

    Shangrila's main thing is that she's an overpaint of an FWSA Skinvent texture, and once you do that, it's hard to get detail back into the diffuse. She's also got a truly odd SSS layer; it's much darker than her diffuse, and I'm pretty sure that skin doesn't quite work that way.

    Her face is different, yes. It's set in from a different source than the rest of Skinvent, and then color matched, and it's hard to do that well. I do think her default shader made that much stronger than it is; A8L8 seems to mute it somewhat. Somewhat.

    I did wind up editing her hands and feet, because they were just weird. The lines on her palm had been drawn back in to be darker than the surrounding skin, which is good ... but they were perpendicular to where they should have been, which was truly weird.

    The yellowness that you saw was primarily due to her shader, rather than her texture. I shifted her to a different shader model with Altern8 for Lee 8 (A8L8), which both brought out what little detail she had, and undid the yellowness. I also tweaked that shader setting pretty hard to reduce her translucency weight, because A8L8 is meant for a lighter-skinned character; a translucency weight of .65 for a darker skinned character is kind of ridiculous. And then I gave her different translucency maps. I probably wouldn't have done any of that if I'd looked at her in the first 30 days I had her, but, well ... such is life. Anyway, she's workable now, I think.

     

    shangrila-test-01.png
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    Post edited by vwrangler on
  • HylasHylas Posts: 5,026

    So Shangrila's skin really has issues, good to know that I wasn't seeing things. I feel vindicated. Pity, her morph is really nice!

  • HylasHylas Posts: 5,026
    edited February 2020

    Here's a really quick one...

    Face: 66% Darcy 8, 33% Mei Lin 7, plus a few tweaks
    Skin: Darcy 8 with lowered translucency

     

    Hey, if somebody could do me a favour and do a quick render of Laverne, but with Darcy 8 as a base instead of Monique 8, I'd sure appreciate it!

    darcy 01.png
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    Post edited by Hylas on
  • sunnyjeisunnyjei Posts: 502
    vwrangler said:

    One Iray HDR light set that I use frequently for test renders is a freebie set by AgentUnawares: https://www.deviantart.com/agentunawares/art/Portrait-Light-Set-01-716649600

    The light set has a specific render setting for dark skin. He states that the set is for use in portraits, but it works pretty well for full-length as well.

    And as a side note, Daz seems to have changed something about how the forums work, with the recent unpleasantness and other issues, I guess. What I used to do -- copy the URL of the file attachment's thumbnail and delete the "thumbnail" text to get the full URL to the main image -- doesn't work any more. I had to put the example into the Daz gallery.

    Anyway, an example of how the AgentUnawares set can look. Note that there is a wall, painted a scratchy semi-gloss black, behind the character, which acts partly as a reflector. If there were no wall, the background would be either nonexistent, if the HDR dome were turned off, or black if it's on. In this case, it's on but you can't see it anyway thanks to the wall.

    EDIT: The texture is Tyrone for Darius 8. I think the settings are from Altern8 for Lee 8 -- it's been a while -- but they're definitely not his default setting.

     

    A weightlifter, candid

     

    @vwrangler

    what a great looking character :) What hair is that? I never get the hair to look that good.

  • barbultbarbult Posts: 24,371
    edited February 2020
    Hylas said:

    Hey, if somebody could do me a favour and do a quick render of Laverne, but with Darcy 8 as a base instead of Monique 8, I'd sure appreciate it!

    Here (front and profile) is Laverne 100% with Darcy instead of Monique. I dialed Darcy at the same percentages that Monique was in Laverne (body 70% head 75%). Her ear looks a little misshapen, but otherwise, she looks nice. I didn't fix poke through on the clothing.I wanted to let if fit as closely to her shape as possible.

    Laverne with Darcy Base.jpg
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    Laverne with Darcy Base 2.jpg
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    Post edited by barbult on
  • HylasHylas Posts: 5,026
    barbult said:
    Hylas said:

    Hey, if somebody could do me a favour and do a quick render of Laverne, but with Darcy 8 as a base instead of Monique 8, I'd sure appreciate it!

    Here (front and profile) is Laverne 100% with Darcy instead of Monique. I dialed Darcy at the same percentages that Monique was in Laverne (body 70% head 75%). Her ear looks a little misshapen, but otherwise, she looks nice. I didn't fix poke through on the clothing.I wanted to let if fit as closely to her shape as possible.

    That was quick, thank you! yes

  • vwranglervwrangler Posts: 4,890
    sunnyjei said:

    @vwrangler

    what a great looking character :) What hair is that? I never get the hair to look that good.

    Thanks!

    It's Terran Hair. Included in the Darius 8 pro bundle.

  • sunnyjeisunnyjei Posts: 502
    vwrangler said:
    sunnyjei said:

    @vwrangler

    what a great looking character :) What hair is that? I never get the hair to look that good.

    Thanks!

    It's Terran Hair. Included in the Darius 8 pro bundle.

    I knew it! What secret magic are you doing over there to get the curls looking so nice? I have that hair and it has never come out looking so nice in renderssurprise

  • sunnyjei said:
    vwrangler said:

    One Iray HDR light set that I use frequently for test renders is a freebie set by AgentUnawares: https://www.deviantart.com/agentunawares/art/Portrait-Light-Set-01-716649600

    The light set has a specific render setting for dark skin. He states that the set is for use in portraits, but it works pretty well for full-length as well.

    And as a side note, Daz seems to have changed something about how the forums work, with the recent unpleasantness and other issues, I guess. What I used to do -- copy the URL of the file attachment's thumbnail and delete the "thumbnail" text to get the full URL to the main image -- doesn't work any more. I had to put the example into the Daz gallery.

    Anyway, an example of how the AgentUnawares set can look. Note that there is a wall, painted a scratchy semi-gloss black, behind the character, which acts partly as a reflector. If there were no wall, the background would be either nonexistent, if the HDR dome were turned off, or black if it's on. In this case, it's on but you can't see it anyway thanks to the wall.

    EDIT: The texture is Tyrone for Darius 8. I think the settings are from Altern8 for Lee 8 -- it's been a while -- but they're definitely not his default setting.

     

    A weightlifter, candid

     

    @vwrangler

    what a great looking character :) What hair is that? I never get the hair to look that good.

    this is wonderful work. as a creator of ethnic characters im always watching others work for tips

    vwrangler said:

    One Iray HDR light set that I use frequently for test renders is a freebie set by AgentUnawares: https://www.deviantart.com/agentunawares/art/Portrait-Light-Set-01-716649600

    The light set has a specific render setting for dark skin. He states that the set is for use in portraits, but it works pretty well for full-length as well.

    And as a side note, Daz seems to have changed something about how the forums work, with the recent unpleasantness and other issues, I guess. What I used to do -- copy the URL of the file attachment's thumbnail and delete the "thumbnail" text to get the full URL to the main image -- doesn't work any more. I had to put the example into the Daz gallery.

    Anyway, an example of how the AgentUnawares set can look. Note that there is a wall, painted a scratchy semi-gloss black, behind the character, which acts partly as a reflector. If there were no wall, the background would be either nonexistent, if the HDR dome were turned off, or black if it's on. In this case, it's on but you can't see it anyway thanks to the wall.

    EDIT: The texture is Tyrone for Darius 8. I think the settings are from Altern8 for Lee 8 -- it's been a while -- but they're definitely not his default setting.

     

    A weightlifter, candid

     

    this is wonderful work. as a creator of ethnic characters im always watching others work for tips. to improve

  • emotionaldreams2emotionaldreams2 Posts: 141
    edited March 2020

    environment used here was Quick Lights Vol4 by PaperTiger

    skin is my character Lucious Maiya on rendo

     

     

     

     

     

    Post edited by Chohole on
  • sueyasueya Posts: 832

    I have noticed some people saying that Shangrila's texture needs some attention in order to make her look good. I have therefore tried using Kande's texture on Shangrila ( girl on left) The girl on the right is CC Joliette 

  • Kelly2k7Kelly2k7 Posts: 30
    edited November 2020

    deleted

    Post edited by Kelly2k7 on
  • HylasHylas Posts: 5,026
    Kelly2k7 said:

    I have been playing around in the surface settings lately, trying out new settings and got this as a result from a practice test.

    Very nice! yes

    @sueya: yeah, Shangrila's morph is really nice. She looked great with the skin of Eden and Twylite.

  • Kelly2k7Kelly2k7 Posts: 30

    I haven playing around in the surface settings lately, trying out new settings and got this as a result from a practice test.

    Hylas said:
    Kelly2k7 said:

    I have been playing around in the surface settings lately, trying out new settings and got this as a result from a practice test.

    Very nice! yes

    @sueya: yeah, Shangrila's morph is really nice. She looked great with the skin of Eden and Twylite.

    Thanks 

  • GordigGordig Posts: 10,100

    A few characters I designed for a fantasy project.

    Yamowe

    Mawasi

    Giral

  • ALLIEKATBLUEALLIEKATBLUE Posts: 2,971
    edited March 2020
    Hylas said:

    During the recent sales I purchased three black female characters. Hope to get some renders out soon, will post them here!

    Rather disappointed in Shangrila by Mousso. Her morph is lovely but her skin lacks depth and is waaaay to yellow and orange. Even worse is that her face has a different tone than the rest of her body, so when I tried to balance out her complexion by adding blue to her skin, either her body or her face were always not quite right. I just requested a refund.

    This is only my 2nd Mousso character. The first one (an Asian character) has great skin, so I'm not sure what happened here. Or perhaps it's just me... the promos look alright. But then again, I never had problems like this with previous black characters.

    I'm much happier with Darcy 8 and Aniyah for Darcy 8. Face morph and skin are great for both characters, especially Aniyah. I don't particularly love their body morphs - both characters are very skinny - but it's not hard to dial in some curves.

    I don't know she looks fine to me.  I got her when she was sold at Rendo.

    Shangrila.png
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    Post edited by ALLIEKATBLUE on
  • Gordig said:
    Hylas said:

    Rather disappointed in Shangrila by Mousso. Her morph is lovely but her skin lacks depth and is waaaay to yellow and orange. Even worse is that her face has a different tone than the rest of her body, so when I tried to balance out her complexion by adding blue to her skin, either her body or her face were always not quite right. I just requested a refund.

    Not mentioning any names, but there are some PAs here who probably shouldn't be creating black characters.

    Completely agree, and the issue isn't just limited to dark-skinned characters either. Perhaps I'm more picky than others, but it just seems that there's very very few that can make skin reasonably CONSISTENT. I've been told things ranging from "Just use different skin" to "Its your lighting". Well, when I see two different skin colors and/or major light/dark discrepancies between limbs/torso/etc., that are generally an equal distance from the same light source and are being illuminated from the same angle at the same brightness, its NOT the lighting. Its even more obvious when you open the textures in an image editor and see the dramatically different RGB values. It almost looks like they used two completely different skins and blended them together just enough so that there aren't any seams.

  • vwranglervwrangler Posts: 4,890

    It almost looks like they used two completely different skins and blended them together just enough so that there aren't any seams.

    Well ... that's almost certainly what they did do.

    When you use merchant resources, you have to work to make them look different from every other character using the same resource. The first thing they'll do is swap out the face and blend the edges, and -- ideally -- tinker with the skin tones to make them match without washing out the detail in the face. That's all fairly difficult.

    Working from photographic resources that haven't been mapped to the UV of whatever character you're trying to make is apparently immensely more difficult -- time and cost prohibitive, for most -- which is why merchant resources get used. (And in the case of male resources in particular, overused.)

  • Hylas said:

    lovely.. what hair is that?

  • Kenyatti pauses in the middle of creek bridge to contemplates just how safe that shortcut through foreboding forest is.

     

  • HylasHylas Posts: 5,026
    edited April 2020

    lovely.. what hair is that?

    It's Redz Real Curly by RedzStudio, over at Renderosity.

    The same vendor is selling a very similar product here as well: https://www.daz3d.com/short-afro-hair-for-genesis-3-and-8

    Post edited by Hylas on
  • NylonGirlNylonGirl Posts: 1,854

    Glasses really make a wardrobe complete.

    Black Woman in Purple Glasses

  • HylasHylas Posts: 5,026
  • 3Diva3Diva Posts: 11,623
    edited April 2020

    The character Laverne is still one of my favorites. Here she is with some Altern8 Lee 8 Adjustments and light post-work (color and contrast adjustment).

    G8F Laverne w Alicia V4 Afro Style w Hair Adjustments C.png
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    Post edited by 3Diva on
  • SevrinSevrin Posts: 6,309

    Here is a render I did of Oshun.  This is a beautiful HD model and she renders pretty nicely without too much trouble.

  • NylonGirlNylonGirl Posts: 1,854

    Black Girl in Grey Shirt

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