Advanced Lighting Model making things worse?

[KatalisArnaki]

Why is the "Advanced Lighting Model" setting making my avatar's face look this horrid? I don't understand. 

I've tried facelights/bodylights to fix it. Nothing. Tried fixing the windlight, shadows, changing the sky... and nothing. I've reset the textures as well from the LeLutka HUD for the head.. and nothing.

I see people take these gorgeous photos where their skin and face look GREAT, but I turn on the "ALM" like everyone tells me to.. and this happens -_-

[Claireschen Hesten]

It's likely you haven't had ALM on long enough, i always get that when i turn on ALM after maybe 30secs - 1 min max i go back to normal. I use an older 'Origin' Lelutka head with low-ish materials glow set

[KatalisArnaki]

14 minutes ago, Claireschen Hesten said:

It's likely you haven't had ALM on long enough, i always get that when i turn on ALM after maybe 30secs - 1 min max i go back to normal. I use an older 'Origin' Lelutka head with low-ish materials glow set

I wish that were the problem. It stays like this the entire time until I shut it back off, unfortunately. 
I have one of the newish EvoX heads from Lelu, the Fleur head. 

[Maitimo]

That effect is usually a sign of too much materials on your head settings. With the switch from Windlight to EEP, materials are a bit more "sensitive" than they used to be, and what used to be "just right" is now "too much".  Try reducing Glossiness, Environment and Intensity sliders to reduce the effect (you probably want the Environment one right down at zero).

If you then find that it looks okay but there's a seam or mismatch at your neck, try adjusting the same sliders on your body too. You'll want them to match.

ETA - the sliders you need are on the Skin tab, but do also check the ones on the HD lips and eyes as well, you may need to turn those down too.

Edited May 12, 2021 by Maitimo

[Nalates Urriah]

You can only see Materials in SL when ALM is enabled. If skin looks good with ALM disabled and bad when enabled then you likely have a Materials problem.

Our models in SL have a diffuse layer (color - that we call texture), Normal map/layer (provides 3D effect - old style is bump map), and Specular layer/map (shiny - this map allows us to make parts shiny or matt). 

Most HUDs for heads and bodies have CLEAR buttons for Normal and Specular layers. They may label them something else. Try clearing those layers in the head and see if that solves the problem.

The time delay Claireschen mentions is real. When using Materials it can take a minute for the Normal and/or Specular layers to load. You'll see some odd looks until they load.

ALM allows for way better lighting overall. It adds effects that clothes designers use. Some skin designers use the Materials layers to make more interesting skins. Some of my fantasy skins use normal maps to raise tats above the skin level.