UPDATE 05Feb2016:

mhSkin2:

• Removed IOR In/Out, replaced with standard Facing/Fresnel. People hated it. I hated it. Let's keep things simple.
• Added support for B&W bump maps.
• Added option to isolate reflections for easier/faster shader tweaks.
• Corrected scatter radii.
• Better color distribution per layer to more accurately reflect measured color at depth.
• Better energy conservation with glossy layers.
• Corrected default values when appended to external .blend.

mhSoGSkin:

• Added support for B&W bump maps.
• Added option to isolate reflections for easier/faster shader tweaks.
• Corrected scatter radii.
• Better energy conservation with glossy layers.
• Corrected default values when appended to external .blend.

As Featured in 3DArtist Magazine!

Buy both skin shaders together and get a 25% discount! Plus, 5% of each purchase goes to the Blender Development Fund!

Introducing the mhSoGSkin and mhSkin2 Cycles Skin Shader

Skin shaders are notoriously difficult to create such that they work well under different lighting situations, and between different characters. This shader pack is a bundle of two excellent skin shaders that are the result of many months of research, testing, and tweaking. Included are an incredibly accurate Sum of Gaussians skin shader, as well as an original creation which takes the best bits from dozens of papers, existing shaders, and more than a tiny bit of personal experience to create a shader with excellent speed vs. quality. Both shaders have been tweaked for optimal performance for realistic rendering, but are general enough to be used for cartoon-y characters as well.

What other artists have to say about the skin shaders:

"Using Matt’s skin shader lets artists do what artists do: focus on the art, rather than getting consumed with the technical specifics of creating convincing skin." – Jonathan Williamson, CG Cookie "Most people don't have the time or skills to create a hyper-real skin shader, never mind a reusable one. Not only is Matt's shader ridiculously realistic, but the controls are so simple and intuitive. I can definitely see myself using this for all of my future projects; it's well worth the investment." - Greg Zaal, Bugbox Animation "Not only do Matt's skin shaders look fantastic, but they're also fast, easy to use, and elevate Blender above the competition!" - Joseph Harford, ArtforGames   Don't need both? You can get them individually as well! mhSOGskin mhSkin2 PLEASE NOTE: Some users have pointed to issues unzipping with the built in archive manager on OSX. I strongly suggest grabbing 7-zip regardless of your platform, but the built in Apple utility seems to be the only unzipping program that has any issues here.

NOTE: Head model is courtesy of ten24 and The 3D Scan Store. Special thanks to them for producing such awesome stuff!