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
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; for example, for human skin the red component is more scattered (as a rough approximation, you could say that the values for the three channels are blue = 1, green = 2, and red = 4).
In Cycles, a true Subsurface Scattering node has...