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SKYLAB CHAT
- Thread starter skylab
- Start date
I remember when Steve Shanks did his Apollo video tutorial for a dynamic cloth robe, that was the first step, to turn IK off...so I came along with the idea that it's something you get rid of first before you do anything else. I'll have to set up a practice pose exercise, and try that. Again, thanks for the input GG...and come back and join in with us again...this old dog likes to learn new tricks once in awhile
Yeah IK for reasons I don't know, messes up cloth simulations. In fact IK is probably the only thing in Poser I'm sure I understand
because it's so important in video game animation (it's how you get characters to walk up stairs etc.)My favorite internet kitty, since I'm not able to have a real one. I like the box slide near the end of the video
So cute! The box slide is fantastic.
Here's my Newton typing an angry letter about you not being able to have a real kitty!
skylab
Esteemed
Another very cute kitty My health is not so that I could care for my own kitty the way I'd want to...not only the box care, but I use to train my cats to get a weekly bath...stuff like that. Instead, I have a very friendly goldfish named Jo...he's about 10 inches long now, so he's a big baby. He keeps me company when I do pose sets at the workstation
My health is not so that I could care for my own kitty the way I'd want to...not only the box care, but I use to train my cats to get a weekly bath...stuff like that. Instead, I have a very friendly goldfish named Jo...he's about 10 inches long now, so he's a big baby. He keeps me company when I do pose sets at the workstation 
Morning, Sky. I ended up dropping most of the night as well. Was not feeling up to par, so took the night off. I'm going to finish making the bump maps today and getting the utility poses converted over to DS.
I ended up dropping most of the night as well. Was not feeling up to par, so took the night off. I'm going to finish making the bump maps today and getting the utility poses converted over to DS.
skylab
Esteemed
Yeah, I popped online a couple of times and saw you were down for the night as well...and since I was still craving sleep myself, I just slept in. I needed the rest too....will have some steam to do the final tweaking and conversions today.
And just mentioning while I'm thinking about it, daylight savings time starts this weekend....Sunday, 2:00 a.m.
And just mentioning while I'm thinking about it, daylight savings time starts this weekend....Sunday, 2:00 a.m.
Yep. Sunday we have to move the clocks ahead by an hour.
I've got all the M4 utility poses converted to DS already. I'm working on the K4 ones in between test renders. These really are a good way to keep myself focused while I wait on renders to finish. LOL
I know you might not use all of these, but I'm still going to put them all out there in both formats. I don't think I'm the only one who uses the older figures. There just aren't as many of us at this point is all.
I've got all the M4 utility poses converted to DS already. I'm working on the K4 ones in between test renders. These really are a good way to keep myself focused while I wait on renders to finish. LOL
I know you might not use all of these, but I'm still going to put them all out there in both formats. I don't think I'm the only one who uses the older figures. There just aren't as many of us at this point is all.
skylab
Esteemed
Oh yes, they will be very handy resources for posing projects...and I think there are more people using the older figures as you might think. Quite some time back it became clear that certain outfits would not be created because they didn't sell as well as...string bikinis....haha. I think some of what has happened is content users have turned to other solutions, like Cross Dresser, or other similar utilities, or creating their own clothing, or even postwork. Because of this, it's not necessary to continue buying outfits, once the initial investment has been made. Since they had to make do anyway, they learned to make do for a length of time that impacted the markets. Content providers may make the mistake of thinking that because certain outfits don't sell well during the first week, that they will never sell well. It's the old money now mindset again. And one thing that I think is the elephant in the room that everybody is throwing the blanket over, and pretending not to see....is the fact that the 3D markets have been targeted over the past two years, and that round of compromised security impacted folks' willingness to buy. All this has worked together to leave the impression that Poser users are out of the ball game, and Genesis is now dominating the market. What would happen to that dominance if there were another round of security issues, more compromising than the first? Online stores are on very thin ice, so there's no room for anybody to claim some sort of dominance.
All of that is very true, Sky.
Personally, I just don't subscribe to the mentality that "new is ALWAYS better." Sure, there are some newer figures that are great. (I really do like Dusk and Dawn a LOT.) But I think part of what figure to use also depends on what type of art the person makes. Do they produce storyline illustrations? Do they just do whatever the muse tells them to? Are they an animator? Still renderer? All of these impact figure and clothing/accessory choices.
Security of the online stores can impact some buyers willingness to buy, yes. But to be fair - again - even brick and mortar stores have been hacked and had their security compromised. Hannaford, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, just to name a few. Heck, even the TSA had it's databases hacked into. I know this because my Bear used to work for the TSA, and we got all the notifications about how personal information was compromised and what services they were offering in case our information was used without our authorization!
So for me... the security issue, while it means a fair lot, I'm also a realist and I can't blame a store for the actions of some nutjob jerk who decided to hack into it. Security is only as good as the human who sets it up - and whatever security you set up, eventually another human will find a way to break it. It's just the nature of it.
The bigger thing driving people away from making purchases of pre-made 3D content, honestly, is the kind of content being produced. Daz produces pinup content. I'm sorry, but four inch spike heels on the boots of a combat armor outfit is not only ridiculous, it's offensive. And it's gotten old, VERY old, long ago. There is a time and place for high heels - armor, outdoors/adventure items are NOT that place.
The same old same old content being produced over and over - again, people are sick of it.
The constant new-figure game - every 12 to 18 months or so Daz puts out a new figure and you have re-buy ALL the basic utilities just to begin using it. Again - people are sick of it, and they aren't buying as much as they once did. It's a profits game.
The HW figures are pretty steady. Could they use some improvments? Absolutely. But they're still fairly new, and from what I've been seeing.. more folks are willing to try them out now. A lot of people pretty much assumed they would go under in the first six months of release. I'm actually really tired of defeatist attitudes like that. Give them a bloody chance! Don't sink the ship before there's even a hole in it.
I just think with something like figure choices, every artist is different, and there's too many variables. I might buy G3 clothing. So sure, the G3 sales are going to look like they're doing well. But do I use it ON the G3 figures? HECK no, I sure don't! I buy G3 clothing to use on Genesis 1!! LMAO But if you go by the numbers alone - sure, the G3 stuff is selling. They don't take into account how many buyers are using the items on the native figures.
I've made use of M4 and V4 stuff on Dawn and Dusk, which is a real pain as a DS user, because the autofit utility pops up when you fit a Poser Dawn outfit to a Studio Dawn figure, and we don't have a lot of good projection templates yet to use on the DS side of things. As a result, some stuff made for Poser Dawn, for instance, does NOT fit well to Studio Dawn. Same can be said for Luna and Dusk. Especially Luna and Dusk. LOL
So figure choices are just too wide of a variable. There's too many things that impact an artist's choice to use one figure over another in a piece of art, and no market, IMO, can properly predict those choices. Those of us who have been around enough years... well we're used to kitbashing things to make them work, because back around the P4 figures and the V2/M2 eras, that was often times the only way to get anything done.
The newer artists; the ones who have come in around the time of Genesis 1's and Genesis 2's... they often times don't even understand the difference between a "figure" and a "morph/character" for a figure, because Daz bills every new character morph as if it's a new figure. I'm sorry, but no, no it's not. Victoria 7 is not a brand new figure. She's a morph built on the G3 Female figure. Big difference. But it's a difference that some of the newer folks don't understand yet.
I think the G3 figures are good. Just like the G2's, the G1's, and all the figures beforehand. They're all nice figures to one degree or another. The HW figures are good. But just because a figure is "good" doesn't mean it's usable for some folks. If the figure lacks content support, it doesn't matter how good it is, it's not going to be used. If someone has lots and lots of time and money invested in one figure base, and the next round of figures lack the things they need - then they're just NOT going to switch over to the newer figures.
Every artist uses what they find the most useful to their art. And when you start getting into things like that - the Human Factor - it's unpredictable, and no market, no economist, can predict what people will do. Human behavior is unpredictable at times. Especially where sales and money spending is concerned.
Personally, I just don't subscribe to the mentality that "new is ALWAYS better." Sure, there are some newer figures that are great. (I really do like Dusk and Dawn a LOT.) But I think part of what figure to use also depends on what type of art the person makes. Do they produce storyline illustrations? Do they just do whatever the muse tells them to? Are they an animator? Still renderer? All of these impact figure and clothing/accessory choices.
Security of the online stores can impact some buyers willingness to buy, yes. But to be fair - again - even brick and mortar stores have been hacked and had their security compromised. Hannaford, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, just to name a few. Heck, even the TSA had it's databases hacked into. I know this because my Bear used to work for the TSA, and we got all the notifications about how personal information was compromised and what services they were offering in case our information was used without our authorization!
So for me... the security issue, while it means a fair lot, I'm also a realist and I can't blame a store for the actions of some nutjob jerk who decided to hack into it. Security is only as good as the human who sets it up - and whatever security you set up, eventually another human will find a way to break it. It's just the nature of it.
The bigger thing driving people away from making purchases of pre-made 3D content, honestly, is the kind of content being produced. Daz produces pinup content. I'm sorry, but four inch spike heels on the boots of a combat armor outfit is not only ridiculous, it's offensive. And it's gotten old, VERY old, long ago. There is a time and place for high heels - armor, outdoors/adventure items are NOT that place.
The same old same old content being produced over and over - again, people are sick of it.
The constant new-figure game - every 12 to 18 months or so Daz puts out a new figure and you have re-buy ALL the basic utilities just to begin using it. Again - people are sick of it, and they aren't buying as much as they once did. It's a profits game.
The HW figures are pretty steady. Could they use some improvments? Absolutely. But they're still fairly new, and from what I've been seeing.. more folks are willing to try them out now. A lot of people pretty much assumed they would go under in the first six months of release. I'm actually really tired of defeatist attitudes like that. Give them a bloody chance! Don't sink the ship before there's even a hole in it.
I just think with something like figure choices, every artist is different, and there's too many variables. I might buy G3 clothing. So sure, the G3 sales are going to look like they're doing well. But do I use it ON the G3 figures? HECK no, I sure don't! I buy G3 clothing to use on Genesis 1!! LMAO But if you go by the numbers alone - sure, the G3 stuff is selling. They don't take into account how many buyers are using the items on the native figures.
I've made use of M4 and V4 stuff on Dawn and Dusk, which is a real pain as a DS user, because the autofit utility pops up when you fit a Poser Dawn outfit to a Studio Dawn figure, and we don't have a lot of good projection templates yet to use on the DS side of things. As a result, some stuff made for Poser Dawn, for instance, does NOT fit well to Studio Dawn. Same can be said for Luna and Dusk. Especially Luna and Dusk. LOL
So figure choices are just too wide of a variable. There's too many things that impact an artist's choice to use one figure over another in a piece of art, and no market, IMO, can properly predict those choices. Those of us who have been around enough years... well we're used to kitbashing things to make them work, because back around the P4 figures and the V2/M2 eras, that was often times the only way to get anything done.
The newer artists; the ones who have come in around the time of Genesis 1's and Genesis 2's... they often times don't even understand the difference between a "figure" and a "morph/character" for a figure, because Daz bills every new character morph as if it's a new figure. I'm sorry, but no, no it's not. Victoria 7 is not a brand new figure. She's a morph built on the G3 Female figure. Big difference. But it's a difference that some of the newer folks don't understand yet.
I think the G3 figures are good. Just like the G2's, the G1's, and all the figures beforehand. They're all nice figures to one degree or another. The HW figures are good. But just because a figure is "good" doesn't mean it's usable for some folks. If the figure lacks content support, it doesn't matter how good it is, it's not going to be used. If someone has lots and lots of time and money invested in one figure base, and the next round of figures lack the things they need - then they're just NOT going to switch over to the newer figures.
Every artist uses what they find the most useful to their art. And when you start getting into things like that - the Human Factor - it's unpredictable, and no market, no economist, can predict what people will do. Human behavior is unpredictable at times. Especially where sales and money spending is concerned.
Terre
Renowned
Good morning.
I was just looking over the IK discussion and remembering that one thing that Jim taught me was that with IK on you need to grab the outermost part of the limb you want to move and pull it to where you want it. The rest will follow. In the few renders I've done that was how I did the big movement of arms and legs and then adjusted the hands and feet joint by joint.
I was just looking over the IK discussion and remembering that one thing that Jim taught me was that with IK on you need to grab the outermost part of the limb you want to move and pull it to where you want it. The rest will follow. In the few renders I've done that was how I did the big movement of arms and legs and then adjusted the hands and feet joint by joint.
skylab
Esteemed
Seliah, everything you've said is absolutely true. Market sales are skewed by all these factors. And you're right, the old timers have been through having to make things work best they could...haha.
Hey Terre Yeah, I find IK is useful when I want to have a standing pose that has a slight twist to one side. The joints line up nicely, and that 's probably what he is talking about, "grabbing" the limb. I tend to grab the hip, with IK on, and rotate a little.
I'm going to run a quick errand to check my mail...see if Peanuts has arrived Be right back. Think I'll leave everything up to save time rebooting everything when I return. Making good progress on the pose tweaks. All the figures needed tweaking in the hands, and the robes needed enlarging at the bases, to not be so tight, more like what would be seen in that culture.
Be back shortly . . .
Hey Terre
Yeah, I find IK is useful when I want to have a standing pose that has a slight twist to one side. The joints line up nicely, and that 's probably what he is talking about, "grabbing" the limb. I tend to grab the hip, with IK on, and rotate a little.I'm going to run a quick errand to check my mail...see if Peanuts has arrived
Be right back. Think I'll leave everything up to save time rebooting everything when I return. Making good progress on the pose tweaks. All the figures needed tweaking in the hands, and the robes needed enlarging at the bases, to not be so tight, more like what would be seen in that culture.Be back shortly . . .
skylab
Esteemed
A little proof of my devotion to Schultz Peanuts characters...a few scans from old sketchbooks and notebooks...the one yellowed with age was done when I was still a child, making it over 50 years old. When I was in high school I used to paint Peanuts characters for parents who wanted them for their kids' rooms. I finally had the chance to see a Charles Schultz original once on a weekend retreat with a youth group where someone was displaying originals from many of the comic strips that were popular at the time. I guess the fascination started early with Snoopy and Woodstock...and at the time, Snoopy was the coolest dog in the strips
Those are great, drawings, Sky. I could never do those by hand! And so cool that you still have the one childhood drawing! I just think that's really neat.
The Generation 4 reset/zero poses are up now.
I could never do those by hand! And so cool that you still have the one childhood drawing! I just think that's really neat.The Generation 4 reset/zero poses are up now.