[Skin Material] Not getting SSS effect

[mrjojo]

I cant figure out where the problem might be. Why am I not getting the SSS effect in areas like ears etc? and the skin shader looks really dull. Any advice guys?

[mrjojo]

here's the rendered picture:

[Njen]

I see a few things things:

• The map for the 'SSS amount' looks quite dark. The darker the map, the less the SSS effect.
• The lighting isn't bright enough to show of the SSS effect.
• Unless you are 100% sure of your scene scale, the main 'Radius scale' should be '1'. Is your head half the size of a real world head? That's the main reason to change that value to '2'.
• Technically not SSS related, the 'Layer 2' specular 'Level' is '0', producing no secondary specular lobe. But if it wasn't zero, it looks like the same map is being applied to both 'Refl colours', and the same map to both 'Refl gloss's'. The reason for having two specular lobes is to produce a complex specular response by having different data input. Generally, The first specular lobe is the 'main' lobe, and the second is a less intense, less glossy lobe.

Attached is an example of the skin set up I am using.

[mrjojo]

Thanks a lot.
One more thing, I've applied a CoronaDisplacement and added a texture into it. However Im getting blurry displacement and it's not as detailed as it should be. Is there any way to bring out the details more clearly?

[Njen]

SSS will soften micro details, either from displacement or normal/bump, as more light is now bouncing around the surface. It is a fine blaance to try and achieve. First of all, render the surface without SSS, and check to see if you are getting the desired effect (also look at the normals shading AOV to confirm the surface details). If you are, then you might consider very slight decreasing the 'SSS Amount' to get some of those surface details back.

You can also adjust the blur value of the map itself, I typically use values between 0.1 to 0.5 to sharpen up the details a little.

[maru]

-The SSS is there, you can see it on the ear for example
-For a more "cartoony" look, you can increase radius scale of that material
-To get better quality displacement, go to Render Setup > Performance and lower the screen size (px) value under displacement from the default 2 to 1px, but probably not lower (it increases the quality but needs more RAM)

[mrjojo]

Thank you guys.