ZBrush Character Creation - Advanced Digital Sculpting 2nd Edition

284 chapter 8 ■ ZBrush Movies and Photoshop Composites

3. Switch back to basicMaterialColor.psd and paste the image from occ.psd into the
   document as a new layer. Name this layer occ and set the blending mode to Multiply.
   Lower the opacity to 44%. Apply a slight blur to this shadow layer by selecting Filter →^
   Blur → Gaussian Blur. From the pop-up menu set Radius to 0.7. This layer will accentu-
   ate the shadows (Figure 8.34). The occ layer should remain on top of the stack so it can
   continue to influence the shadow strength. Save your work as composite_01.psd.


4. Open flatcolor.psd. Select the entire image, then copy and paste it into the
   composite_01.psd file. It will come in as a new layer (Figure 8.35). Name the layer flat
   color and set the layer blending mode for the flat color layer to Overlay and lower the
   Opacity setting to 60%.


5. The flat color layer has punched up the saturation and depth of the skin, but now
   we need something to mute this color a bit to make it feel more like translucent skin.
   Select the background layer (the original basicMaterialColor.psd file). Press Ctrl+J to
   copy the background as a new layer. Click and drag this layer to the top of the stack
   but keep it below the occ layer. Dial the Opacity setting down to 57%. The document
   now looks like Figure 8.36.

Figure 8.33 The basicMaterial​
Color.psd file loaded into Photoshop

Figure 8.34 The occ layer is added

and set to Multiply blending mode to

accentuate the shadows.

Figure 8.35 Set the flat color layer to

Overlay blending mode.

Punching Up the Details

At this stage, the fine details are getting a little lost. A nice way to punch up the detail and

add a sense of moisture and life to the skin is to give it a slight specular shine. To accentuate

the skin details, we’ll use the specular pass and cavity pass we rendered earlier. These two

images will help to bring out the fine sculpted detail by adding shadows to the fine wrinkles

as well as a highlight to the edges of the pores and wrinkles. The specular layer will also add

a nice general shine to the skin, helping it to look more realistic and alive.

1. Load the spec.psd file and copy it into the main image. Name the layer spec and place
   it below the top occ layer as seen in Figure 8.37. Set the blending mode to Screen so
   that only the white areas affect the layers beneath. You may want to dial back the
   layer’s opacity depending on how strong you want the specular shine to appear.