Songbird Remix's Product Preview Thread

[Lyne]

oooooo a peacock by YOU would be SOMETHING! I'm SURE this would be a real money maker Ken, as people love to add the male with the tail fanned to art work!!!!!!!

Also once you get all the types done, maybe you could sell mini packs or the base model and add on's of other types/colors to help the pricing... Just a thought... and a "vote" for that bird especially!

 

[JOdel]

I've needed white peacocks for some time. Will just have to go on wanting for a while.

 

[Pendraia]

Cool Kiwi!

 

[Ken Gilliland]

oooooo a peacock by YOU would be SOMETHING! I'm SURE this would be a real money maker Ken, as people love to add the male with the tail fanned to art work!!!!!!!

Also once you get all the types done, maybe you could sell mini packs or the base model and add on's of other types/colors to help the pricing... Just a thought... and a "vote" for that bird especially!

Thanks. Strangely, I never selected my prospective bird projects for their profit margins. They get selected primarily because I want to create them or because I think the species is important to showcase for awareness or education. Way down on my decision list is that there has been a number of requests for them or it will make me some money.

 

[Ken Gilliland]

Here's a test render of my brown kiwi as I continue to refine the texture and shape... The plants in the background are New Zealand species from XFrog's Oceania plant sets.

 

[Lorraine]

Nice, Ken! Looking very relaxed and at home.

I've made a bit of a collection of NZ trees and plants (funny that). Dinoraul at Rendo has Puka, Agathis (kauri), Cabbage Tree and Dicksonia (punga). Stonemason's Enchanted Forest has also got punga, NZ ferns and small plants and trees plus a large tree very like the Northern Rata, I also use it for beach scenes as it looks very like the pohutukawa that lines our coast, they are of the same family. I have also found some other trees that mimic some of ours, I will find them in my runtime and post.

 

[Miss B]

He's coming along nicely Ken.

 

[Ken Gilliland]

Here's another render, this time showing the transparency mapped fur-like feathers... I don't think I could do much better unless I used a hair system like LAMH. I'm still a little unhappy with the bill bristles (whiskers), I think varying them more is probably the right direction through the trans-maps and maybe geometry. Once I get this texture set and UVs tweaked to correct any stretching, I'll use this texture as a base for creating the 5 species.

This also shows a couple of the poses, based on photos of kiwis.

 

[Alisa]

Loving these!

 

[Miss B]

Yes! I can almost see me running my fingers through that fur. Well maybe not, as I suspect the Kiwi wouldn't be too happy.

 

[Lorraine]

Loving these, Ken, getting bouncy in my seat!

No, Miss B, the kiwi would not be a happy kiwi. My husband found a kiwi that had been killed by a vehicle and brought it home. The feathers are so soft and fluffy, like down on a duckling. We informed DOC (dept of conservation) and they came and picked the kiwi up.

 

[Ken Gilliland]

I know it's been a couple days since my last post, I've ended up reworking my UVs because of some stretching and symmetry issues and adding a few more morphs. Now, that the path is clear, I'll be able to start defining the species and building the set which I'll start to share next week. While this image looks pretty close to others I posted, you'll notice some refinements like the bill bristles and more thickness in the neck.

 

[Miss B]

Nice Ken.

 

[Lorraine]

Very, very nice! Awesome even!

 

[Pendraia]

Lovely work Ken...

 

[Ken Gilliland]

All the Kiwi species I'll doing will be very similar to the untrained eye, but to a birder, there are significant differences. Here's a quick primer:

• Greater Spotted Kiwi... largest kiwi, straight bill, darker head, gray neck and under sides, large spotted body. The feet and bill is pink colored with gray-pink upper mandibles.
• Little Spotted Kiwi... smallest kiwi, straight bill, browner than the "Greater" with smaller spots. The feet and bill is ivory to pink colored.
• Northern Brown Kiwi... Mid-sized kiwi, long and slightly curved bill, darker head, gray-brown neck and under sides with dark streaking, coarse fur-like brown feathers with tinged of yellow to gray-white. Feet are pale with brown scutes (plating).
  
• Southern Brown Kiwi... Mid-sized kiwi, long and slightly curved bill, darker head, gray-brown neck and under sides, soft fur-like brown feathers with tinged of rufous. Slate to cream-color bill with blue-gray feet.
  • Subspecies- The Southern Fiordland kiwi is a grayer brown and the Haast southern brown kiwi has a much more pronounced curve to it's bill and it's distinctive rufous plumage. There is very little differences in the other subspecies other than the locations in which they are found.
• Okarito Kiwi... Mid-sized kiwi, a short curved bill, gray-brown in color with pink to pale brown feet and bill.

Here's the first species... the Greater Spotted Kiwi

 

[Rae134]

Cute little fella (love the texture on the legs Ken, and of course awesome fluffiness)

 

[Miss B]

. . . and of course awesome fluffiness)

Yes, it's that fluffiness I really like.

 

[Lorraine]

Getting excited down here, Ken!

 

[Ken Gilliland]

Thanks everyone... Here's a cool bird science item from Audubon...

Why do owls bob their heads?

With the Little Spotted Kiwi you'll see several differences (other than size) when compare to the "Greater"... browner feathers and paler bill and feet