Blender Cycles: Materials and Textures Cookbook - Third Edition

Chapter 7. Subsurface Scattering in Cycles

In this chapter, we will cover the following recipes:

• Using the Subsurface Scattering shader node
• Simulating Subsurface Scattering in Cycles using the Translucent shader
• Simulating Subsurface Scattering in Cycles using the Vertex Color tool
• Simulating Subsurface Scattering in Cycles using the Ray Length output in the Light Path node
• Creating a fake Subsurface Scattering node group

Introduction

Subsurface Scattering is the effect of light not getting directly reflected by a surface but penetrating it and bouncing internally before getting absorbed or leaving the surface at a nearby point. In short, light is scattered.

The RGB channels of a surface color can have different scattering values, depending on the material; ...