Nice! I personally use something like this:
float tex = Texture2DSample(inTexture, inTextureSampler, uv).r;
float anim = smoothstep(inGrowth, inGrowth + inGrowthSmooth, sqrt(tex)) * tex;
float opacity = saturate(anim * inOpacity);
float blood = smoothstep(inGrowth, inColorShallow, anim);
float roughness = min(opacity * inRoughness, inMaxRoughness);
outColor = lerp(inColor, 0, blood);
outSpecular = opacity;
outRoughness = roughness;
outOpacity = opacity;