Human head study

[ZippZopp]

I did a demo up at Anomaly in vancouver and built this as a sort of preparation for it. It was a study in modeling, texturing lighting and shading. trying to push some of my rendering and lighting skills.

i read a bunch on linear workflow, gamma correction, lens shaders etc. i don't have a full handle on it all yet, but used some of what I read to generate this image

thanks for looking

http://zopfx.com/wips/head_linear_render_01.jpg

[Wayne]

Great work mate.... something about the eye shader bothers me although I can't put my finger on what (long night with the baby lol).

Wayne...

[Darkghosty]

Hey nice render, everything looks pretty good here, but like Wayne said I think something is going on with the eyes. It might be the Reflection Glossiness, but it's hard to put my finger on also.

Is that Vray you are working with?

[steelsky]

Im not sure why but its as tho the eyes are a little big some how... like the whites of the eyes seem a little flat where i expect them to curve more?.. but that might just be me... lol agh hard to explain.

[Long]

Rendering of the very real.
So beautifull!

[Wayne]

How are you finding adjusting to the lineare rendering workflow peter? I found when I started using it about 2 years back that once you start you never go back to the old way. Although I rarely use a gamma of 2.2, as I find 1.8 gives better results. (Got that tip for zap anderson.)

Wayne...

[ZippZopp]

i really like the linear workflow. I'm still trying to figure certain things out. it is my understanding that by using textures you can easily de-gamma them, however, color swatches in maya aren't so I'm working on figuring out how I want to approach the whole thing

[Wayne]

Yeah you can de-gamma them with the utility gamma node, now in max it allows you to gama correct swatches of colour as well .



Wayne...

[ZippZopp]

so how do you hook that up in maya? are you using max or maya more?

from what I know you'd have to feed the gamma correct node something, like a texture, and then plug that into your shader. how do you go about correcting just a color in the shader? are you just plugging a gamma correct node into the shader and using the color selection in the gamma correct node to select your desired color?

[Wayne]

I'm using max more at the moment, but you conect the utility gamma node where you texture would go, and then the texture into that. It allows you to reverse gamma the textures etc...

Wayne...

[ZippZopp]

in maya, i actually set my framebuffer to .455 which gamma corrects all file textures properly. saves me from having to put a gamma correct node on each file texture. the problem is that setting this to .455 only corrects textures, it doesn't correct any colors you pick within the shader itself. so i guess the only work around, which is a pain, is to use a gamma correct node plugged into any color slot, set the gamma .455 in the gamma correct node and select the desired color.

the problem with this though is that it must be done with every color in a shader..... a real pain!

[Wayne]

in maya, i actually set my framebuffer to .455 which gamma corrects all file textures properly. saves me from having to put a gamma correct node on each file texture. the problem is that setting this to .455 only corrects textures, it doesn't correct any colors you pick within the shader itself. so i guess the only work around, which is a pain, is to use a gamma correct node plugged into any color slot, set the gamma .455 in the gamma correct node and select the desired color.

the problem with this though is that it must be done with every color in a shader..... a real pain!

Oh yeah for large scenes it's a right royal pain in the arse. I wish there was a maxscript for max and mel for maya to automate that. :)

Wayne...

[xtrm3d]

i like what i see ..
looking forward to see some hairs :-)

[ZippZopp]

hairs! hahahaha. no chance for anything major. i did do some maya fur for the eyebrows this weekend but that is about as far as i'll go. hair is too much of a pain.

http://zopfx.com/gallery/Head_Linear.jpg

[musashidan]

Nice job.The lighting setup especially.Any chance you could show us what maps you plugged into the SSS shader? In particular,the spec and reflection maps.

[ZippZopp]

i made one spec map that got plugged into the overall weight of the spec component. it is a fairly simple map which is brighter white along the nose area, cheeks and forehead to capture a little more spec there. i then just went ahead and played with the values for primary and secondary weight and shinyness. no maps were used in those slots.

reflection was a separate render done with the mental ray MIA shader. i plugged my same spec map into the reflection color slot and then played with the gloss value. i made it a blurry reflection by dropping the gloss value to about .3

[Hulahuga]

So believable man. I really like the skin :).
The "hair" is a bit weird.

[Darkghosty]

ugh been swamped with an animation at work, it's been forever since I've visited the site it seems like. Once you go linear you'll never go back ;) -Digging the new brow I think it helped

[Tony2008]

Great work mate.... something about the eye shader bothers me although I can't put my finger on what (long night with the baby lol).

Wayne...

Yeah the eye shader bothers me too only slightly and since this is a "realistic" face then I believe you should make it look more "wet" and have the highlights "pop out" more than the soft effect they have on them. If this is your intention then I wouldn't mess with it. I am certainly no master at stuff like this.

Peace,

Tony
:)