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RELEASED Hivewire Big Cat Has Begun!

Sparky

Monster Maker
Contributing Artist
Thanks, guys! I look forward to finishing him, along with all those other projects that got left behind when my old computer started breaking down. And I'm really looking forward to working with Kitty. ;-)
 

Chris

HW3D President
Staff member
Co-Founder
More progress tonight on UV work. Getting thru the harder stuff. On to lower legs, feet, and tail tomorrow.

leopard109.JPG
 

Pendraia

Sage
Contributing Artist
Nice work Chris! It's looking really even around those back haunches and the would be quite difficult...
 

Kimberly

Inspired
@Sparky - That looks awesome!!!

@Chris - Nice!!! I'm always :applause:at those that can model. I have never tried to be very honest, but it know it is time consuming. Its an art of its own. :)
 

carmen indorato

Extraordinary
I REALLY need to add, that the one thing most of the 3D world has wanted SO SO MUCH, is a KITTEN!!!

I tried to morph one, Diao tried too (with a teensy bit more success than I)... but when a kitten has : larger head, almost no neck, shorter tail, and body.. well it's been just too difficult to get out of the current models- even that outstanding Mil Cat model... so PLEASE could you put KITTEN on your list, Chris?? I'm sure it'd be a huge money maker!! (can't help it, I have a commercial minded ....um... MIND! lol!)

Hi Lynne.
As Promised i did fnd a kitten morph by Daio for the MilCat.
You cn get it here.
Holiday Kittens by Daio Poser Seasonal/Holiday

Hope this works
 

Pendraia

Sage
Contributing Artist
That's so true Kimberly...I've been working on learning for a while now and I'm still in awe of what Chris and others can do.
 

nDelphi

Admirable
I so wish someone would work on a fur product for DAZ Studio that didn't crash so often. LAMH for me is a no go. Too many wasted hours chasing crashes after crashes. I was so frustrates I lashed out on the DAZ 3D forums. In a way I feel bad, but it has been so long and that bug has never fixed.

The other fur product doesn't seem to have been a success for the developer and he pretty much said he was off to better pastures, that pretty much told me to stay away. I have had way too many abandoned plugins to keep wasting my money on them.

This cat looks awesome, but I think these animals need fur.
 

Sparky

Monster Maker
Contributing Artist
I think Studio plugins are quite subject to interference from the environment. On my old computer, LAMH crashed every time I tried to enter its edit mode. I worked with the developer to isolate the problem, but there were just too many variables, and he couldn't reproduce the error. On my new computer, it seems to work quite well. Software glitches can be elusive. It's one of the scariest and most frustrating things about being a developer, especially when you're building on a code base you can't control.
 

Lyne

Distinguished
HW Honey Bear
Hi Lynne.
As Promised i did fnd a kitten morph by Daio for the MilCat.
You cn get it here.
Holiday Kittens by Daio Poser Seasonal/Holiday

Hope this works

I've had this for years...it's not QUITE right... and I'm hoping the NEW big cat will be able to either be dialed into a kitten (will if it has MORE NECK SECTIONS, I think!) or will indeed have a kitten morph made from it in the future...
 

Pendraia

Sage
Contributing Artist
There is always using Displacement fur using shadermixer but it's not as nice as curve hair. I do remember that there was supposed to be an experimental curve allowed for but you had to build it in ShaderBuilder....unfortunately that's past my level of expertise...I did get a network happening using displacement fur in Shadermixer. It was what Marieah used to create furify and also the fur on the supersuit was then based on Furify but as been improved. If you import it into shadermixer you can see the furify name on the top of the tab.
 

Seliah (Childe of Fyre)

Running with the wolves.
CV-BEE
Contributing Artist
This cat looks awesome, but I think these animals need fur.

I'm not sure if there's any other alternatives to the fur, nDelphi. I have the exact opposite situation from you. For me, Garibaldi is a guaranteed crash anytime I try to use it, while LAMH is an absolute dream to work with. Yeah, it can be quirky, but the only two issues I've run across, I've nailed down concrete and been able to reproduce intentionally, so I know what NOT to do with it.

Maybe a fibermesh might work for the fur? I would be hesitant to try fibermesh on an animal's fur, though, because from what I can tell, fibermesh hairs can be very taxing on a system's resources.

I don't blame you one bit about abandoned plugins, either.

Software glitches can be elusive. It's one of the scariest and most frustrating things about being a developer, especially when you're building on a code base you can't control.

Code bases that you can't control, and the fact that no two computers ever have the exact same running environment...

It was what Marieah used to create furify and also the fur on the supersuit was then based on Furify but as been improved. If you import it into shadermixer you can see the furify name on the top of the tab.

That makes me curious, actually. I have Marieah's Furify shaders... I've never tried to use them on an animal though, for some reason. I might have to give it a try and just see what I get. LOL

Nice!!! I'm always :applause:at those that can model. I have never tried to be very honest, but it know it is time consuming. Its an art of its own. :)

Hi Kimberly. If I haven't said welcome yet - welcome! :)

Modeling is an art form to itself, you are SO right about that! In a way, UVmapping is it's own art form, too. Some modelers are great at producing mesh, but can't produce a UV to save their lives (I'm guilty of this at the moment!), and others are good at UVs but not so much with the mesh.

It's a tough skillset for sure! Chris is really good at it. We are very lucky to have him modeling these critters. ^_^
 

CWRW

Extraordinary
HW3D Exclusive Artist
I will def. want to try doing a LAMH preset for our Big Cat at some point but I also plan to do a pretty sleek base set of textures as well- I aim to make them look pretty darn good without any dynamic hair. I do have a challenge ahead of me! It is going to take all the skills I've ever learned, but my goal is to make these as gorgeous as I can, with and/or without DH.
 

Pendraia

Sage
Contributing Artist
That makes me curious, actually. I have Marieah's Furify shaders... I've never tried to use them on an animal though, for some reason. I might have to give it a try and just see what I get. LOL
Her furify was based off a network I did for the milcat but you needed to sub d and also play around with shader rates to get a good result'. I was never really totally happy with it as it really needed separate areas instead of one fur area to get the point brick to point the fur in the right direction. Mariah managed to get the point brick to work reasonably well but there were still issues. Curves are a much better solution in 3delight than displacement. edited to add you also need a really good displacement map.
21082010.jpg
 

Chris

HW3D President
Staff member
Co-Founder
Work from today and tonight. About thru the tough stuff now.

To comment on above. This base Panther/Leopard is not planned to have fur or fiber hair as a base. But as Laurie said she'll product a couple awesome slick maps. The fiber or strain bases stuff can be an add on product after release.

leopard110.JPG
 

Miss B

Drawing Life 1 Pixel at a Time
CV-BEE
Agreed! I don't think I could UV Map something like this 1/10th as well.
 
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