Songbird Remix's Product Preview Thread

[Miss B]

 

[Sunfire]

She is pretty

 

[Ken Gilliland]

I did a "first draft" on the textures and it's looking pretty good, so here's a first look at the Congo Peacock. While Congo Peafowl don't have the long train and flashiness of their Asian relatives, they really are handsome birds. I do need to add some species morphs in... the legs/feet will be thinner and a little smaller and the top of the rump need some reduction.

 

[JOdel]

Interesting bird. One doesn't always register just how long-legged peafowl are. I suspect the train distracts the eye, and a lot of people don't pay a lot of attention to the hens if the peacocks are around.

 

[Klaus Sauer]

One can learn a lot from your songbirds ... I have always assumed that all peacock species have the long tail feathers, so this Congo bird surprises me especially.

But it also shows how intensively you deal with your birds and what you have considered and prepared during the planning. You have really my full respect for your work.

 

[Ken Gilliland]

Thanks and yes, with over 10,000 species of bird, there are numerous challenges I face as a modeler and texture artist that require planning and attention to detail. Doing a rare and endangered bird, like the Congo Peacock, requires a lot of research too just because the limit resources to show proper markings (especially on the wings).

Here's how the Congo Peacock looks after those morph changes I said I needed to add. I may reduce the leg size a little more...

 

[Miss B]

Nicely done on the tweaking Ken. Looking very good indeed.

 

[Janet]

Birds spreading fire on purpose?

 

[DanaTA]

I saw this article last year, I think. Very interesting. Most animals are afraid of fire. Somewhere along the line, these birds must have observed the fleeing animals, reptiles, etc., and perhaps put it together. That they would fight their natural instincts to grab flaming sticks to go start another fire is amazing in any case!

Dana

 

[Ken Gilliland]

Birds spreading fire on purpose?

Cool stuff... or should I say "hot" stuff

I'm slowly moving along... today I'm going to spend creating the display morphs for the Congo Peacock. He does raise his tailfeathers and back "cape" into a peacock-looking display, though more like a turkey.

Here's a more finished male and female in Firefly...

 

[Szark]

looking good Ken

 

[Miss B]

 

[Ken Gilliland]

I know many people might think I'm close to finished on the peafowl project after seeing this image, but I still have quite a bit to do.... maybe I'm a little over halfway complete. Apart from improving/adjusting the existing textures, I have a number of additional ones to still create (female Javan, 2-3 Spaldings and 'White"). Plus, there are numerous morphs that need adjustments, dozens of morphs to still create and some significant rigging and coding challenges to overcome.

Saying all of that, I'm sharing a wip "family" render with (left to right)... the female Indian 'Blue' peacock resting, male Indian Peacock (breeding plumage), the male Javan 'Green' Peacock (breeding), another male Indian Peacock (non-breeding), another Javan male displaying, a female Congo Peacock and a male Congo Peacock displaying.

 

[Szark]

they look really good Ken

 

[Miss B]

That's for sure. Loving the Javan displaying.

 

[Satira Capriccio]

Absolutely lovely.

 

[JOdel]

Heh! The Congo female is flashier than the male. That's a bit of a surprise.

 

[Klaus Sauer]

To create all the different characters and all the different morphs ... how much patience must one have for it?

 

[mininessie]

they are amazing!!

 

[Ken Gilliland]

While most of my time this summer is dealing tradespeople working on a rental house and playing babysitter (making sure they don't do boneheaded things, I am managing to squeeze in work on the Peafowl set. The Poser Firefly version is getting pretty close which means I'll probably move over to getting the DAZ Studio Iray and 3Delight versions under way, then loop back to Superfly. I do Firefly first because it's the most forgiving of the 3 versions and allows me to work-out all the rigging and mapping issues in the most painless way. I'm guessing early to mid August for the release. I will have an add-on set with the Leucistic (white) male and female and 2 different Spaldings ( blue x green hybrid) in male, male non-breeding and female as well.