Macro Wet Maps

These are not your grandmother's wet maps! Back in the day, we used to create detailed specular maps with drips, drops, and tiny sparkles, then adjust the Glossiness parameter of Daz Studio's default shader to make the skin shimmer. And that worked pretty well. The thing is, real water has dimension and it does all kinds of crazy stuff with the light that shines apon it. So the old school way of doing things is not as convincing if you get real close.

Now with Macro Wet Maps, you can get as close as you want and get startlingly realistic results for drenched, sweaty, or oily skin. Born out of exhaustive R and D, Macro Wet Maps reproduces all the effects necessary to make water on skin believable, particularly for close-ups. Seriously, this is major shader alchemy here. To learn more about the critical components, take a look at the "Anatomy of a Water Drop" promotional image.

Macro Wet Maps is a map and custom shader combination for Genesis 2 Female and Genesis and the 3Delight render engine (built into Daz Studio). It loads on a geometry shell, so all presets and adjustments for this product are made without modifying your existing character. Control maps for this product are based on the Victoria 5 UV set, but your base figure (underneath the geometry shell) can use any UV set that Genesis 2 Female or Genesis support.

Macro Wet Maps pairs super detailed 8K specular and displacement maps for the body (torso and limbs) with 4k head maps, so the detail is great no matter where you zoom in. The custom shader utilizes multiple speculars to describe moist skin and liquid volume independently. It casts realistic shadows from displacement onto the skin while preventing shadows from casting on the inside of the drops and drips. Blocking this interior shadow combined with an additional reflected specular simulates the effect of interior caustics without the high overhead or need for a caustics camera.

While the Material Presets make it easy to get standardized results, this sophisticated shader provides control over each component via surface parameters. These controls come in handy when adjusting to the vast array of possible light conditions. In addition to familiar surface parameters, you can control unique ones such as standard or BSDF specular models, Glossy (sharp specular), Cast Shadow Strength, Shadow Color, Shadow Blur, Fresnel Reflection, and Gamma Correction. The shader supports flagging for Age of Armour's Advanced Lights, so you can control how the lights respond to the wet skin shell. And there are also custom presets for Macro Skin to accommodate brow displacement.