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Ken1171

Esteemed
Contributing Artist
Now that Type-3 is cooking at QAV, I finally got more time to work on Type-1. She is the petite and slender from the bunch. Last night I ended up redoing her bust, hips, buttocks, and neck, which got us to the version below. I have been editing both Poser and DS versions to keep them in sync.

Promo01_600x800.jpg


As with Type-2 and 3, this is a complete redesign of the default body. She is stylized and slender, and the same height as Dawn. Below is a Type-1 to Dawn comparison, rendered in DS with I-ray:

DawnType1Comparison.jpg


The Type-1 key features are:
  • Petite, slender physique
  • New breasts shape
  • Sculpted abs, hips, and buttocks
  • Smaller shoulders
  • Smaller and higher hips
  • Longer legs
  • Shorter torso
  • Shorter arms
  • Higher bust line
  • Fuller and higher buttocks.
Even with these changes, Type-1, 2 and 3 are all the same height as Dawn. The differences are in the body style, shape, volume, and proportions, not figure height.

Type-1 is a more stylized body with different proportions and placement. It changes the skeleton, and therefore the rigging. It has been the most challenging, and today I have finalized the JCMs for the legs, where the requirements were different from Type-2 and 3. This is why Type-1 is taking longer to finish.

The good news is that today I finally got a working version with all the bells and whistles in both Poser and DS. As usual, I will spend some time testing it myself before sending it to internal beta.

I have hopes that by the time I bullet-proof this one, Type-3 will already be on the store. Type-1 is the last of this body sculpts series for Dawn. After this I will return to the other kinds of products I have in queue for the store. :)
 

Ken1171

Esteemed
Contributing Artist
As I was sculpting the back of the torso for Type-1 today (with the Morphing Tool in Poser), I have adjusted for poses, and immediately started to get ridges and distortions across body groups due to Poser's inability to keep the geometry in one piece after rigged. The Morphing Tool was designed to work with Unimesh geometry, and that's why these things happen. The more I tried to smooth it out, the more it spiked out. I have experienced this before, so I already know nothing will fix this in Poser. The unwelded groups started to break. If you pose the model to check for issues, you cannot use any sculpting brushes, or else the groups will break.

Converting Dawn to Unimesh Skinning will not help, because down below the mesh is still split, and the Morphing Tool doesn't work with that. The only exception is when creating JCMs, because SMS made a workaround to allow creating and editing them with the body posed. JCMs cannot be created or edited otherwise. But if we are just editing a full body morph to check and fix poses, that is not a JCM, and this will not help.

On one hand Poser has this wonderful mini-ZBrush built-in, and on the other, it doesn't support Unimesh. DS does support Unimesh, but doesn't have any sculpting tools, so we have to use other programs, where only a few support Poser/DS groups (ZBrush, Modo and Blender).

There are pros and cons to sculpting with Poser, where the above are good examples of what can go wrong. We just have to be careful so the mesh won't break on us. It's a piece of cake, unless you need to pose the figure to fix issues, and it's not a JCM. Dawn has too many groups on the torso and neck, where some are very thin strips that are prone to breaking. For example "abdomen2" is only 3 faces long across Dawn's back. That doesn't give weight maps much buffer space, so it's easy to break with poses, and even more when full body morphs are applied.

The solution was to load the shape as CR2 in DS, and export back to morph target from there, since it preserves the Unimesh skinning. This fixes all the unwelded mess (ridges and distortions) created in Poser. We could only hope that Poser will one day support Unimesh natively, so things like this will stop happening, and people would no longer be afraid of whatever OBJ Poser has exported.

Having that done, "Body Type-1" is back to one piece in Poser, and can survive this pose without ridges across the body groups. Now back to testing and tweaking. ^^

FixedMesh.jpg
 

Ken1171

Esteemed
Contributing Artist
Thanks, Dak! I bet other vendors might go through the same things, so I am just showing there is a solution, even if I have to go to DS to export it correctly. :)
 

Ken1171

Esteemed
Contributing Artist
After the 2nd batch of beta-testing, some issues came out that convinced me to also change the arms. I have changed the length, but not the shape. So I have been working on the arms, and the base of the back. Like I've previously mentioned, "abdomen2" in Dawn has only 3 polys across the back (thin stripes on groups are baaaaad), and is breaking the poses with Type-1. It was also breaking the back on Nami, so I have fixed it on her, and next I have to do the same on Type-1. It's getting there! ^_____^
 

Ken1171

Esteemed
Contributing Artist
Ok, done with the base of back, shoulders, and arms editing. Much improved back shape now. The arms now are 10% thinner to better match the slender physique. Added thigh bend and side-side JCMs to improve legs posing when the morph is applied.

Below is the DS version rendered in I-ray. The Poser version is identical and has all the same features. It's now back for the 3rd round of internal beta-testing. With some luck, this could be the final version. :)

Promo01_600x800.jpg
 
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Ken1171

Esteemed
Contributing Artist
Today I have finalized the promos and store materials, and submitted the product to HW for QAV. It includes native Poser + DS versions as a single product. Body Type-1 (Slender) is the last in this body sculpting series, and I am happy with how they came out. Each shape is unique and have their own personality. This one comes with 4 JCMs for smooth legs posing, while the other two needed only 2. I think this one changes the body the most. Not only the shape, but the body proportions.

Fingers crossed for QAV to go as smoothly as the other two did. ^_____^

Promo00_1000x1300.jpg
 
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