An excellent choice.
-
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
Nature's Wonders Sneak Peek Thread
- Thread starter Ken Gilliland
- Start date
Thanks Ken.
I'll give that a try.
I'll give that a try.
The model is pretty much rigged. I have some of the features already that you expect in my model like automatically folding wings and EZ pose controlled areas like the abdomen, antennae and labium (tongue). I now doing the most challenging part for me-- getting the UVs done. It's always a challenge to pelt map an insect with 6 oddly shaped legs, antennae and segmented body. If things go well this weekend I'll be ready to put on a base map and start morphs.
Hey Ken, you have the wrong description on the lovebirds.
Songbird ReMix Parrots Vol 3 - Lovebirds of the World 3D Models HiveWire3D Ken _Gilliland (renderosity.com)
Songbird ReMix Parrots Vol 3 - Lovebirds of the World 3D Models HiveWire3D Ken _Gilliland (renderosity.com)
Fixed.... Thanks!
An interesting snippet on "Head Hunter" ants, "Trap-jaw" ants and "Kidnapper" ants.
One species of small, rust-colored ant known as Formica archboldi likes to decorate its nests with skulls, or head cases, of several kinds of trap-jaw ants (hence the moniker "Head hunter" ants). This is unsual, because trap-jaw ants come equipped with potent stingers and gigantic mandibles that can snap closed like a bear-trap. So how do they do it?
They subdue their quarry with quick, highly efficient sprays of toxic acid. No one is sure why the headhunters should be such effective predators of the larger trap-jaw ants, but it may have something to do with a waxy layer of scents the ants produce called cuticular hydrocarbons which matched the species of trap-jaw ants they co-occur with almost perfectly. This meant that they could infiltrate the nests of these trap-jaw ants, spray the unsuspecting ants with toxic formic acid to paralyse them and then snip off their heads. The next question is why do they do it?
There is a genus of ants called Polyergus. Their old common name was "slave-making ants", but are now referred to as "kidnapper ants". Polyergus are parasitic on the closely related genus Formica. They have lost the instinct for carrying out even rudimentary brood care, and even for feeding themselves. Once a kidnapper ant queen identifies a headhunter ant colony, it sneaks in, murders the incumbent queen, and then “bathes in her bodily fluids”. The imposter then uses this newly acquired scent profile to avoid detection while she lays a bunch of eggs. These hatch into a generation of workers whose only job is to go out and capture more Formica ants, mainly pupae, in massive raids.
Because each kidnapper ant species typically parasitizes just one species of Formica ant, there is a good evolutionary incentive for the Formica ants to keep changing their scent profiles in an attempt to throw the kidnappers off their game. It is possible that this is why the headhunter ants have evolved to smell like trap-jaw ants, the latter of which are not parasitized by the kidnappers. The question still remains, why do these ants surround their nests with the heads of their prey? The headhunters have only been found to mimic native trap-jaw species, not ones that have been recently introduced. This means that they have also co-evolved. The other possibility, therefore (unproven), is that they use the heads of their prey to mask themselves in the scent of their local prey species.
One species of small, rust-colored ant known as Formica archboldi likes to decorate its nests with skulls, or head cases, of several kinds of trap-jaw ants (hence the moniker "Head hunter" ants). This is unsual, because trap-jaw ants come equipped with potent stingers and gigantic mandibles that can snap closed like a bear-trap. So how do they do it?
They subdue their quarry with quick, highly efficient sprays of toxic acid. No one is sure why the headhunters should be such effective predators of the larger trap-jaw ants, but it may have something to do with a waxy layer of scents the ants produce called cuticular hydrocarbons which matched the species of trap-jaw ants they co-occur with almost perfectly. This meant that they could infiltrate the nests of these trap-jaw ants, spray the unsuspecting ants with toxic formic acid to paralyse them and then snip off their heads. The next question is why do they do it?
There is a genus of ants called Polyergus. Their old common name was "slave-making ants", but are now referred to as "kidnapper ants". Polyergus are parasitic on the closely related genus Formica. They have lost the instinct for carrying out even rudimentary brood care, and even for feeding themselves. Once a kidnapper ant queen identifies a headhunter ant colony, it sneaks in, murders the incumbent queen, and then “bathes in her bodily fluids”. The imposter then uses this newly acquired scent profile to avoid detection while she lays a bunch of eggs. These hatch into a generation of workers whose only job is to go out and capture more Formica ants, mainly pupae, in massive raids.
Because each kidnapper ant species typically parasitizes just one species of Formica ant, there is a good evolutionary incentive for the Formica ants to keep changing their scent profiles in an attempt to throw the kidnappers off their game. It is possible that this is why the headhunter ants have evolved to smell like trap-jaw ants, the latter of which are not parasitized by the kidnappers. The question still remains, why do these ants surround their nests with the heads of their prey? The headhunters have only been found to mimic native trap-jaw species, not ones that have been recently introduced. This means that they have also co-evolved. The other possibility, therefore (unproven), is that they use the heads of their prey to mask themselves in the scent of their local prey species.
I have Trap Jaw ants in my "Ants of the World" set.
-----
Since I have both the updated "Songbird ReMix Australia v1" and new "SBRM Australia v4: Lyrebirds" are now in beta, I decided to return to my shelved Cicada project. I finished the "test" base texture (Putnam's cicada) in Firefly.
I guess I have to speak a little about my workflow to explain where this project is right now...
I do the model, then rig it.
Then, test the model to make sure the rigging and model are compatible.
Next, I do a base "test" texture (that's where I am now), to make sure the UVs are behaving with the model and the rigging and that the UV maps don't present too many challenges in making the textures.
Knowing the geometry is pretty stable, I start the morphs, first creating the basic ones (mouth open, mandibles close, basic thorax and abdomen shapes), then progress to specific species shapes, adjust the UVs on the morphs as needed.
Finally, I'll start writing the manual/field guide and building species as I go. I'm guessing I'll do 5-6 species, so I'm guessing my Cicada will emerge in mid-to-late July.
-----
Since I have both the updated "Songbird ReMix Australia v1" and new "SBRM Australia v4: Lyrebirds" are now in beta, I decided to return to my shelved Cicada project. I finished the "test" base texture (Putnam's cicada) in Firefly.
I guess I have to speak a little about my workflow to explain where this project is right now...
I do the model, then rig it.
Then, test the model to make sure the rigging and model are compatible.
Next, I do a base "test" texture (that's where I am now), to make sure the UVs are behaving with the model and the rigging and that the UV maps don't present too many challenges in making the textures.
Knowing the geometry is pretty stable, I start the morphs, first creating the basic ones (mouth open, mandibles close, basic thorax and abdomen shapes), then progress to specific species shapes, adjust the UVs on the morphs as needed.
Finally, I'll start writing the manual/field guide and building species as I go. I'm guessing I'll do 5-6 species, so I'm guessing my Cicada will emerge in mid-to-late July.
I don't honestly know where they are with the HW transfers since Renderosity doesn't give me any inside scoop... my only information source is the HW forum thread.
I have done a half-dozen DAZ-->Renderosity transfers over the past few months but the process for that is awkward and takes a lot of work on my part and Renderositys. I have to individually purchase every items the customer wants transferred as a "gift". When done "shopping" I tell Renderosity and they process the full cart as a sale, rebating me the money the products cost and send the "gifts" to the customers. Maybe that sounds not too bad but when you 150-200 products to shop for, a trying to get the "gift" names via their store software and interfaces, it's painful.
I'm hoping that Renderosity figures out the automated HW-->Renderosity transfers because I shudder at having to do all of those manually through "gifts". So I'm asking, as I have with everyone who's emailed, PM'd and written me in forums, to have a little more patience. I realize I'm not making waiting any easier by pushing through more updates but try to think of it has more exciting stuff will be coming your way when they do sort out the transfer system. (fingers crossed)
I have done a half-dozen DAZ-->Renderosity transfers over the past few months but the process for that is awkward and takes a lot of work on my part and Renderositys. I have to individually purchase every items the customer wants transferred as a "gift". When done "shopping" I tell Renderosity and they process the full cart as a sale, rebating me the money the products cost and send the "gifts" to the customers. Maybe that sounds not too bad but when you 150-200 products to shop for, a trying to get the "gift" names via their store software and interfaces, it's painful.
I'm hoping that Renderosity figures out the automated HW-->Renderosity transfers because I shudder at having to do all of those manually through "gifts". So I'm asking, as I have with everyone who's emailed, PM'd and written me in forums, to have a little more patience. I realize I'm not making waiting any easier by pushing through more updates but try to think of it has more exciting stuff will be coming your way when they do sort out the transfer system. (fingers crossed)
Last edited:
Renderosity IS working on the transfers. It is not moving as quickly as they hoped, obviously. They are not being done specifically for people who own Ken's products, but for all HW customers. There is something YOU need to do in order for this to happen, so if you see this and haven't done so, please at least see these 2 posts in the thread for this.
The first post tells you what YOU must do on your end:
Transfer of Customer purchases at HiveWire 3D to the store at Renderosity
This one is the last input I got from Jenn at Renderosity. She is subscribed to this thread, I believe, as she did post in it:
Transfer of Customer purchases at HiveWire 3D to the store at Renderosity
Thanks!
The first post tells you what YOU must do on your end:
Transfer of Customer purchases at HiveWire 3D to the store at Renderosity
This one is the last input I got from Jenn at Renderosity. She is subscribed to this thread, I believe, as she did post in it:
Transfer of Customer purchases at HiveWire 3D to the store at Renderosity
Thanks!
Here's a more finished look at the Putman's Cicada-- a yearly cicada found in the western USA...
thanks... I can be a little dyslexic sometimes