Nataani for Dusk

[Seliah (Childe of Fyre)]

And here we go! Fixed mane, fixed tail, fixed that foreleg that was bugging me... and fixed Nataani's foot as well. This pose is officially done.

There seems to not be much I can do about the cardboard appearance to the mane in spots - even the default materials render up looking that way. I usually end up postworking Harry's mane a wee bit when I render him anyway, but in this pose it does seem to need a little more attention beyond the usual in a few spots along the neck.

 

[Faery_Light]

The pose looks so natural and realistic.

Yeah, I keep working at trying to get a good trans map made (like CWRW's) but my manes look a tad odd at times.
And I've noticed that sometimes you have to reset the horse and mane to zero before applying a new pose or the mane goes wonky.
But that happens on models other than the horse, like with M4 or V4 all needing reset to zero before a new pose.

 

[Seliah (Childe of Fyre)]

Yes. I was referring to the cardboard appearance to the mane at the top where it meets Harry's neck. That cardboard/billboard appearance happens on every mane texture, including the ones Laurie did.

It seems to have something to do specifically with shadowing; if I render Harry with a default DS distant or spotlight, it does not happen. But UE2, or AOA Advanced Ambient lights which provide occlusion seem to always do that with the top of the mane.

Maybe I just need to exclude the mane from occlusion in the AOA lights... hmm. I'm going to have to try that now! LOL

 

[Miss B]

Ohhh the pose came out fantastic Seliah!! I'm really liking it.

 

[Pendraia]

That's one of my bug bears Seliah but you explained it much better than I did the edges of some parts of the mane in some poses are too flat/straight...Harry needs some additional morphs to help with this. Still the best mane I've seen for a horse though...

 

[Seliah (Childe of Fyre)]

That's one of my bug bears Seliah but you explained it much better than I did the edges of some parts of the mane in some poses are too flat/straight...Harry needs some additional morphs to help with this. Still the best mane I've seen for a horse though...

Oh, please don't take me wrong - I absolutely love Harry's mane. Best mane I have ever worked with in 3D! Ever.

But yes. We could use some morphs to smooth it at the base (where it meets the neck) a bit for some poses. I will test it out with the AOA lights and setting the mane surfaces to be excluded from occlusion, though. I'm curious. It only seems to look that way when rendered with occlusion.

Unfortunately, all of my renders use occlusion. LOL I'm either rendering with the AOA lights, or UE2...

 

[Pendraia]

I wasn't taking you wrong just trying to make sure that people realised I still think it's great. I've had this conversation before and I don't want people to see it as bagging Harry just looking for improvements. I did try and get it into Zbrush to try and see if I could do some morphs to make it look like it was in my head but at the time couldn't get it send the morphs back. I think the trick may be I need to load the items separately rather than using the preloaded option...when I loaded just the horse I had no problems...
That may be why I have a problem with it as I use UE2 or AoA lights a lot also when using 3Delight

 

[Faery_Light]

I have to agree, this is the best mane, tail and fetlock set for horses.
The MilHorse set was fair but just not as good as this horse set.

 

[Seliah (Childe of Fyre)]

I wasn't taking you wrong just trying to make sure that people realised I still think it's great. I've had this conversation before and I don't want people to see it as bagging Harry just looking for improvements.

No worries! I know you're not bashing. I just didn't want to be misunderstood myself is all. ^_^

That may be why I have a problem with it as I use UE2 or AoA lights a lot also when using 3Delight

Yes. From what I can see, it either does not happen when using standard DS lighting (which does not have occlusion), or else maybe the occlusion just intensifies the effect. But I think it is somewhat related to the occlusion-produced shadows, personally.

I have to agree, this is the best mane, tail and fetlock set for horses.
The MilHorse set was fair but just not as good as this horse set.

Yup. Those are just a couple of reasons I fell in love with Harry. I might not do a lot of horse renders, but anytime I need one, I don't even look at the Mil2, I just dive right for Harry's folder. LOL!

------------------

And this is Pose #8 for the package. A few parts are still WIP - it's really tricky to put the figures on the horse, and pretty much no matter what you do, some parts of the mesh are going to collide into Harry's mesh. But I think I've managed to minimize the amount of geometry poking into geometry here. I think. lol.

I'll get a render from the other side also, and you will notice once I have the other angle up, that Dusk's legs look a tad awkward from that camera angle. Part of this is the limits of what Dusk's mesh can withstand in posing, and part of it is, well... the way a human's legs bend - and DON'T bend! - would lead to a similar position of the legs when it's mostly the thighs pressed up against the horse's flank.

Anyway - here was a quick test render of the pose, once I had most of the kinks worked out of it.

I'll set a render going from the other angle. But I imagine this is the side that is most likely to be used by people, anyway.

 

[Miss B]

Oh I like Seliah, and I agree, because folks will want Harry's head showing in the render.

 

[Seliah (Childe of Fyre)]

I really tried to get him flopped forward over Harry's neck... I really wanted that. But there are just too many limitations the what Dusk's mesh can and cannot withstand with posing, and frankly, there was no way it was going to work and pass a Beta test, let alone QAV for the amount of mesh collision that it involved.

I may still release that pose as a freebie, with a disclaimer about the mesh collisions and that adjusting camera angles to hide some of it would be needed. But that's something I'll decide after I have this done.

And yes - these are all the poses that I oopsied on and deleted and am having to rebuild.... posing him with/on/interacting with Harry is very fussy, and quite finicky... but not as bad as the cowboy hat! LOL

 

[Lorraine]

Finicky, I like that And I like that pose, Harry is being so careful with his human.

 

[Seliah (Childe of Fyre)]

Okay, here's the other camera angle... done as tactfully as I can manage. LMAO

As I said - I highly doubt folks will want to be using this angle. I think camera angles that show Harry's face will be most likely to be used, but I have always tried to make sure that any poses I distribute work as well as possible from all camera angles.

So... this is sort of just a disclosure render, I guess; it's not as fine-tuned from this side as it is from the other, but this is about as good as I can get it. Human knees don't bend forward past a certain point. LOL!

I still have a couple of spots to tweak on Dusk's right shoulder/collar area, which the shirt at the moment hides, but this one is almost ready to go into the library. Getting there. I have two more to rebuild... I am debating if I should make those as companion poses with Harry as well, or just do them for Dusk himself. I have three poses right now that involve the cowboy hat, and two poses that involve Harry.

Anyway. It's dinner time for us on this end. Enjoy.

 

[sanbie]

Oh my Seliah...this is coming along VER nicely indeed...I love all the poses that you are doing...

 

[Seliah (Childe of Fyre)]

Thanks, Sanbie.

I always start from zero on my poses... so sometimes it can take me a day or two to finish one. I'm very, very nitpicky about how they work, and how they look.

Nataani though... he will have a total of 10... and a whole kitten kaboodle of partials to go with him. So lots of mix-and-match potential here.

I mean... this is what the pose library for Nataani looks like.

These are not hard to save out - but they take a LOT of time, and a LOT of clicking to do right. What the screenshot does not show you, is that legs, arms, and hands have been saved in three different formats - both limbs, right limb, left limb - and that in the case of the legs - each of those three have also been saved with a "No Toes" version of any pose that involved positioning the individual toes on Dusk's feet (to make it easier to use shoes on him).

I've always had a high respect for the quality of the pose sets Ironman puts out. But I have to say, after breaking these down into all their possible partials here, I have gained a new level of respect for the amount of time and work she puts into her packages.

 

[Pendraia]

Love the new pose...

 

[Miss B]

As I said - I highly doubt folks will want to be using this angle. I think camera angles that show Harry's face will be most likely to be used, but I have always tried to make sure that any poses I distribute work as well as possible from all camera angles.

Well, that roughtly looks like a 45 degree angle, but maybe at a shallower angle, perhaps 15 or 20 degrees, it wouldn't be so bad, because more of Harry's head/face would be viewable.

 

[sanbie]

Wow Seliah..that sure is a lot of work you have gone too...Loving what I see

 

[Miss B]

Yeah, I can't wait for this to be in the store.

 

[Seliah (Childe of Fyre)]

One more view of this pose (dinner is done here now LOL)... this is a full-on camera shot of Harry's better side, so you can see the legs and tail and all of that properly.

I'll have his one shoulder/collar fixed in a minute or two, and then I will move on to the 9th pose rebuild.

[Edit : I just wanted to note, that Harry's poses will pose the mane, tail, and fetlocks as well as Harry if you have them all loaded onto Harry when you pose him. I did a lot of posing of the loose hairs on him to simulate movement and gravity to match his various poses.]