Hi Devs, even though I like the direction of the SkinGen Premium but overall I'm not happy with my purchase.. it could be way better than it is using displacement.
I know from experience in order to create the bumpy look with normal maps that you need to have a hi & low poly version of the model in order to create the normal maps but this is also the same method to create the corresponding displacement maps -Since you have the project files to create the normal maps, the displacement could/should be made available. Maybe you have to first program the ovrride for the displacement channel?
I consider displacement maps equally essential and I thought they would of been provided with the purchase. The characters I create are often larger and non human and would benefit from displacement especially with masking options they could blend into each other. The displacement channel by default would simply need an override to display combined displacement maps in the channel when the SkinGen is loaded.
Things like scars, neck and hand tendons, viens, wrinkles, pores etc could be far more realistic using displacement maps and are urgently needed.
If you can do this AND PLEASE DO, this would be a game changer for your SkinGen Premium. I really don't understand why it wasn't added.. maybe you ran out of dev time for the release? I hope you add/update it soon, thank you for what you've done so far.
Lastly If people choose to add displacement, perhaps it's set automatically enable smooth mesh by subdivision if it needs extra geometry in order to keep the UV groups from separating.
An additional tip for rendering displacement with Multi UVs, you may have to toggle "2-sided" on the material to get rid of artifacts of white cracks.. your UVs maybe tight but at a distance artifacts may show unless you toggle.
Ascensi
This is a video clip within CC3 also proving that displacement is possible and seam issue can easily be corrected a different way. This time I did not use smooth mesh by subdivision, instead I adjusted the multiplier for each body part so the seams would fit tight. I'd normally I'd update CC3 with the low res changes from the displacement painting and this quick project was done in Zbrush but my Goz hasn't been working from the latest 3.4 update.
Ascensi
Once you know it can be done without UV tearing by using smooth mesh by subdivision L1 and tessellation L2 (highest) please also consider adding a full body/tiled displacement option and positional masks that can tell CC3 where not to have a mask for finer control. For example my Bear with is covered in displacement for the fur but some areas such as fingernails, nostrils and eyelids had to be masked out. Interestingly you could probably set up tiling with procedural overlay masking that limits the spread & contrast etc that way no additional textures would need to be added and it just bakes into/updates the overall displacement texture.
Ascensi
@Reallusion this can certainly can certainly be done if you use smooth mesh by subdivision level 1.. I have assets that use displacement using more than one UV and even if there is one UV, the edges will snap tightly together. Some of my displacement models are on the Ascensi store right now your team can verify.
Doing this will add the necessary resolution. Setting tessellation to anymore than level 2 would be problematic but that could of been an incompatibility between Iray and smooth mesh by subdivision since it is not yet compatible in Iray but also RTX cards were not compatible with Iray until this most recent update. So I really hope you test this and see it work because it would be a BIG breakthrough for creatures, robots and humans. If people were careful and maybe a side note should be made in SkinGen Prem that if they don't use smooth mesh by subdivision that they would have to place the displacement mask away from UVs. Here is a full CC3 character with displacement using the exact same method I described and Rampa can verify this, he had worked with my Bear for a material work around converting the CC3 material to CC3 plus. Example of CC3 character using displacement all over the body and I used the methods I described above to do it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzNH0rSI_S8
Ascensi
I almost forgot, on top of GPU Rendering .. SkinGen can't get the realism for VR.. you can't trick the viewer with normal maps, this is an essential consideration.
