RCC Anna Bundle for Genesis 8 & 8.1 Female(s)

[Poe]

This is the next RCC character I've been working on. I got side tracked doing some other projects and finally found some time to put in on Anna. She's looking up to par with Marge right now but still needs some work. I'm testing new skin MATs so it's possible this one will change slightly by the end but I'll have to see it to make a decision.

This skin MAT has new specular weight, lobe 1 and lobe 2 texture files that Marge's skin MAT didn't have. I've got an update for Marge sitting in BETA ATM and it should be ready to release in a week or so. There's some changes as to the default settings and one is for the Uber "scatter and transmit" set on by default. I found that Uber excels with more SSS options and PBR looks great up close with micro details so it's a bit of a trade off. In testing, I've found that the Uber skin mat renders up to 5 times faster than the PBR; it's a nice option to have for complicated scenes.

If you haven't realized it yet, I render these comparisons with the same lighting, cameras and poses so you can pop between even with Marge's or Victoria 9 for 8's comparison promos to see the difference in the morphs and skin MATs.

Marge Body Mug Shot, Marge ALT Body Mug Shot, Vict9for8 Body Mug Shot

Marge Trans Comp, Marge ALT Trans Comp, Vict9for8 Head Trans Comp

This one's still a ways out but it's getting close. : )

[Poe]

Not sure that this one will make the promos but I thought I would share it.

[Poe]

[Architector]

Hi! These type of shape and forms not my type and this type of skin textures. Not just yours but any of this type of skin, because not realistic and turning out visually like a soft make up powder. The sweat and blush on your running character looks good and make more realism on that scene. The beach scene looking good especially the water. 🙂

[Poe]

@architector
Hey there! : )

Thanks for the feedback, it's helpful to hear what people are thinking.

All of these renders were made with the default PBR skin MATs, in hindsight I probably should have used the Uber skin MATs. The SSS settings are dialed in and scatter & transmit with chromatic is turned on for the Uber. PBR appears to be better for close ups and maybe headshots but the Uber really seems better for everything else. I'm still in the process of finishing up this asset but thought I would share some of the test renders for it. I've recently adjusted the diffuse skin texture, it's more olive colored and a touch darker but it'll most likely continue to look bland to you as there are not many skin features baked into it. I can't be sure but I think the PBR details lower the morph detail at distance and the lack of SSS options really kill the realism of the skin MATs, the Uber might be the way to go with some of these shots. I'm struggling to get a good depiction of the quality of this and it just seems like something I can't accurately display. I'm thinking people won't see the quality of the asset until they're playing with it inside daz.

For the jogging scene, I used two other assets: Ultimate Skin Blush and Ultimate Skin Moisture to achieve those results. I used DOF to blur out the background, without that it looks much more unrealistic. If I end up doing this one for a final promo I'm going to have to rework it and likely use different assets for the scene environment.

The beach scene looks very realistic because I used lightroom to apply and dial in HDR and "film dramatic" presets to it. I wanted to try using natural lighting so I applied an HDRI sunset to the scene and didn't use any ghost/artificial lighting. I might use the beach render for one of the promos but I need to ensure that the technical promos display the character well before diving into more artistic renders.

I'm thinking that I might be able to display the skin more accurately if I can work better lighting into a scene. I'll have to mess with that once I get this into BETA.

[Poe]

@architector
I've been thinking about the skin and how it's bland. I'm looking into using substance painter or another material editing software to add more detail, imperfections and lighting up the skin in realistic places on the face and body. I won't have the time to fix this skin before release but it's something I'm interested in learning. Thanks for the feedback, you're right.

[Architector]

More important how you feel about your works in DAZ. If you think this is a huge challenge for your skills and you saw your renders with joy so I'm think it's more important than what other people thinks. I was testing many skins and I'm think so the DAZ Orignial characters skins very good, but not perfect. The thighs some reason so reddish in the renders. Sangriart G9 skin maps very good, but candydoll sweet textures. I love those skin maps because works well to my character. This is just a few though from my suggestion.

[eelgoo]

There is a difficult balance to be struck, as too many variations can look even more unrealistic.
It is potentially always made trickier by the lighting used.

[Poe]

@architector
Those are all good points, I agree. I do like the skin in comparison to what I've created in the past as it is an improvement. Your comment on the skin MATs got me thinking about some things and I have to agree that it does produce a "powdered makeup effect". I've been struggling to create "good" makeup since I started making characters and I think that is in part due to the look of these skin MATs as "artificially healthy skin". I've found some tutorials recently that address realistic skin development and there is some mention of the actual use of makeup that was insightful in the way that real world makeup is intended to hide imperfections.

Thanks for posting your thoughts on this, it sent me down a rabbit hole and I learned quite a few new things in the process.

@eelgoo
I'm seeing a better process to develop custom skin MATs and if I do make them in that way, it should be much easier to dial in the specific options for both PBR and Uber. For now, I'm leaving it as-is otherwise, it'll be months before I can release it. I've tinkered around with Anna quite a bit and it's something I would use in it's current state and in my own opinion it's one of the better characters I have access to. BETA should be ready soon, just need to dial in and render icons for the makeup.

[Poe]

Asset is in BETA now, it needs promos so I'm cranking some out. I like this one, I'll work it some and make something of it I think. I can't seem to figure out why the quality of this image is low, looks good on my windows.

[Poe]

I like this dress, thought it looked really interesting.

These RCC characters are compartmentalized in a way that you can dial down/up portions of the body: breast, glue & thigh, lips and a unique one for Anna is her stomach. This particular set of renders is using Anna's Head morph with the alternate body with the lips dialed up ~33%. Her breast morph is set to 0% and the basic breast dials that come with G8F are used to work well with generally all clothing so you don't get those odd digital lines around that area of the clothing.

[eelgoo]

I don't know why recently a lot vendors promos have gone back to the unrealistic cling film clothing look. (Well, I do, it is laziness :0/ ). There have been after market breast bridging morphs & Fit Control gets patchy results dependant on the breasts morphs being used in the character.
I usually end up needing some postwork in that area.

These days, I would have thought it would be easy enough to have a bridging morph that would mirror the silhouette of the clothed breasts, to give a realistic appearance for the cleavage area.

[Poe]

@eelgoo
I noticed that, I'm not digging a lot of the newer clothing. They sort of look like paper cutouts draped over the character. I haven't attempted to make clothing yet but it's something I'm mulling around.

I was thinking that there must be a way to get clothing to load correctly with these custom breast morphs but I think it has more to do with the clothing as some mention that they're adapted or have morph dials for specific characters and/or body types.

[Architector]

I see. You push up her bre... I mean the skin quality and realism. 😀 Impressive. The skin realism I mean. 😀

[Poe]

@architector
All in the lighting! : D

[Author]

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