Subsurface Scattering

Despot · December 08, 2012, 01:20:10 PM

In my many trawls across cyberspace for interesting reading matter, I came across a website dedicated to Subsurface Scattering which then led me to
another very interesting website by someone called Henrik Wann Jansen, who seems to be a very clever science geek / propeller head type person.

Anyway, it prompted me to do some testing with subsurface scattering materials in KeyShot...

Ive used the now umbiquitous 'Ajax' model by Jotero...

Thanks for looking,

Cheers

J

Speedster · December 08, 2012, 04:15:50 PM

Wow! Your first image is fantastic! Could you share your settings with us? I think this material showcases SS better than the jade, which has just a little too "plastic" a look to my eye. But I wonder if jade is simply too glossy? Jade is usually not quite that shiny, which may be hiding the SS qualities. Keep em coming!
Bill G

Despot · December 09, 2012, 02:25:07 AM

Yeah thanks Bill, you are right of course, the Jade-like material is far to glossy, I'm re-rendering as I type this

I will post the settings for the first material, or better still just export and post the material file itself

More to come...

Cheers

J

KeyShot · December 09, 2012, 09:03:59 PM

Very nice. We have some further enhancements coming to the subsurface scattering material in KS4.

-- Henrik

Despot · December 10, 2012, 06:36:06 AM

Well now I feel very stupid...

I'm sorry Henrik, I had no idea who you were, and to think I referred to you as a science geek and propeller head. Whats more, I even spelled your name incorrectly...

Out of nearly 100 users who read this thread, why didn't somebody tell me ?

Anyway, thanks for the kind words Henrik, I'm also excited about the improvements you mentioned for KS4, I hope they include controls for Scattering and Absorption

J

DriesV · December 10, 2012, 06:49:25 AM

Yes, the KeyShot translucent material is very addictive!

Fantastic images by the way. I love the subtletly of the diffuse map in the last image.

Dries

KeyShot · December 10, 2012, 02:04:50 PM

No worries J. The absorption and scattering coefficients are directly controlled through the color and the translucency parameters. The later two parameters are easier to manipulate and understand. I wrote a paper at SIGGRAPH 2002 called "A Rapid Hierarchical Rendering Technique for Translucent Materials" that describes this mapping if you want more details.

-- Henrik

Despot · December 10, 2012, 02:38:22 PM

Thanks Henrik, but I'll not lie to you, reading your paper hasn't helped me get more from KS SSS, for me it's just pure experimentation...

The cool thing is the instant visual feedback, i.e. I can see immediately whether I like what I see or not - amazing

Maxwell Render doesn't allow that, I've got to wait at least 5 mins before I can see what's going on...

Cheers

John