post_filter_scattering

This material is crucial when rendering human skin. Without it, character face look hard, like dried rubber. Even the highly detailed diffuse, specular, and normal maps used for a character will not make skin look real without subsurface scattering. post_filter_scattering gives the skin realistic reddish color and soft appearance. It simulates the physical process when the incoming light is not only reflected off the skin, but also goes beneath the skin surface, scatters in tissue layers and after that non-absorbed light exits the skin.


With subsurface scattering		Without subsurface scattering

If you are going to use subsurface scattering postprocess, you can increase the detail in the character's diffuse texture and the strength of normals, because they will be blurred and softened.

Notice

Results of post_filter_scattering subsurface scattering directly depend on the Far clipping distance set for the camera. If you change it, the sampled screen radius values will also change and may need to be readjusted.

Parameters

GUI name

XML name

Description

Screen radius

screen_radius

Distance in the screen space, within which colors will be sampled. It controls how much wrinkles, pores and cavities will be blurred and highlighted.

The higher the value, the farther subsurface scattering reaches.
Too high values result in ghosting effect.
By the minimum value of 0, no subsurface scattering is rendered.


Screen radius = 0.02	Screen radius = 0.07

Sample radius

sample_radius

Sample radius allows to control how sampling along the edges is performed:

If the value is low, edges will be sharp and clear.
If the value is high, subsurface scattering will affect areas of different depth values. The edge will be blurred.
By the minimum value of 0, no subsurface scattering is rendered.


Sample radius = 0.02	Sample radius = 0.07

Distance power

distance_power

Power that controls how fast the subsurface scattering effect fades out with the distance. This parameter allows to optimize postprocessing load.

By the minimum value of 1, the rendered subsurface scattering will not depend on the distance to the camera.
The higher the value, the faster subsurface scattering fades out when the camera moves away from the surface.

Direct color

direct_color

Color used to simulate the direct component of skin lighting, i.e. it is diffuse light that bounces off the skin.

For skin, direct color is cyan-ish or bluish to be an opposite of the scattering color. When they mix, they would make a neutral color.

Scattering color

scattering_color

Color used to simulate the subsurface component of skin lighting, i.e. the light that bounces inside of the subsurface tissue layers (epidermis and dermis) before exiting.

For skin, subsurface color is reddish, due to blood circulating in skin tissues.

States

GUI name	XML name	Description
Mask	mask	Color mask for the materials' auxiliary color. See how to use it as a mask to apply a postprocess only to the selected materials.

Last update: 2017-07-03

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post_filter_scattering

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Parameters

States