UH7; Lesson 6; Sub Surface Scattering

To create a realistic skin tone/texture on human skin/more human-toned skin on animals, Sub Surface Scattering (SSS) can be applied.

Algorithm Controls.
-Scale Conversions. I'm going to be creating a few renders by only using the Sub Surface Scattering Layer and the Algorithm Controls panel. For a large, marble statue then the scale conversion would be higher. For a smaller object, such as a waxwork, the scale conversion will be less. For example, I took a snapshot of one of my renders for my rat, and you can see that it looks less solid when the scale conversion is lower.

(Below) Render after assigning my texture maps to my Misss_Fast Shader

But for skin, this effect is secondary and of marginal importance since it only shows up in thin
areas such as ears. What is of greater importance is the diffusion of light within the shallow
top layer of the skin.
While the human optical subsystem is specially tuned to view other humans, the very
important effects of subsurface scattering are, paradoxically, very difficult to actually see.
Generally, these effects - unless you know what to look for - are of the variety that you do
not “see” until they are absent, when it becomes obvious that “something is missing”. For
this reason it is also very easy to overdo the effect, and to put too strong sss effects in one’s
renderings.


The fast sss shader scatters light within a certain radius. While we could change all the various
scatter radius in the different layers to see the effects, there is an easier way to quickly assess
the effects, which is, of course, the Scale Conversion control under the Algorithm Controls I mentioned earlier.

Play around with it to your hearts content...
Let it take you somewhere special...
And then get onto Maya, you dirty person, there's work to be done.