This paper presents a simple method for implementing a practical skin shader for use within a production pipeline. The method enables effects that BRDF (see introduction) models cannot capture, such as subsurface light transport within the skin. The model was designed with the purpose of providing a practical skin shader to be easily integrated into a production pipeline.
The paper can be divided into three parts. The first part of the paper introduces the reader to the proposed method in theoretical terms. The second part covers the methods used to implement this theory into a Renderman shader. The third part discusses the implementation of a caching system to enable the use of the shader within a production pipeline.