In this 2017 GDC talk, Square Enix's Adelle Bueno presents a workflow for character skin detail texturing that allows for a detailed representation of a variety of unique pore types without ruining your production schedule.

Bueno explained how this character workflow draws inspiration from production techniques already in regular use by environment teams, which require high quality on a relatively low memory budget.

She also walked through some key features of the process that deal with the unique nature of skin, enabling extreme close-ups of skin detail and significantly reducing artist sculpting time while still allowing the necessary control, flexibility, and creativity in the character texturing process.

It was a fascinating look at what can be done to streamline the process of creating lifelike virtual humans, so if you didn't see it live consider making time to watch it for free over on the official GDC YouTube channel!

About the GDC Vault

In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault and its accompanying YouTube channel offers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent Game Developers Conference events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers.

Those who purchased All Access passes to recent events like GDC or VRDC already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscription via a GDC Vault subscription page. Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company by contacting staff via the GDC Vault group subscription page.