Character Skin Looks Plastic
Skin that reads as rubber or wax
Also known as: Plastic skin 3D · Skin shader looks fake · Character skin too shiny · Wax skin character · Skin subsurface scattering · Skin roughness
Quick answer
Skin looks plastic when the roughness is uniform, the subsurface scattering is missing and the color has no variation. Vary roughness across the face, with oilier forehead and nose and drier cheeks, use the engine's skin or subsurface shading so light scatters softly into the surface, add fine detail such as pores through a normal or displacement map, and add subtle color variation, such as more redness around the nose, cheeks and ears.
How to fix it
Light the character with soft light and a bright rim to judge the shading, and compare the render with a reference photo. Keep the specular lobe soft and avoid very sharp highlights. For stylized characters, replace the realistic scattering with painted color shifts and a simpler shading. A thickness or curvature-based mask can add subtle variations to roughness and color.
