SKYLAB CHAT

[skylab]

Hey everyone Terre, sorry you received sad news today. And Charles, I know exactly what you mean...I think I'm down to counting on my fingers the number of old friends left, so I really rejoice when one of them pulls through a hospital stay in order to hang in there a little longer. It's tough when you know them so well...for so many years....I still see things on TV and think I have to make note of that to tell Dana the next time I talk to her....and she's gone. My head knows it, but the heart holds on for a little while longer, especially when the person was zany and full of life. It's part of the grief cycle...which can get relentlessly oppressive the older one gets. We either stay behind or pass on....only two options....so I try to make the best of the time I have here. Humor helps me keep perspective while I'm still here, and I hope I can leave behind a few laughs when it's my turn to go

 

[skylab]

Okay...if humor is helping now...let's really go for it Slona Lisa. I chuckled the whole time I worked on the project. I probably broke all the rules of proper 3D-ing...but then, when did that ever stop anyone in the Nursoda appreciation group...haha. I've posted not only the final images, but also how they were done on the Slona Lisa page on my website....that is, the first version done in October of 2010 used Karth's SlonJA, and the second version, done in December of the same year, used the Mona Lisa 3D for V4.

And, by the way, I think I have the date wrong on the dancing Slon (I'm going by the modified date on the image files). The dancing Slon would have to have been done in 2010, before Slona Lisa, since Karth's SlonJA was created as part of the Slon appreciation thread. Unfortunately the entire thread was lost when DAZ changed its forum. I'll have to search my archives to see if I saved any of the original thread pages, so I can at least get the dates close to being correct.

 

[Miss B]

Slon never looked so good.

 

[skylab]

Hey Miss B I was hoping I hadn't driven you away with my silliness. It will probably get worse before it gets better...haha

After reviewing the For the Love of Slon archived thread, it indeed was during the entire month of October 2010. Also, the dancing Slon animations were posted throughout the thread, but I'm thinking now that they were created right before the contest, originally as a part of my Discussion and Teaching thread in the DAZ Freepository, where my friend Sarah was pursuing learning animation...so technically the dances were first, but came a little before the Slon thread. Slona Lisa was posted on October 30, 2010, after Karth posted her SlonJA dress on the 27th. As it turned out, the first Slon animation, below, was posted early in the contest, on October 5. As soon as the contest was complete, the Slon Stranger thread was started on November 7 and continued until March 25, 2012 when DAZ took the forum down. During that time, we had a For the Love of Fon contest, and also one for Frogkin. The Slon Stranger thread ended with a post about the release of Flisch, the blue alien character below.

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[Miss B]

Hey Miss B I was hoping I hadn't driven you away with my silliness. It will probably get worse before it gets better...haha

Goodness no, I check everything you post. I'm just not into Nursoda's products, so just "pass on through", as the saying goes. I just got such a kick out of Slona Lisa. ~hee, hee, hee~

 

[skylab]

Hey Miss B Good, long as I didn't run you off. And, sooner or later, even people who don't care for Nursoda characters end up laughing at something that they see...haha. The first time I saw Slon in Nursoda's store I thought to myself "why....how would you ever use something that looked like that?" That's the truth, that was my very first reaction. I started using the character a bit later, and began to "see him" more like a muppet. Once I saw that potential, he became more like mischievous and daring, rather than just odd.

One thing that I do know that you like is dynamic clothing...so here's my first dynamic clothing test in spring of 2010, using M3 to test Poserworld's Biblical Merchant robe (Steve had mercifully included PDF instructions with the robe, so that gave me a little push toward dynamics... otherwise there was probably no hope of my figuring it out, being a complete novice to Poser at the time). And I appreciate all the little "pushes", tips and troubleshooting that you and others have given to help with dynamics in recent years

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[skylab]

Two things yet on my "wish list" of learning...one is to model and rig a basic character...and the other is...I never learned how to control lighting beyond the basics. My "impossible dream project" was to create a Vermeer style environment with light streaming through a window....and I found it was much easier said than done...haha. The closest I came was with a few Dawn projects, and one with M4...at least I made an effort, but I never could get the bold streaming light without having the rest of the scene go wonky. The last Dawn and Slon image below was intended to be a humorous take on Vermeer's Woman Reading a Letter...haha. So if anyone knows what they are doing with lighting, feel free to pitch this way any advice that you may have

 

[Terre]

A nice mix of funny and serious images. Good work.

 

[Terre]

Then there's what Jim did with Slon and Fon.
The Barbarians - Book I by Jim Farris ©2011 All Rights Reserved
The Barbarians - Book II by Jim Farris ©2012 All Rights Reserved
The Barbarians - Book III by Jim Farris ©2013 All Rights Reserved

He's working on a prequel right now called Lost. The main character is a re-purposed toon villain (scaled down to where her head is normal human size): 3D model rigged Madam Shapoklyak | CGTrader
As is usual for him what he's using has had a serious rebuild.

 

[Terre]

He purchased Shappy because she fits the aesthetic of the toony fairy characters by Nursoda.

 

[Miss B]

One thing that I do know that you like is dynamic clothing...

Oh, I've only gotten into dynamic clothing since I started beta testing for Satira in 2015. Her included PDF, and Esha's tutorial which I bought the same year, are what got me into dynamic clothing.

Since I've never done any rigging/conforming . . yet . . dynamics are the only way I could go, and I kind of like it.

 

[Terre]

I know someone else who got in dynamics for the same reason.

 

[skylab]

I would imagine that creating dynamic clothing is much easier. Speaking of....I've been surfing to catch up on two years of freebies that I missed out on...and there are three dynamic freebies that may be of interest to you at CP links below

PARISIENNE SHIRT FOR PAULINE

ROXIE'S WARDROBE

BATIK SHIRT FOR ROXIE

 

[Miss B]

I picked up the Parisienne Top for Pauline a couple of years ago, but I'm not at all into Roxie, though the Batik Shirt doesn't look bad.

 

[skylab]

Yeah, I figured something like the Batik could possibly be used on other characters. I remember Sarah using dynamics designed for other characters successfully even on Andy in Poser (see pics below)...haha. I've wondered if that would apply also to Nursoda characters, but have not been brave enough yet to try. With something like the Batik, as long as the shoulders are pinned in place, it would perhaps work with most any character.

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[Miss B]

Hmmmm, that's a thought.

 

[skylab]

Yeah, that was one thing about Sarah....if there were lines, she was determined to color outside them....and her boldness literally dragged me kicking and screaming into things I probably would not have tried otherwise. She learned 3D basics from me....but I learned from her to look at things differently...outside the lines...and outside the box
Sarah's page is still up at ShareCG after all these years...she passed in 2011.

Now of course I'm going to keep thinking about this until I try dynamics on Nursoda characters...haha....geez.

 

[Terre]

And have done some really neat things as a result.

From what Jim and Goldenthrush have said it is easier to use dynamics on other characters. Both do so quite often. Often you need to pin things or use the morph brush but it's a lot easier than converting conforming stuff.

 

[Miss B]

I would think it would depend on the item. I modeled a dress for PE, but now want to fit it to Dawn, and it's not that easy. Something that's loose fitting can probably be used for other characters a lot easier than something that's actually shaped for a particular character.

 

[skylab]

Well, you know who just had to try the Batik freebie...and this was the first attempt. All I did, before running the sim, was increase the z scale on the garment to allow for Slon's front porch belly, and afterward, only a few places indicated poke through in that area after the sim, because the garment is fit tightly in that area. Even still, this sim ran great considering. All I did was secure the shoulders and it appeared to drape very nicely

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