Superhero for Dawn

[Ken1171]

Finished cleaning up the cape body morphs. There was a lot of fix in there!

The suit has survived Dawn's "Everyday Poses" using the new JCMs and final joint adjustments. I always use these for testing because they include some challenging poses that stress the rigging to the limits - if something went wrong with the joints, it would show here. I am happy with this version - no pokethrus, and the conforming cape with body handle could accommodate all poses.

This project has brought up a number of rather critical bugs in PP2014 and PP11, where SMS has already fixed more than half of them since I had them reported - hats off for their commitment and dedication! One of these bugs has halted this project for over a month, and I am happy it's now getting close to completion.

Will proceed to the files clean-up phase, and then work on the promo images.

 

[Miss B]

Looking great Ken.

 

[Daniel Hicks(OganicPic)]

Great to hear you're problems are getting solved .

 

[Ken1171]

Thank you! For those wondering why I am showing all this, it's to show people what steps are involved in the making, what kinds of problems we find in the way, how long it takes, and so on. It's bad when people think that what they get from Auto-Fit (DS) or the Fitting Room (Poser) would be good enough to sell. In reality that's just a starting point where the actual work starts.

There are also those who believe that exporting a CR2 from DS can create a final Poser version of a product, but that again is just another starting point for the actual work. In my experience, there were cases where CR2s created by DS become unusable for rigging, maybe because it was created for using with much older Poser versions, where some things have evolved since then that the CR2 Exporter doesn't take into account. At best I like to use it to keep the same groups as the DS version, so I can reuse the same morph targets, but nowadays I prefer to start from scratch in Poser. There were many cases where trying to fix files exported from DS can take longer than starting over in Poser.

 

[Ken1171]

Today I have added Dawn expressions support to the cowl, which was something I almost forgot about. Besides expressions, there were also brow posing, cheek morphs and so on. I have also included the 2 head shapes from SR-2, and all 4 of the new SE head shapes. The list seems endless on head morphs, so I added the main ones that affect the cowl - mainly the ones that affect the eyes and brows, besides expressions that affect the whole face. Hours and hours of morph cleaning and fixing with the Morphing Tool. The more I use it, the more I love this tool. ^___^

Now I have to do the same for the 2 extra masks I have added to the set...

 

[Miss B]

Nice work Ken.

 

[quietrob]

Great work! I don't anyone who likes to keep tweaking masks because they dared to use an expression. Having an expression follow the mask makes life so much easier.

Also just watching these props and clothing through the workflow is fascinating. It makes one believe that if he can do it, I can do it too. A true work flow is hard to find or unrepeatable. That leads to frustration and that leads to giving up.

 

[Ken1171]

Thank you, Miss B!

@quietrob Exactly, right? I was having to tweak the mask in my own renders because they always use expressions, but now that's no longer needed! Today I have finished fixing the morphs on the 2 other masks, so now things are much easier to use. ^^

This is an example of outfit that REALLY wasn't planned. On the first page I was just showing a cowl, and that was it. Now it has 18 geometries, where many things are customizeable. It's a good example of product that was built with the community. Things were like that with the making of Dawn SR-2 as well, where many of the morphs were my own personal suggestions. This is a unique community on that aspect.

 

[Ken1171]

First release candidate. I have lightened the cape color so it doesn't merge with the body. I think it looks nice for a conforming cape. Of course, the dynamic is also included.

 

[Miss B]

Ohhhhh, niiiiiice.

 

[Pendraia]

I like the outfit and pose, they look great! But...I know the cape stands out more because it's been lightened however I preferred the darker version...the colours don't work as well now for me. Maybe it needs to be a fraction darker? Sorry...feel free to ignore.

 

[Miss B]

I'm not sure it's the shade of blue, but more that it doesn't have the shine the rest of the suit has, though that might have been Ken's intention.

 

[Ken1171]

I like the outfit and pose, they look great! But...I know the cape stands out more because it's been lightened however I preferred the darker version...the colours don't work as well now for me. Maybe it needs to be a fraction darker? Sorry...feel free to ignore.

I kinds of agree that the cape looks better in the same color. Maybe I can tweak lighting to keep it from merging up with the body. I will give it a try. ^^

I'm not sure it's the shade of blue, but more that it doesn't have the shine the rest of the suit has, though that might have been Ken's intention.

Here's the thing - the cape is 1-sided, so there is only shine on the other side. I have tried to make it 2-sided, but then it pokesthru itself when posed. I could fix that if the posing was morph-based, but it's posed with a body handle, so I have no control over the shapes it can take. Body handle makes it much more versatile, though. Better than posing with fixed morphs.

I will make another try - thank you all for the feedback. It's much appreciated!!!! ^____^

 

[Pendraia]

Either that or just minimally change it...just enough so that it shows better. If that makes sense...iirc it is possible to create double sided shaders...I have some networks to do that for shadermixer so it should also be possible for the material room as well.

 

[Ken1171]

Hey, I always wanted to know how to make double-sided materials in Poser. I can make them in 3DSMAX, mas no clue on Poser. Can DS do it too?

 

[Pendraia]

I have some networks for Shadermixer on ShareCG. Click on the Free Stuff link in my signature. One was by Age of Armour and the other was by Richard. If you download them, you can open them in Shader Mixer and apply them to surfaces. You would be able to change the images for your own.
This is Age of Armours Network using displacement also.

 

[Ken1171]

Thanks Pen! If shadermixer can do it, Poser material room should be able to do it too, since both are based on the same Pixar Renderman shader language. Any clues how? This is how it looks single-sided.

 

[Lyne]

@Ken1171 I think you are outdoing yourself with this project! Really really outstanding!

 

[Ken1171]

Thanks, Lyne! I think the cowl looks cooler with the fins, but then it looks a little cliche. LOL

 

[Pendraia]

Let me think about it. I'll have another look at the DS Networks and see if I can replicate them in poser.

I like this colour better. Having it matt makes it show up better I think!