kobaltkween's HiveWire products

[kobaltkween]

Hello to all! This is the first of what I hope to be a series of posts for my products here. I've just come out with a Poser character for Dawn, Lady Rose. I plan to give her some props, clothes, and _hopefully_ some hair before starting in on her sister, Thorn. I've actually got a whole world of characters in my head that I'm hoping I can introduce here.

I also have some ideas for some other products. I've got a Poser array/instancing plugin that I've kind of back-burnered for a while. Mainly because it hit a Poser bug (item.Delete() makes Poser crash now), which I reported. Unfortunately, they still haven't fixed that bug, so I'll probably add a work around and finish up the plugin just to be able to use the material managing aspect myself.

Another "tool" I'd like to build for myself is a virtual portrait studio. If anyone reading this has references or examples of studios they find appealing, please let me know. I'm still trying to figure out what kind of space I should make.

I know I'm slow, and I often feel like I have to wait until I have something solid to post. So if you want to see updates, just ask, and I'll actually get over myself and post previews.

That's all for now. Hope you like my first character!

 

[Alisa]

Sweet Lady Rose!

Going to move over a post from another forum that was asking about her...I told Willow I'd move it over here once you started a thread


And check out all of kk's other lovely products:

The 3D Artistry of kobaltkween

 

[WillowRaven]

Not even sure if this the right forum to ask, but what outfit is this?

 

[kobaltkween]

It's something I custom made for this image. I wanted to make something that would allow people to see most of the texture and body morph, but still have a fantasy vibe. I might make it into a product, but I'd have to make a new bottom. The metal part just doesn't work as conforming, because there's really no practical way for it to bend with the figure and keep it from distorting unacceptably. In real life, it would just prevent her from bending. I modeled it without any knowledge or understanding of conforming, then tried to make it conforming. Which Glitterati3D kindly, nobly, and very patiently helped me with, despite my complete lack of knowledge, skill, or natural talent for rigging. I have to thank her, and all of my beta testers for their patience and diligence.

Thanks, Alisa, for moving the post!

 

[kobaltkween]

Just to mention some features:

She comes with materials that support both Superfly and Firefly, so you can render her in whichever one you like best. Her head and body morphs are separate, so you can use each on its own. She has a few helper morphs on her head, and an elf ear morph for the fantastic version. She also has SSS maps, to help regions like her nose and ears render differently than, say, her knees and elbows. Her textures come with a shaded option to add an illusion of depth.

 

[WillowRaven]

Still a cute outfit ...

 

[kobaltkween]

Still a cute outfit ...

Thanks!

So I'm sort of not sure what to make into a product next. I could try to make that outfit, keep struggling with hair, finish the first part of my photo/dance studio (I need it for an image series I'd like to start soon), or finish her dynamic wood elf sets (clothes and props). Which would you be interested in?

 

[Miss B]

All of them?? ~she asks meekly~

Seriously though, you've piqued my interest with the photo/dance studio.

 

[kobaltkween]

Oh, cool!

The studio will be a kind of long term thing. I've been watching videos on lighting and equipment for photos and video, and I've got a running list of equipment to make. I had started making a studio ages ago, but it was just _so_ many pieces by the time I started converting. And so many needed lights attached to actually emit, because Firefly's IDL was unacceptably blotchy and bad. I got kind of blocked just trying to futz with my softboxes so that they were acceptably usable to me with all those lights attached. I got pretty good results, but it took some work. And lots of stuff just rendered terribly in Firefly because of those blotches. FF is fine if you have a texture to hide blotches, but for plain white stuff like vents, walls, ducts, etc., no render settings could get rid of the errors.

Everything should be _much_ more usable in Superfly and (eventually) Iray. I'm also just starting most bits over from scratch to better fit my research. For instance, I recently watched a video about filming interviews where it talked about the importance of having interest through depth. So my new studio is much more like that studio, with 2 different types of walls (for visual interest), windows, and pillars. That said, I'll probably be reusing things like those vents, ducts, and other bits. Hopefully I'll be able to adjust my old umbrella reflector skeleton to something more accurate without needing to rebuild it entirely.

Unlike the other things I want to do, it's very utilitarian. Rose is the first character in a world I have in my head, and she alone needs supporting content. She and her sister will need hair, clothing, props, and eventually scenery. But I'll have to show off that stuff, and it would be a lot easier if I just had the tools to make all the portraits I need rather than continuing to make something specific and limited, then finding it would be easier just start over than build on what I have.

If anyone out there is a photographer, and has specific equipment to suggest, please do. Brand, model, make, and link to a product page (for reference images) if you can. Especially lights, reflectors, and softboxes.

 

[pommerlis]

I really like her, she has this classic beauty about her. Very lovely

 

[kobaltkween]

I really like her, she has this classic beauty about her. Very lovely

Thank you!

Right now I'm trying to figure out a good general external finish to my studio. If anyone has examples of small, standalone commercial buildings, let me know. I'm just trying to make a sort of entrance.