Eye textures -- shading?

I've managed to get my iris to look more or less like I want it to look, but I have seen some people wearing eyes that appear to have some shading on the whites that makes them look very nice. My own whites are coming out ... well, too white. I do have some red veining added, but that doesn't quite seem to be enough.

If anyone has any little secrets they'd like to share in regards to what colour(s) to use for the whites, I'd appreciate it very much.

Hi Freyja,
Eye whites are never white. When I sculpted figures in a previous life , I learnt from an artist called "James Carrington" who warned against using white to paint eyes. According to him it gave one an almost lunatic look. Whilst Jamie's example might be a tad exaggerated, I do recommend using a touch of pale yellow/grey/cream to take away some of the starkness from eye whites. Once you've done your eye (not so white) whites, use some human skin texture brushes to add touches of subtle grey, yellow and blue to these whites. If you find the effect too obvious, tone it down by reducing the opacity of the layer.

Take a look at the following tutorial http://creativemac.digitalmedianet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=31220 which also links to a set of fabulous skin brushes (including veining brushes) you can use to add detail and realism to the eyes.

Experiment and so long as you keep your layers nicely separate, you'll be fine.

Good Luck.

When in doubt, go directly to the source, a real eye. It's not too hard to find good references for eye whites on the web. The best sources will probably require a subscription (i.e. Peter Levius).

In addition to just sampling eye white textures, you will probably find that the SL platform requires at least two specific enhancements to the sampled texture to pull off a realistic look.

1. Punch up the contrast and saturation of the eye white, especially at it's outer edge.

2. Add an appropriate drop shadow for the upper brow/eyelid to soften the stark contrast between the skin and the eye white. This effect can be embedded in the texture (left side orientation) or attached to two transparent stationary prims (for more realism on a moving eye). If you go the route of prims for this effect you will want to attach the prims to ears or another spot on the head, but not the eyes, to prevent the prim shadow textures from moving with the eyes. Position them appropriately for your avatar eyes. If you plan to sell them be sure to include notes on how to adjust them.

Thank you, Ayesha.

I had been experimenting with pale blues and pale pinks to tint the whites, based on looking at my eyes in a mirror to see what tones they seemed to have, but neither of those seemed quite right. I will try the hues that you suggest.

Edited to add: And thank you, Namssor.

I didn't actually try sampling eye colours, just looking at them. Bit of a silly step to miss, I guess.

For your other two points, I don't quite follow 1). Should it be whiter towards the edge?

2) sounds just like the effect I have seen on some eyes. I tried to to something with a gradient that darkened towards the edges, but I will play around with a dropshadow too.

The eye white looks more realistic straight on if it is slightly more flesh colored the further out on the radius from the iris. A lot of the polygons that the eye texture is applied to are hidden within the head. They are revealed when the eye moves around, but most of the time it is just the center of the eye texture that is seen. A little deeper and darker colors around the edges help blend better with surrounding eyelid folds.

Applying directly to the eye texture works best for me. Most people are interested in the straight on look and don't want to bother with adjusting or wearing extra prims.

You can try texturing only the pupil and leaving the rest out.

I only use one prim eye on the left and it's mostly transparent except for the demonic-robot-red pupil. (^_^)

The rest is all still the default SL eye texture. (^_^)y It looks almost slightly like a contact lens when you zoom waaaaaay in. But, hey, that's a cool effect too. (O_@)

Namssor: Ok, got it. I got some decent eye-pictures to work from, and sampled four colours from the edges and inwards and used these to create a gradient. I then exaggerated the darkness of each colour a bit, and so far I am liking the result. I've also got a dropshadow on, and that adds a lot. I also added some slight blue 'veining' per Ayesha's suggestion. So, its coming along well, thanks to your suggestions.

Imnotgoing: That's what I did originally, but I found it too stark white. Partly because I don't like the standard eye size, so I've made mine quite a bit smaller, which of course shows off more whites.