• Welcome to the Community Forums at HiveWire 3D! Please note that the user name you choose for our forum will be displayed to the public. Our store was closed as January 4, 2021. You can find HiveWire 3D and Lisa's Botanicals products, as well as many of our Contributing Artists, at Renderosity. This thread lists where many are now selling their products. Renderosity is generously putting products which were purchased at HiveWire 3D and are now sold at their store into customer accounts by gifting them. This is not an overnight process so please be patient, if you have already emailed them about this. If you have NOT emailed them, please see the 2nd post in this thread for instructions on what you need to do

RELEASED Hivewire Big Cat Has Begun!

carmen indorato

Extraordinary
SkeleCat (which came out today) is a different product than BoneZ (that's the skeleton). There's a Poser 11 issue that Sparky's trying to track, which is what's taking so long. The bones in the promo for SkeleCat are from BoneZ ;).
Oh...ok...but what or where is Bonez? A product here?
 

Harimau

Eager
Chris, I wonder if you can include an Asiatic lion in your lion creation when it is released? I hope you don't mind me enclosing a few images.

maxresdefault_small.jpg

An Asiatic male (right) has only moderate mane growth at the top of the head and the mane is scanty on the cheeks and throat compared to the African male (left).

Asiatic_lion_03_small.jpg

An Asiatic lion (above) showing the fold of skin along the belly. An African lion (below has none)
African_Lion_3_small.jpg
 

carmen indorato

Extraordinary
I think so much of this is human nature, unfortunately. Though some and even many, and certainly the folks here that visit HiveWire, have tried our human figures and then can make a sound conclusion. We simply don't have the artist support for our core humans as of yet. We do have some support, but not to where it needs to be. We've made improvements on Dawn with the Service releases and the Special Edition made a big jump with Virtual Worlds map quality added in. We have a wide array of supporting morphs now too.

I like Satira's examples of eating liver or drinking beer. It's similar to religion and politics also. Many are comfortable where they're at and will accept what others close to them have to say negatively about another religion or political party as being factual. But in reality perhaps, and with further self discovery, enlightenment and understanding can be unfolded, and a new way can be revealed.

I like what VortigensBane has to say about Dawn and Dusk. He still has not disparaged them, but has his preferences based on the immense level of support of the Genesis line up. Many of those artist supporting Genesis are simply attracted to it because of habit, many because of quality, many because of contracts with DAZ, many because of buyouts, and still even many because of potential revenue. But we are the only figure creators now that support and create figure and animal content for both Poser and Studio. Quality work at that. And like VortigensBane further states, and it is very true that "the HiveWire animals beat any other 3D animals hand down." Love that statement and it happens to be true. Even with fur or without fur based add ons.

Well said Chris.
But like D/S Poser has built in figures to get started with. I just do NOT understand why so much is done to get their app going big time only to choke on the realism and quality of the included characters. I buy stuff, animals and creatures at CP and except for one or two I have picked up there they just...well....suck! textures are bad but joints in many cases are far worse. I have seen free stuff at all the other sites far better. I don't mind spending money for something i really need but I get pissed off real bad when it doesn't move as promised, or if the textures don't work or if it loads in the version I have of Poser despite promises it will...and like you stated I hate it when there is NO....NO support for it neither from the community but worse from the content creator who distributed. To me it shows a lack of belief in their product.
I love products that get support and updated as needed by the community at large. I love content creators who listen to their customers...you know the fools like me who purchase on faith and disappointed make suggestions are summarily ignored or told it is what it is and due to their having moved on not to expect any more. The exceptions are well recorded and when they offer a product next time they will more assuredly have a paying customer in me.
Lynn did a wonderful job on her animals and they always worked. They were well created and offered value for your investment so much so I still use them. DAZ for a while did the same thing. Despite the constant complaints I read of other customers of their sucky Customer service and tech support for a long time they always did good by me. I guess because things have changed there I spend almost no money there any more so not sure what has happened to customer support and tech support. But I never whined about what they did for me but always praised.
RDNA and Renderosity were also among the best in product offered and somewhat good with follow up.

So having been burned countless times I am really careful to not invest in any more figures that will require another huge investment of time and money to get them to work for me and how I work. For the work I do Dawn and Dusk though they may be well made and textured seem lacking in the points I need to have for my work. And quite frankly I am sure I will be e-SPANKED by you and everyone here for saying this, out of the box they just don't look "real" enough for me. to want to invest in. I have looked at many third party content creators for them and see the same "look" in their offerings for the most part. Not a criticism here guy just a stupid opinion which is what keeps all of us moving forward, back or unmoving. So I avoid them too.

Despite having gotten them they languish in my archives unused for that and other reasons mentioned. Yeah they are free but I don't consider that as much as long term attraction and long term useability for my kind of imagery.

I got Harry because I really wanted Sharky's Kirin. I Loved that creature from the first day. I haven't used it yet because I can't think of a good setting to put it in or "Story" (theme) to build for it but when I do it will be there waiting. Harry I have had problems with. It is a gorgeous character and renders beautifully but it bogs my system down just setting it up alone never mind in complex sets like I use or sharing the stage with other high res figures. So Harry also languishes as I use my trusty GO-To MilHorse.

I wanted the Cougar but worry it too will bog my system down. So it still rests in my wish list, along with a lot of other stuff i loved looking at here. Maybe without that complex mane and feather it will be easier to set up but knee jerk reactions can not be helped in my case and doubts and fears it will give me trouble persist for it too.

The Gorilla is gorgeous with the fur but that takes resources and knowing my difficulty of learning new stuff and patience in waiting for long renders to come together I am reluctant to tackle it no matter how simple others here have assured me fur-ifying him will be.
I have purchased several of the sets and addons and think they are great. Wish more were offered. I love environments simple and easy on resources that also BTW render realistically. Yeah, a rough mix to get in a construct but it has been done by several content creator many of my favorites especially at DAZ who unfortunately, no longer create for Poser which is something I DO NOT UNDERSTAND about DAZ and their content creators. Why shut out a whole market of Poser users because you want to exclusively sell your D/S figures? Makes absolutely no good marketing Sense to me but what the hell do I know. So I don't spend any money there. When all the stuff I have in my wish list is gotten or no longer wanted I will cancel my membership and move on. It is getting tiresome letting them tap into my credit card every month for the occasional Poser product they reluctantly squeeze out of their system

anyway, Sorry for the long windedness. I am glad Hivewire is here and hope you get the support of other content creators internally and from the community to get moving in a positive global direction Chris. You are off on a great start from what I can see and look forward to seeing more.
 

Satira Capriccio

Renowned
CV-BEE
Contributing Artist
What figures out of the box look real enough to you?

Roxie was the figure I considered to look most real out of the box, and just about everyone hated how she looked. Unfortunately, as with all Poser figures I've tried using, she was difficult for me to use.

The Victorias are all about as far from real as you can get in my opinion. Or perhaps by real I mean your average Jane on the street. V4 did allow me to make some rather fabulous (IMNSHO) creatures ... but she had some issues I just finally could no longer deal with (Oddly enough ... the day Dawn entered my runtime).

Since tone is difficult to pick up from typed words, I'm just curious. Real isn't my thing as should be rather obvious to anyone who has seen my stuff. But my idea of real is probably different from yours or any number of people we'd ask.

So having been burned countless times I am really careful to not invest in any more figures that will require another huge investment of time and money to get them to work for me and how I work. For the work I do Dawn and Dusk though they may be well made and textured seem lacking in the points I need to have for my work. And quite frankly I am sure I will be e-SPANKED by you and everyone here for saying this, out of the box they just don't look "real" enough for me. to want to invest in. I have looked at many third party content creators for them and see the same "look" in their offerings for the most part. Not a criticism here guy just a stupid opinion which is what keeps all of us moving forward, back or unmoving. So I avoid them too.
 

Miss B

Drawing Life 1 Pixel at a Time
CV-BEE
The one thing I've noticed since working with Dawn, and have gone back and checked with V4 as well, just changing their skin textures makes a huuuuge difference. IOW, I bought a skin only product by Sveva at Renderosity that is skin and makeup for Dawn (don't recall if nail polish is included), but no character morphs at all, and I often use it when I'm just testing clothing and such, because I don't want to take the time to find "just the right character" if all I'm doing is checking to see if something or other fits Dawn. I had someone I was testing for ask me what character I was using, and I said Dawn . . . just Dawn.

Then there's V4 and her default horrendous purple bathing suit. Again, I pick one of my numerous V4 character's skin textures only, and it makes a difference.
 

JOdel

Dances with Bees
HW Honey Bear
There are vendors over at DAZ who still release sets, props, and vehicles in both Studio and Poser versions, but not many and they seem to be becoming fewer by the quarter.

I'm not exactly happy about it, since I cut my scene-building teeth using Poser content, and am, frankly, more likely to look for things in my Poser libraries than the Studio ones. But I can see some point. In Studio, just about everything is a .duf file. So the vendor only has to create a slew of .duf files, and they are ready to roll. For Poser, you have to create a slew of different *kinds* of files; obj, cr2, pp2, pz2, mt5/mc6, cm2, lt2, fc2, hr2, hd2, pz3 -- it just goes on and on. And while I'm not a content creator, I'm sure that it takes more than just choosing from a pop-up selection when it comes to exporting files for packaging. It sort of seems to me that a lot of Poser vendors, who start building things for Studio, gradually stop producing for Poser, since it's extra effort to do it. Of course, if they are selling things through the DAZ marketplace, they aren't being given a lot of encouragement to continue making that extra effort. But in some specific cases, like Stonemason, has started releasing things in DAZ format, but including a package of the .obj files, for Poser users, since the materials can bee applied manually. Very few of his gorgeous sets have moving parts, so there isn't a rigging issue to compound the difficulties.

And, of course, if you are using Genesis figures, you want the duf files. You can throw everything into the same folder with subfolders for components and find everything in the same place. You can sort a Poser library into one folder as well, but most Poser users resist that since they have "grown up" having to hunt for the pieces of one set all over creation.
 

Mythocentric

Extraordinary
I was interested in your remark, " usability for my kind of imagery" Carmen. That denotes a certain fixation which in any artist can only lead to stagnation. In fact its something I can apply to myself in the not too distant past! The obvious answer is to widen your outlook and try new subjects which are quite possibly outside of your comfort zone. For me, that point came when I discovered Hivewire, and for that I have to thank some uninformed clown who was denigrating the Hive on a thread over at Renderosity, and after visiting the Hive out of curiosity I soon discovered that he was talking through a part of his anatomy not often mentioned in polite society! The saddest part was that the person in question was a Poser user vilifying a site which was not only producing new figures for Poser but also catering for DS also from people who really care about their products! Anyhow! That aside I gained a whole new outlook on my images which led me to adopt a whole new outlook and widen my field from Surrealism (my great love) to practically any subject which caught my fancy, from mythology to sci-fi and all points between. A great part of that are Dawn and, to a lesser degree Dusk, and the increasing range of animals and birds. OK! They are not as widely catered for as V4/M4 at the moment but that forced me to adopt a greater learning curve to learning more about my chosen program, Poser. In short, one simple change in outlook has brought me a whole new range of subjects and experiences I wouldn't even have considered before, and guess what? I'm enjoying every minute of it and learning a whole lot in the process! Not bad for a guy on the verge of hitting 69 years old! Please don't take any part of this diatribe as any form of critisism because it's isn't. All I'm saying is give some thought to diversifying and you might just surprise yourself. I know I did. The Surreal is and will always remain my genre of choice but I've been delighted how much I've learned by 'thinking outside the box' can be applied to improve my art in that genre! Regards!
 

carmen indorato

Extraordinary
Fixation is not exactly the word i would think of but close.
To answer one question:
I have been doing erotic fantasy art since 4th grade. I am published in books and I have sold a lot if imagery in photography and pen and ink and yse even Poser. Pen and ink, airbrush, Clay, Photography and 16mm film have all contributed to my obsession. When for reasons too long and complicated to get into here, I was forced to get out of photography and pen and ink..all things analog (mostly because the hateful digital flood hit my universe) I found myself working in Vector and finally raster imaging. It was not enough. I missed photography. When I lost my real job hurting my back out of work for a year trying to heal I got into Poser 4 and have been in it ever since. But I hate it too. I have lost more what I define as good work since I got into computers than I have since 4th grade and always...always...while backing my work up. Just the thought of backing my doomed hard drive makes me cringe an I am sure I will loose my stuff sooner than later but can not move forward with the much needed back-up of the system. I hate computers because of that. Too much time doing tech stuff and not enough time doing work. The analogy for me is too much time dusting off my lenses and not enough time shooting or too much time sharpening my pencils and not enough time drawing or.........get what I mean?

And the fact I can not get a solid piece of quality print out my creative efforts at a reasonable price makes my contempt for the medium even worse. But though i tried going back I have not been able to to my infinite regret.

To answer the second question:
By "real" I mean easily workable to look like my photographs or as close as I can make them without too much stress (afterall it is supposed to be fun and stressing over something like making V4 or Dawn look real should not be so). I have invested in a lot of stuff for V4 and M4 to help me do that. Starting over with new figures with their built in problems and support needs is not a pleasant notion for the like so me. If you have read any of my journal entries or seen any of my work you would maybe understand a bit. I admit, my work does not have the highest quality in lighting and posing because I am impatient and because of my learning difficulties I am even more frustrated being pinned down to limited use of my tools. If I am stagnant it is because of those problems more than the figures i choose. LEARNING CURVES! Tackling them is my bane. I am 63 and the only thing that seems to remain in my brain pan is dust. I know because every time i suppress a sneeze I see it blowing out of my ears! LOL

But as I have stated it is mostly due to the investment and I have become comfortable knowing what to expect from my tools and very limited use of them. That of course includes my Mac, Poser and the stuff i have invested in.....oh and the Mil4 figures.
Think of me as an old mule on a winding trail. as long as every bend, every crag, every stone and every plant remain the same I can manage all the most difficult of descents. But the smallest change in my road and I panic and you don't want a broke down ole mule having a shitty fit on the treacherous trail of life! LOL

What is funny is that inside where it all matters I know you are right MYTHOCENTRIC but despite my whining and kvetching I am deeply and sorrowfully resistant to change! I am a Taurus through and through and that is why I really want that Bull for Harry. !!!!
 

carmen indorato

Extraordinary
What figures out of the box look real enough to you?

Roxie was the figure I considered to look most real out of the box, and just about everyone hated how she looked. Unfortunately, as with all Poser figures I've tried using, she was difficult for me to use.

The Victorias are all about as far from real as you can get in my opinion. Or perhaps by real I mean your average Jane on the street. V4 did allow me to make some rather fabulous (IMNSHO) creatures ... but she had some issues I just finally could no longer deal with (Oddly enough ... the day Dawn entered my runtime).

Since tone is difficult to pick up from typed words, I'm just curious. Real isn't my thing as should be rather obvious to anyone who has seen my stuff. But my idea of real is probably different from yours or any number of people we'd ask.

I guess "REAL" was kind of a misnomer! A lot is lost in typing lines and I hate typing! I guess it all comes down to what one is used to and what one invests in to get the type of image that sings "REALISTIC" in their minds. It took me forever to finally convert to the Mil4 figures. I went from Mil2 right to Mil4 and from Poser 4 to Poser 7 to Poser 2014 in just a few months! Hardly enough time to learn anything. Here is an example of an image published in the book:
THE FUTURE OF EROTIC FANTASY ART and it was done in Poser4 with V2 and very little post work.
I did a photo years ago minus the snake which looks a lot like the girl in the Poser image. Unfortunately the photo was one of those "Great" images lost in a hard drive crash and the original print forgotten in a portfolio in the back of a rented car at LAX. I hate loss.
Hope this is not offensive.

3e0e65b5045dd8ac48cc0d9d40e95804.jpg
 

Gadget Girl

Extraordinary
Contributing Artist
Harry I have had problems with. It is a gorgeous character and renders beautifully but it bogs my system down just setting it up alone never mind in complex sets like I use or sharing the stage with other high res figures. So Harry also languishes as I use my trusty GO-To MilHorse.

I wanted the Cougar but worry it too will bog my system down. So it still rests in my wish list, along with a lot of other stuff i loved looking at here. Maybe without that complex mane and feather it will be easier to set up but knee jerk reactions can not be helped in my case and doubts and fears it will give me trouble persist for it too.

Just so you know I often have similar issues with Harry. It's mostly all of his hair parts (main/tail/fetlocks) that cause him to bog down a system. I know that doesn't seem encouraging when it comes to Harry, but it actually means the Big Cat doesn't have those issues. If you're interested in the Cougar, I would recommend getting the Big Cat, because loading him into the scene doesn't slow down my computer at all. It's basically the same from a performance standpoint as just loading any human figure on their own.

So the vendor only has to create a slew of .duf files, and they are ready to roll. For Poser, you have to create a slew of different *kinds* of files; obj, cr2, pp2, pz2, mt5/mc6, cm2, lt2, fc2, hr2, hd2, pz3 -- it just goes on and on. And while I'm not a content creator, I'm sure that it takes more than just choosing from a pop-up selection when it comes to exporting files for packaging.

Actually, I've never found this to be an issue at all. I never really think about whether what I'm creating is a .cr2 or a .pp2 or whatever in Poser. It kind of just does that part for me, so does DS. And packaging up stuff is pretty much the same. I find it easier to do in Poser, just because I understand Poser's Runtime structure better than DS's Library structure, but I know that's me. They are both ultimately arbitrary systems, but the programs do most of the heavy lifting for me on this front.

Now dealing with all the different render engines, yeah, that's a huge slow down.
 

carmen indorato

Extraordinary
Just so you know I often have similar issues with Harry. It's mostly all of his hair parts (main/tail/fetlocks) that cause him to bog down a system. I know that doesn't seem encouraging when it comes to Harry, but it actually means the Big Cat doesn't have those issues. If you're interested in the Cougar, I would recommend getting the Big Cat, because loading him into the scene doesn't slow down my computer at all. It's basically the same from a performance standpoint as just loading any human figure on their own.



Actually, I've never found this to be an issue at all. I never really think about whether what I'm creating is a .cr2 or a .pp2 or whatever in Poser. It kind of just does that part for me, so does DS. And packaging up stuff is pretty much the same. I find it easier to do in Poser, just because I understand Poser's Runtime structure better than DS's Library structure, but I know that's me. They are both ultimately arbitrary systems, but the programs do most of the heavy lifting for me on this front.

Now dealing with all the different render engines, yeah, that's a huge slow down.

Which is the huge slowdown?
 

JOdel

Dances with Bees
HW Honey Bear
The hair. Try loading just the horse and posing it. Once you nave the horse posed and the tack on, then load the hair. You'll have to deal with the slowdown while you pose the mane and tail. But I think one of the pose sets in the shop does mane and tail poses, which could help. Or, if you are working from a pose set already, apply that pose to the mane and tail once you add them. Without the hair the horse poses fairly readily, depending on what else is in the scene, and how old your equipment is.
 
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