I know a few samples that are using the kelemen-szirmay kalos brdf that uses a precomputed beckmann distribution texture (e.g. nvidia skin rendering sample & more recently Jimenez SSSS sample).

I've read a bit through their original paper describing the specular model but I'm not seeing anything to the like of "use this when rendering skin"...

Does anyone know why this model is used for realistic skin rendering ?

As far as I can tell their brdf is just a beckmann NDF + the usual schlick fresnel + their geometry term approximation of cook torrance.

I'm already using a custom BRDF model that is trying to be physically correct (GGX distribution + Schlick fresnel + the kelemen szirmay-kalos geometry approximation described in hoffman's physically based shading 2010 paper (1 / LdotH²), which is somehow different to the one described in the KSK brdf paper.

My question now is if there's any benefit to using their brdf over mine as a realistic model for human skin ?

Alright thanks for the input. That's what I was wondering about. It's quite a coincidence though that both skin rendering samples use the same brdf for specular reflections. I guess Jimenez also just looked at the nvidia sample ...