So I'm using the new Digital Eye shader thingee and... honestly, it seems a LOT worse than using the traditional shader.

One thing that differentiates an avatar from looking artificial versus "alive" are the catchlights in the eyes.  You have to have these -- you will not see any character in any movie, or any portrait ever taken, that doesn't have these in the eyes.  Lighting folks go out of their way to make sure there are lights that specifically show up there for this purpose.  The easy way of getting them is to use the traditional shader, and PBR has never been able to do them right but I got excited when I saw we have a new shader.

Except...  It don't work any better than PBR either.  All you have to do is look at the picture here to see which eye looks more real.  No matter what I tried, no matter where I put the spotlight, or added other lights, or changed settings for GI and IBL and I could NOT get any catchlights.

Anyone else have the secret or shall I just assume using the Traditional shader is still the best when it comes to character's eyes?

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Alienware Aurora R16, Win 11, i9-149000KF, 3.20GHz CPU, 64GB RAM, RTX 4090 (24GB), Samsung 870 Pro 8TB, Gen3 MVNe M-2 SSD, 4TBx2, 39" Alienware Widescreen Monitor
Mike "ex-genius" Kelley

Interesting find KT... I’m not home yet but will check it out once I update. In Toko’s digital human thread, his avatar does have a reflection on the eyes, but I’m not sure which eyes he used. Perhaps it’s worth an ask.

My "NEWEST" Latest  Movie Made With Amaaaazing iClone


—> High Noon”ish” in Narrow Valley<—

Check out the settings.
http://manual.reallusion.com/Character_Creator_3/ENU/3/Content/Character_Creator_3/3.2/15_Digital_Human_Shader/Eyes/Eyes.htm

My first thought was "Roughness," but that's maybe too obvious.

I did a "one-step convert" to the new shader, and I'm getting plenty of reflection on the eyes.




Then again, maybe it is the roughness...

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iClone 7... Character Creator... Substance Designer/Painter... Blender... Audacity...
Desktop (homebuilt) - Windows 10, Ryzen 9 3900x CPU, GTX 1080 GPU (8GB), 32GB RAM, Asus X570 Pro motherboard, 2TB SSD, terabytes of disk space, dual  monitors.
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I have an even better one for you...

The ORIGINAL character...


After using the "Convert Object Shader" button...  If you look very closely at the eyes, you might notice something is amiss...

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iClone 7... Character Creator... Substance Designer/Painter... Blender... Audacity...
Desktop (homebuilt) - Windows 10, Ryzen 9 3900x CPU, GTX 1080 GPU (8GB), 32GB RAM, Asus X570 Pro motherboard, 2TB SSD, terabytes of disk space, dual  monitors.
Laptop - Windows 10, MSI GS63VR STEALTH-252, 16GB RAM, GTX 1060 (6GB), 256GB SSD and 1TB HDD

Looks like a new default IBL is made specifically for that. All lights turned OFF, just IBL is active



And here I am using new lights shape feature. Just one point light close by with shape turned on and a back light
Digital shaders are amazing!

I'll look at what Rampa posted but most of you guys are just showing things in CC3 -- I'm talking about iClone.

Show me iClone images and settings that match what I showed and I'll be a believer.  If not -- I stand by my first post.

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Alienware Aurora R16, Win 11, i9-149000KF, 3.20GHz CPU, 64GB RAM, RTX 4090 (24GB), Samsung 870 Pro 8TB, Gen3 MVNe M-2 SSD, 4TBx2, 39" Alienware Widescreen Monitor
Mike "ex-genius" Kelley

Nah -- after playing with those settings and bumping specular up ALL the way it still doesn't look nearly as good as the traditional eye.

I can get it working under *some* conditions, but not the ones I'm trying and it shouldn't be that sensitive (I have some particles, some atmosphere, and GI and a spotlight.  Traditional ALWAYS works -- the new shader doesn't even show one ounce of highlight).  A shader that only works under some very specialized conditions isn't helpful to me (but YMMV).  I'll stick to the one that always works.

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Alienware Aurora R16, Win 11, i9-149000KF, 3.20GHz CPU, 64GB RAM, RTX 4090 (24GB), Samsung 870 Pro 8TB, Gen3 MVNe M-2 SSD, 4TBx2, 39" Alienware Widescreen Monitor
Mike "ex-genius" Kelley

Start a new project and bring a default character.

Yeah, but it's an EXISTING project I want to do this with, and even bringing in a character direct from CC3 it still doesn't work.

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Alienware Aurora R16, Win 11, i9-149000KF, 3.20GHz CPU, 64GB RAM, RTX 4090 (24GB), Samsung 870 Pro 8TB, Gen3 MVNe M-2 SSD, 4TBx2, 39" Alienware Widescreen Monitor
Mike "ex-genius" Kelley