Subsurface Scattering

Implemented a new shader effect, subsurface scattering, that is very important for rendering "plausible" skin. Here is the final result: (ignore the seam at neck + eyes/eyebrows)

Without this effect, here is what the skin looks like:

But this picture isnt exactly representative because even in previous posts, I implemented the easier half of the effect, so it looks more like this:

But even so, the skin is still a bit too harsh so a post processing effect is required to soften it up even further, which brings us to picture #1:

Hair Shader v3 and SSAO

That wasnt even it's final form! Decided to implement a more physically based hair shading model instead of only mocking with anisotropic lighting. Here is the result:

Whats really nice about this shader is that it has 2 rather intuitive material parameters that you can use to further control the hair highlights. I really wish I have the slider UI implemented so I can show a gif, but alas, I don't atm. So here are some pictures instead.

The first parameter is Smoothness (or Roughness known in other engines/modelers) that controls the oversize size of the highlight:

Really large and unfocused highlight:

Smalled and more focused highlight:

The second parameter is "Metalness," which controls the ratio of specular highlight versus diffuse:

More metallic:

Very Metallic:

The second feature added is SSAO! You might not noticed it, but it's there for all the pictures above. Here is the first picture without SSAO:

Here is the "after" for comparison:

This uses a new and improved implementation compared to what HR and HRT had. One of the more noticeable effects is mitigation against the "halo" effect:

Before:

After mitigation:

*These 2 pictures are taken with a stronger SSAO effect to highlight the halo. The outlines are from a separate effect, not from SSAO.

Hair shader improvements

Worked on the hair shader some more, here is what it looks like now:

Happy New Year

Hope everyone had a good holiday. I begin working on in-game rendering. Here is a before/after for the hair.

WARNING: spooky floating head ahead.

This is the final product with hair shader:

 This is with the default shader:

Here is with the default shader + normal map:

And once again, with the hair shader:

Blender Renders

Simple renders done in blender to get a feel how the head looks like when viewed with lighting.

Merry Christmas!

Here is another poll if you got some time during the holidays.

Out of the following 3 head models, which one do you like the most?

Vote Here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/32601657

A:

B:

C:

A, B, or C?

Vote HERE.

I am working on a new female base model + rig. Out of curiosity, which of the 3 following faces (body + hair are the same) do you like the most?

A:

B:

C: