A咖來D賽

MAKING REALISTIC FLESH 
with Zbrush, 3DS Max and Mental Ray
by Sebastien SONET - www.xxeb.net - contact@xxeb.net 

This step by step tutorial show my method to make realistic skin and flesh render, using Zbrush, 3DS Max and Mental Ray. It takes part in an image which I'm currently working on.

STEP 1 - Base model 
The mesh is based on a generic head I made few months ago. 

STEP 2 - ZBrushing
After unwrapping, the mesh is imported into ZBrush. I added all the details. You can find a lot of samples and tutorials on the web about that. 

STEP 3 - Painting the maps 
a - Diffuse map 
When the detail level is ok for me, I begin the diffuse map painting, with Zapplink.

b - Bump map 
So, I do the same thing for bump mapping, using the BumpViewerMaterial and ZAppLink.

c - Improve the diffuse map 
At this step, the diffuse map need to be mixed with the bump map, to add cavity color details. 
This will improve the map quality. 

d - Subdermal map
Now, I back into Zbrush to pain a subdermal map, based on the diffuse map. With shader stting, this map will be very discrete, but it will add a great realistic effect. For example, to stay discreet, veins are not painted onto the diffuse map, but only on the subdermal map. 

e - specular map

Now, I have all materiel I need to begin the lightning and render process. 

STEP 4 - Lightning setup
The lightning setup is a basic 3 points

STEP 5 - Shader setting 
Here the setting I use for skin shader. It might be ajusted to your own needs. 

STEP 6 - FINAL RENDERING
Here the final rendering. It's just a base. You can improve it by mixing with occlusion map, color corrections,...