On the Way to Becoming a 3D Grooming Artist | My Story | Episode 8 - 2017

Hi everyone! Today I want to share the story of one iconic project, probably familiar to every 3D artist. This is my version of the famous Emily - the digital model that has become something of a standard in the CG community. I’m sure many of you who work with characters have downloaded her assets for V-Ray and run your own experiments.

(Below you’ll find an animation showing how light plays on the skin and hair)

Starting Point: New Corona 1.7 Shaders

It all began with the release of Corona 1.7 and its revolutionary shaders for skin and hair at the time. They inspired me to dive into new experiments. Although I had just finished working on “The Forester,” I couldn’t wait to try these tools in action. As my “test subject,” I chose none other than Emily from the WikiHuman project.

Work Process: Lookdev and Grooming from Scratch

Since the original scene was set up for V-Ray, the first thing I did was convert it for Corona Renderer. My main goal was to achieve maximum realism, so I decided not to use ready-made solutions, but to create the skin and hair shaders entirely from scratch.

Creating the Skin Shader. Working with Corona Skin Mtl turned out to be surprisingly intuitive. To achieve realism, I used the Diffuse map in the Overall Color slot and the SSS map in the Amount slot to control subsurface scattering. For photorealistic highlights and texture, I prepared glossiness, reflection, and bump maps in Photoshop based on the Albedo.
Hair Grooming and Shading. But realistic skin was only half the job. I went further: I created a full hairstyle, added peach fuzz on the face, and refined the eyebrows and eyelashes. For the hair, I used the then-new Corona Hair shader. Through experimentation, I discovered that:

Melanin at 1 and Level at 0 gives a pure black color, while Random Melanin (for example, with a value of 0.2) adds realistic variation.
Glossiness controls the blur of the highlight, while Softness controls the anisotropic effect. Adjusting them together makes it possible to achieve the look of either silky or messy hair.
Complex color gradients are created using a Gradient Ramp map connected to the Tint, Transmission Tint, and Diffuse slots.

Essentially, in this project my role came down to the tasks of a grooming and lookdev artist.

The Main Discovery

Thanks to this project, I truly understood the philosophy of Corona Renderer. Unlike many other engines, it was created for artists, not technicians. I didn’t need to spend hours digging through dozens of parameters - the intuitive materials allowed me to focus on creativity. Even the default settings already produced a great result, and that was a real breakthrough!

Looking Back

Revisiting this work today, I can clearly see things I would do differently - especially the hairstyle. But that’s the essence of growth: what seemed like the peak of skill yesterday becomes just another step today. That constant dissatisfaction with old works is a familiar feeling for any artist.