4.0 Subsurface Scattering, a FOLLOWUP

NOTE: In this and the previous video on SSS in Blender 4.0, I say that SSS is now related to the scale of your scene. I need to clarify this statement. It's related to the UNITS of your scene, SSS is not changing according to the scene scale, it's related to the scattering value you put in for the SSS, it's just more RELATABLE to the scale of your scene since the value is now tied into the UNITS you specify for the scene. Hence, it's more tied into the scale of your scene from a usability standpoint. This seems to be causing some confusion and I wanted to clarify it.

This is an update to previous video, "Subsurface Scattering & Sheen in 4.0 are awesome!". In it I try and answer a couple questions about SSS in 4.0 from my previous video on the subject. These related to the SSS Radius parameters and an RGB node. I also show some new material related user interface updates in 4.0.

#blendertutorial #subsurfacescattering #blender4

[mishainutr]

exelent...all my old models are now fracked up and i need to manually reset all the skin materials...exelent features...

[OezcanD]

A Thing that bothers me a bit is that the Subsurface Radius could just have been replaced with a Color Input directly, instead of when a RGB node is connected that is then showing the RGB panel to edit.

But Thank you for the Informative Videos on the Updates!
Really enjoy watching your Videos!

[eznosnopes]

Now that Base Color is also the subsurface color in the Principal Shader, you can make them different colors by using a Subsurface Scattering Shader, then mixing them with either a Mix Shader node or an Add Shader node.

I like the Mix Shader node because you can control the mixing using the Factor slider.

[mrdixioner]

Thank you very much for such a quick response! It seems to me that the developers have not yet implemented color selection in the radius parameter, because currently this is only available (as you showed) in the node editor. Well, this is only an alpha version, and there will be a lot of changes. Thanks again!

[Paul_nutfroms]

Thank you for trying to explain this to us but sorry to say they changed it again the subsurface value was replaced with a weight value not sure if it works the same. The result of Two methods to get red was green & the 3rd added red using mix node was black & white I hope the new system is better but currently not seeing it.

[maxximoramirez]

if you use a subsurface value texture (a non color texture, mostly from Substance Painter) it becomes the mix factor of both RBG values on the math node, and also becomes the Scale value of subsurface, testing it on both as Scale and Subsurface value gives the same result as long as the other one stays on 1.0, visually speaking the new subsurface with "default" 3.6 values on 4.0 gives a similar value but more darker contours on the mesh (some of the "see across fingers" effect is lost around the models)

[pv]

4.0 blender will really be a game changer!

As awesome as all the new SSS and tabs features are: My favourite new feature that was mentioned in this video is the new way to use search when adding nodes!!!
No longer I have to first press SHIFT+A and then click on Search every time I want to add a node by name. Now I can just type in the name of the node to be added, like in Houdini or Nuke.

[VFXCentral]

Awesome another great video! super excited!

[je]

This is fan-freaking-tastic, I absolutely cannot wait for 4.0 everything that's getting added is so exciting I just want it to be here already. Thanks for another good vid ^^

[arturobandini]

You have a very cool and useful channel, please continue)

[nicholaspostlethwaite]

The really odd thing is how there are the 3 number entry boxes in that Radius part of the SubSurface. Just there with no label, nothing to say what they alter. Yes you have explained what they do in the previous video. But without your explanation no one can see or work it out. Why on earth is each one not labelled as the colour? Just R, G, B would be enough of a hint!

[juryrigging]

Could you do a bit of a dive into something Brecht said on devtalk?

"There are multiple valid ways to use the subsurface radius and scale.
One is that you can use the float to set the scale at which you are working, and then treat the RGB values as a color, that you can texture if needed. Another is that you can set the RGB values to absolute distances, and then have a texture map for the float to vary the distance.
We could easily change the absolute unit to be on the RGB values instead of the float. It’s unclear to me which is more common or useful in practice."

Wonder how these methods compare. My gut is telling me the second option, though less initially obvious, could prove useful to keep around. I did plug a magic texture into scale with some whacked up rgb values, which was fun, but I'm not really that great with SSS to properly test the strengths and weaknesses of each.

[rammonhead]

Thanks for taking the time to make this video Christopher!
I got a question though; I built a scene pretty close to the one you're using(blue glossy sphere) and when I use RGB color to control the subsurface radius I can't seem to be able to turn my SSS red, it looks like it completely turns the SSS off, green and bluesh tones work just fine.

Any idea on what this might be?

[existentialselkath]

Is there a place to download this material test scene anywhere? It's hardly anything complex, but I think it might be the nicest version of the concept I've seen. The lighting is really nice while still being neutral.

[itellyouforfree]

Excellent, the grouping of the parameters looks much better!

[MagicSwordFilms]

I'm noticing that anything colored black is completely unaffected by subsurf, anyone know a fix for that?

[AbyssalSoda]

Yeah for me this has no effect, tried it on a blank cube that my resin material is on, resin needs SSS - doesn't come close in fact it appears to have no effect

[cyber_robot]

After so many years? Am I dreaming? Somebody pinch me.

[hotsauce]

Hello, I'm new to Blender. Does Blender 4.0 have Tri-planar mapping? Thank you for this tutorial.