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Skin attempts to replicate the effect of organic tissue by combining two layers of sub-surface scattering with a layer of diffuse shading and a reflective layer in one single node.

For Skin to work correctly you must remember to have Double Sided turned on, and your skin surface must be completely enclosed.

Diffuse: Some light diffusely shades the top layer of skin, but most light will penetrate the skin to be scattered under the surface. The diffuse setting should be kept low for realistic skin.

Fresnel: This changes how much the Reflectivity of the skin creeps around from glancing angles to facing ones. If it is set to 100%, the fresnel equations are used, and you will only get reflection at glancing angles. At a value of 0%, you will get even reflection right across the face of the surface.

Epidermis: This is the translucency of the thin layer of skin without blood vessels. It contributes little to the redness of skin, but does soften out any shadows that fall on the skin material. The epidermis layer should scatter in a much narrower radius than the subdermis. It can be turned off by setting the Epidermis Visibility to 0%.

Subdermis: This is the flesh and muscle under the skin. It contributes most to the redness of skin, and also provides the 'glowing ears' effect when light passes through thin skin from behind directly into the camera. The subdermis layer should scatter in a much wider radius than the epidermis. It can be turned off by setting the Subdermis Visibility to 0%.

Color: This is the colour of each subsurface layer. The epidermis has little colour, the subdermis is fleshy and red. These values can be changed for alien skin, or if you are trying to emulate milk, marble or other subsurface effects.

Distance: This is the sampling distance for each layer. These should be kept small to avoid the material looking like a bag full of luminous gas.

Gamma: This brightens or darkens the subsurface illumination by applying a gamma curve.

Samples: The number of subsurface samples taken, the higher the number the less noise the shading will have, but the longer the rendertimes.