Is their a way to change skin color?

symson

Is their a way to change skin color on the Genesis 2 or 3 females?

larsmidnatt

Yes, i think you posted similar in the product suggestiosn forum. You can adjust the base color in the surfaces tab. Granted you can't change the surface features this way, but you can adjust the overall color and tone.

Have you looked at the surfaces tab?

The best result is going to be getting custom textures that are at least in the right direction for the ethnicity you want to depict. Granted for simplier renders this may not be important. But You probably know that there are differences in skin features between different people groups.

But for starters you can change the diffuse value of the skins in the surfaces tab. Depending on your render engine (3Delight VS Iray) there are other things to keep in mind such as translucency.

larsmidnatt

notice the arm is now darker because I changed the diffuse. Often you could just add some grey, but since I am not going to render this i actually added brown to make it very obvious in the preview.

BTW in the screenshot it looks like I have all the surfaces highlighted, but I did not change all of them just the arm.  You would only want to change the skin surfaces, maybe the nails. Leave eyes and stuff alone.

symson

Thanks larmidnatt. I did try the Surfaces Tab. Nothing seemed to change. I didn't try diffuse. I'll see if that works.

I'm just learning the software right now before buying anything.

larsmidnatt

If you stick to Genesis 2 or Genesis 1 you can find some free stuff to help you. G3 is too new for free stuff in this area.

Oso3D

It should be noted that if you have a fairly light skin and try to make it a fairly dark skin, it's probably going to look weird because the palms will be too dark.

 

symson

Haha. Guess I'll have to use gloves timmin_william

 

symson

larsmidnatt said:

If you stick to Genesis 2 or Genesis 1 you can find some free stuff to help you. G3 is too new for free stuff in this area.

Yes, you're right. Siince I'm just starting, I figured I go with G3.

I'm not against buying things. I have a long wish list and plan to go Platinum.

I want to see what I can do with basics.

The diffussion worked. Thanks.

frank0314

There are many characters in the store that are different nationalities. Here is one (Many more) of the PA's that does different skin colors. http://www.daz3d.com/male-m3dia

symson

Thanks for the link Frank0314.

dllazarus

symson said:

Is their a way to change skin color on the Genesis 2 or 3 females?

I know this is an old thread, but I thought I'd weigh in.  I'm sure there are other ways to do accomplish various skin tones.  However, I have found this method to be the most effective so far.  This assumes that you are using Hollywood Boulevard workspace  Genesis 2, Victoria 6 or Michael 6.  However, it likely works with others as well.

First, if you want a fairly realistic skin color, search for and download at least three high quality images of people with the skin color you seek.  Generally, the less "glam" the better.

Next, open these images in Photoshop or some other photo editing app.  Select the eye dropper tool and for each image:

1)  Click on an area of the skin that is evenly lit and does not have make-up.  (NOTE:  Doing a, say, 5 x 5 average will generally yield better results than point selection)

2)  Write down the decimal RGB values for the selected color.

3)  Once you've done this for 3-4 photos, take the average of each RGB value by adding the 3-4 values together for each and dividing by the total number of values used.  This will be the "base" skin color.

Switch to Daz Studio and:

1)  Select your character in the Scene tab on the right.

2)  Select the Surfaces tab on the left and click the Editor tab in the upper left.

3)  Click the arrow next to your character on the left and select Skin.

The following attributes might appear in a different order depending on which character you are using.  So, you can change the order in which you do the following if you like.

4) Double click the Ambient Color.  You can play with this one a bit, but I use a very light, warm gray (ex 235 232 223) for light skinned characters. 

Funnily enough, I just started working on a dark skinned character today (12-24-21).  However, I haven't edited skin color yet.

5) Change the ambient strength to between 6% and 12%.  Whatever looks best to you.

6) Double click the Diffuse Color.  This is your "base" color.  Thus, enter the value you calculated using the method above.

7) Change the Diffuse Strength to between 85% and 95%.  Again, whatever looks best to you.

8) Double click the Specular Color and enter the "base" value again. (Don't close it yet)

9) Adjust the color so that it is slightly darker than the "base".  Copy this value.

10) Change the Specular Glossiness to about 88%.  You can go a little higher or lower.  Adjust by tenths if necessary.

11) Change the Specular Strength to between 6% and 12%.

12) Double click the Specular 2 Color and paste the copied value. (Again, don't close it.)

13) Adjust the color so that it is slightly lighter than the first Specular Color.  You can go slightly lighter than the Diffuse if you want.  (Whatever looks best)

14) I leave the Specular 2 Glossiness at the default (85%), but you can adjust it if you like.

There are other parameters under Spec 2 that you can play with, but they are not directly related to color (i.e. Index of Refraction, Shading Rate and Shading Scale).  Thus, I'm leaving them out of this tutorial.

15) Copy the first Specular Color.

16) Double click Subsurface Color and paste the copied value. (Don't close it.)

17) Adjust the color so that it is slighly darker and maybe a little warmer.

18) Change the Subsurface Strength to between 25% and 35%.

19) Change SSS Material Type to Skin A/B.  Whichever looks best to you.

20) Assuming that they have On/Off switches (sometimes they don't), make sure that Ambient, Diffuse, Specular, Specular 2 and Subsurface are all turned On.

Let me know if you have any questions.  I'll do my best to answer them.

magog_a4eb71ab

symson said:

Is their a way to change skin color on the Genesis 2 or 3 females?

If you're dealing with 3Delight, there's not much I can tell you. However, for iray, there's a lot you can do to change the skin color(within reasonable limits).

Sven Dullah

dllazarus said:

Let me know if you have any questions.  I'll do my best to answer them.

Hi, no questions, just some thoughts:

You should really specify which shader you use in your example, as the implementations of specular/reflection and SSS vary  a great deal between shaders. I assume you are talking about the AoA SSS? 

Also, if you are going for some sort of realism, using ambient as a mean of tweaking skin tone is a no-go IMHO. (The same as abusing the Iray emissive channel to lighten up surfaces.) All specular color should be kept to shades of grey, as the specular highlights should reflect the light color, not the skincolor. 

The most important thing when using 3DL is to adapt to a linear workflow, use the "gamma correction on" along with a correct gamma value (2.20), set the gamma values in the image editor for ALL controlmaps to 1, long story short;)

Edit: Found an example render where diffuse and SS are off, so all you see are reflections and highlights. You can clearly see the light temperatures in the highlights, specular colors are grey.