Texturing XYZ’s SKAP takes your skin textures to the next level

Human skin texture library Texturing XYZ has launched SKAP, an interesting new online service for enhancing skin textures for digital humans, VFX and game characters.

It takes an existing 3D character model with 2K to 8K textures and generates 16K textures based on them, with ultra-high-resolution skin details like pores and fine wrinkles.

The primary output is displacement and cavity maps, but it is also now possible to generate normal maps for use in game engines like Unity and Unreal Engine.

One of the top providers of ultra-detailed human skin textures for VFX and cinematics
For over a decade, Texturing XYZ has been one of the leading providers of scanned human skin textures for use in projects that require maximum realism.

Its users include most of the leading international VFX and game cinematics studios, including DNEG, Framestore, Digital Domain, Digic Pictures, and Platige Image.

As well as selling stock assets, the company creates custom skin textures as a service.

So what is SKAP?
SKAP is somewhere midway between the two, generating more detailed skin textures for existing characters.

We can see it particularly to smaller studios and indie artists, creating better results than stock textures alone, but without the expense of commissioning a bespoke scan.

Suggested use cases include upscaling existing game characters for use in cinematics or VFX, adding detail to ZBrush sculpts, and even processing raw 3D scans.

You can find more detailed discussions of each workflow in the online documentation.

How does SKAP work?
SKAP works from existing assets, requiring users to upload both source geometry and textures.

The first input is an OBJ head model with appropriate topology, resolution and UVs – it works with the UV layouts of Unreal Engine MetaHumans and 3D Scan Store scans.

The second input is a texture between 2K and 8K in resolution: either a diffuse or displacement map.

Users can also optionally upload an ID mask to identify non-skin areas of the head, which improves the quality of the results.

SKAP then generates 16K textures matching the sources, with details like pores and fine wrinkles.

The main output is displacement and cavity maps, including multi-channel displacement maps, which split low-, medium- and high-frequency details across RGB channels.

However, with the full public release, it is also now possible to generate normal maps – primarily for use in game engines like Unity and Unreal Engine – plus haemoglobin and melanin maps, to help recreate blood flow and pigmentation patterns more accurately.

Is SKAP compatible with standard VFX tools and workflows?
The maps SKAP outputs are intended to play nicely with other VFX tools: the online documentation has guides for using them in Mari, and in Maya/Arnold pipelines.

As well as static base heads, it is possible to batch-process entire FACS expression libraries.

How well does SKAP work?
You can get a feel for the results that SKAP is capable of from the teaser video above, which was released while the platform was still in beta.

You can also see before-and-after comparisons in the ArtStation gallery of one of the beta testers, games outsourcing studio HerogliFX.

Price and system requirements
SKAP runs in a standard desktop web browser.

The service is credit-based: generating a base set of displacement and cavity maps consumes 40 credits, while normal, haemoglobin and melanin maps are 5 to 15 credits extra.

Each credit has a base cost of $1, but there are discounts if you buy them in bulk.

Read more about SKAP on the TexturingXYZ website

Read more about how SKAP works in the online documentation
(Requires a free account)

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