Mac Unimesh Realism Kit - Copyright 2005 by Paul Kinnane - created May 2005 All of the product's content was created by face_off (Paul Kinnane) and geoffix (Geoffrey Hicks). Author : Paul Kinnane email : pkinnane@internode.on.net IMPORTANT: This product has been developed to work on Service Release 1 of Poser 6 for the MacIntosh. It will however run on versions prior to Service Release 1 - please see "Reloading Scenes" below for details. Web Links --------- FAQ & Latest News - www.users.on.net/~pkinnane/P6RealismKitNews.html Tutorial - Realistic skin texturing in Poser 5 - www.users.on.net/~pkinnane/RealSkinShaderTutorial.html Shader Comparison - www.users.on.net/~pkinnane/ShaderComparison.html Introduction ------------ The Mac Unimesh Realism Kit is an easy-to-use system which adds realism to the skin of your DAZ Millenium 3 Unimesh figure renders. It does this by adding fake sub-surface scattering, freckles, highlights and depth to the characters skin. Additionally, the script enables you to change the tone, lightness and shininess of skin. The system is based on the concepts in the Realistic Skin Rendering tutorial (see Web Links above), which were first used in the RealSkinShader script, and further developed in the HyperREAL scripts for Victoria3 and Michael3. The realism kit is applied to your characters skin via a python script, which runs either from the python window, or the User Defined button in the Poser 6 Material Room. The script is amazingly easy to use. The Mac Unimesh Realism Kit works on Poser version 6 only. This script has been developed specifically for the MacIntosh version of Poser 6, and it will NOT run on the PC version. To give highly realistic results, the script needs to know the location of the main source of light in your scene (in order to calculate the fake subsurface scattering effect). When you run the script in a Poser 6 scene for the first time, it will ask you which is the main scene light. If the location of this light changes after you have run the script, simply rerun the script and the subsurface scattering calculations will be redone. Rerunning the script is very simple and quick, since it remembers the individual settings you have used on each character in your scene (and this is also saved when you save your scene). The Mac Unimesh Realism Kit will work on the follow DAZ Millenium 3 unimesh figures: - Victoria 3 - Michael 3 - Stephanie 3 Petite - David - Laura and Luke - Maddie and Matt - The GIRL V3UV - Freak 3 - Aiko - Hiro When you run the system on a male figure that has a conforming Micheal 3 or David genital attached, the script will automatically apply the skin node settings to that genital figure. Existing HyperREAL owners : Please note! ---------------------------------------- This product provides workflow changes to the HyperREAL script specifically for Poser 6, and includes the option to add the FastScatter node. It does not include the HyperREAL V3 or M3 texture maps. The rendering quality using this product is virtually the same as that obtained with the HyperREAL products (when using the same texture maps). Features -------- The Mac Unimesh Realism Kit script provides the following controls when you run it: Fake Subsurface-Scattering (sss): This is at the heart of the system, and provides the warmth to your characters to give them life. Based on the Incidence Effect of the original RealSkinShader, the sss effect has been tailored to so that it is mapped onto your figure's body. So parts of the character get more sss, and other parts less - still controlled by the position of your main light. The result is amazing. As with all features in script, the sss effect can be increased or decreased by the user through a button. Skin-tone, Brightness and Freckles Adjustment: You can customise the texture maps being used on your figure every time the script is run - with the Skin-Tone, Brightness and Freckles (Additional Spots) buttons. With the Skin-Tone button, you can make the character's skin paler (if you want redder skin, increase the sss value). The brightness button allows you to lighten or darken the skin. And the Additional Spots button adds a subtle level of noise and freckles to the texturemap - and as with the sss button - it does this according to a map - meaning that freckles will not be added to certain parts of the body (like the lips and ears). Fresnel Effect: The fresnel effect adds a very fine layer of noise to the parts of the skin that face 45 degrees to the camera. This adds realism to your render by adding depth to the skin, although the eye doesn't actually notice the effect. See the FAQ & Latest News website for recommended values. Skin Highlighting: The script provides two levels of highlights - to bringing out the natural oiliness of skin that is facing the camera, together with the over-exposure of back-lights. To truly bring out the best specular effect, a specular map is included to control which parts of your character reflects a lot of light, and which parts are dull. The script also has a button to allow you to adjust the overall strength of skin shininess, and another button to control the oiliness of skin. Skin Roughness: There are controls to add bump mapping and displacement mapping. For displacement mapping, a "granite" 'roughness' node is added to the skin - and the amount (depth) of the roughness is controlled by a map. So there will be very little displacement on your character's face, but more on their stomach, legs and hips. Amend or Replace the Shader Network: With Poser 6 comes to ability to change material room nodes without having to reapply the entire Unimesh Realism Kit network. So the script provides you the option to either update or replace the network. If you select the update mode, any manual change you have made to the shader network in the Material Room will be retained (as long as the network is still recognised by the script as being valid). If you select the replace option, the whole network is replaced. FastScatter Node: The script provides the option to add the P6 FastScatter node into the network. Note that all back lights must have shadows switched on for this effect to work correctly. Depending on the lighting in your scene, the FastScatter node may add red to the tone of your characters skin, in which case there may be benefits in reducing the fake sss value. The FastScatter node can only be added when you are in the "Replace" mode. Lip Gloss: When applying the shader to female figures (V3, SP, The GIRL, Laura, Maddie, Aiko), you will be given an option to add Lip Gloss. Changing this option is only available in the "Replace" mode. See the FAQ & Latest News for how to modify the gloss applied. Fine-Tuning: The script includes default values at the start of the file which can be modified by advanced users of the system. This gives you total control over all the parameters that the script uses to build the node network, such as sss color, spots color, specular eccentricity, lip gloss sharpness, etc. Installation instructions ------------------------- Copy the contents of the Runtime folder in this stuffit archive into the Runtime folder of your Poser 6 installation. Usage ----- IMPORTANT : Please read the FAQ & LATEST NEWS at the link provided at the top of this readme prior to first using this package. To run the script, simply select your figure, go into the material room, and under the User Defined button, select the MacUnimeshRealismKit option. Alternatively, you can run the MacUnimeshRealismKit.py python script in the Python:poserScripts:Wacros:UserDefined directory from the [File][Run Python Script] window. A third option exists - where you can run the script from your Python Window - See the FAQ & Latest News for details. For maximum realism renders, it is recommended that you use the following Render Settings: - Cast Shadows ON (if you have added the FastScatter node). - Min Shading rate (0.5 for full body shots, or 0.2 for close-up portraits) - Max texture size - 4096 - Use Displacement maps - ON (if you selected Granite Displacement Mapping in the shader) - Min Displacement Bounds - if you find there is small rendering artifcats on the skin, increase the Min Displacement Bounds to the amount set for the Granite Displacement Mapping - Smooth Polygons - ON - Texture Filtering - OFF Re-loading Scenes : If you use this product on Poser 6 prior to Service Release 1, when you reload a scene, you should rerun the srcipt for each figure in the scene that had the Unimesh Realism Kit script run in it. This will be straightforwrd, since the script defaults will have been remembered. Service Release 1 rectifies this problem. Mac Unimesh Realism Kit file list --------------------------------- \Runtime\WebLinks\Other Web Links\ P6 Realism Kit.pzs \Runtime\textures\Unimesh Realism Kit\ BodyAlpha.jpg BodySpots.jpg GenitalsAlpha.jpg GenitalsSpots.jpg HeadAlpha.jpg HeadLipMask.jpg HeadSpots.jpg \Runtime\Python\poserScripts\Wacros\UserDefined\ MacUnimeshRealismKit.py Needed files list ----------------- nil