I am doing a research about Victoria 3 (female only)character and texture map packages. I would like to know what is the "perfect" character for you :). How should she look like? The actress/model her face morph should be based on? her figure? Skin colour? Should she be punk, goth, classical? etc. Painted or Realistic Textures? Universal or Highlights/Contour type of maps? you can add more if you feel like it :) be specific - on my part I am going to try my best to bring her to life (or bring her to the marketplace ;D). I dont know if anyone asked about this yet - my appologies if it has been asked a million times. I am waiting impatiently for any reply ;). See you, thank you.

well i personally prefer fantasy type characters,painted and tattoo'ed skin textures etc,for face type i'm stuck between soft fairy type faces and vampish faces,figures i prefer to be not too thin,but not over heavy in the boob department..lol i also think the gothic look is great and it fits into the fantasy category also in a way,this is just my personal preference i hope you find it helpful :)

It doesn't matter to me what or who it looks like. What matters most is that the character has a 'back story'. The 'whys'. If you look at the best of the best, you can see it without even knowing you've seen it. There are some technically excellent character packages out there but when I look at them, I have no clue as to who they are or why they look the way they do. I know this sounds a bit ephemeral but it's much more imporant to me than style (punk, goth, etc) or decoration (makeup, tattoos). Put personality first and the rest will follow. On a technical note - I do really look for interesting and varied skin tones - changing skin tone in the materials dialog just doesn't cut it - and interesting facial structure. I would be a REALLY happy camper with an eyebrow-optional head texture and a variety of brows. They make a huge difference in customizing a character. -Nancy.

as long as the character is inexpensive, takes a lot of props and clothes without too much 'backtalk', looks somewhat realistic, and doesn't require too many directories, it's fine by me..;)

Everyone's going to want something different. Personally, I like realism and "character." My favorite of all time is "Yuma" in the marketplace. (I'm a sucker for freckles.)

I like ultra realism or completly out there. a generic skin texture with a belly tatoo does nuttin for me. textures that make ya go who IS she, what planet/race is THAT! the textures that just pop. and almost anything that gets away from the barbiesque feel of a poser vicki if that makes any sence. i'd give texture pack examples of good and what I think are bad but rather not single out people or publicly hurt someones feelings just cause I personally do not like it, others love them.

I like realistic and fantasy painted characters, I'd like to see a realistic but punked out texture (option-lots of goth tex around but a punky feel'd be brilliant)) , I like flawed textures as well..with scars,freckles (I don't mean freckles and beauty spots as flaws), flushed skin. I'd like to post some examples but as MachineClaw says "..good and what I think are bad but rather not single out people or publicly hurt someones feelings just cause I personally do not like it, others love them. "

I've bought a lot of models & textures... Not to say i'm an expert (except with my charge card, LOL). I purchase female characters that have interesting AND pretty faces. I like makeup options, but not green, blue, or purple lips to match. Don't need textures for nail polish, or tatoos, especially on the face. I admire Handspan Studios characters - the body types are so feminine. If you're gonna have characters, what's wrong with them being attractive? I don't see any beauty in Supermodel Vicky, but I adore Jim Burton. I remember 'Stormi'for V2 - she was so quietly beautiful. And ByteMeOkay has perfected some ethnic types to a tee. One thing I really look at is the eyelashes - if they're good it makes a big difference. BillyGoat

A really realistic brunette would be nice. There are some textures out there that go from dark to light but I'm thinking realistic character eyes, a distinctive and expressive mouth. There really have only been a few textures that are extraordinarily expressive-- as opposed to classically beautiful-- Lacey, Inger, Buck Wilder, Several of Bte-Me's Stephanies. They are usually just a bit older than the usual Vicki-- and you can see their life in their eyes. Spectre3 Bria is also a case in point. Malefica as well. And the less tattoos the better. I'm burning out on tattoos. The all-over variety at least. Emily

Oh, forgot. A good bump map makes all the difference too. I cant tell you the number of times I've used Lilliana or Selene to put some life in another texture, or Aeris for Stephanie. As for fingernail polish-- I like one or two colors and a long nail option, not too garish makeup, and thats about it. Emily

As far as the character/face goes, I prefer her to have sharper, more distinctive features. A lot of packages you get, if you render from any distance, you can't even recognize the face morph. Give me some personality. I am divided between photo-real and painted textures. Although I do personally prefer to have the highlight/contour on my map. I know this is a personal pref, though, and some people hate this. I agree about the bump map, but don't get carried away. I hate to see when someone uses a bump map that just makes the poor dear's face look pock-marked. Think of your Alasunthia package. The bump was great for the lips, and the face didn't need it. The market is getting kind of saturated with tattoos. If it has one, it should either be super distinctive or include a non-tattooed face. Makeup options are great, I like the darker makeups, but that's personal (from my life too. :D) But if you are doing a photoreal base texture, the worst thing is to see the packages with not anywhere real looking makeup. Once again, the options and variety and styles in your last pack were great. (Can you tell I really, really, like it. lol) Ditto what was said above about the eyebrows. I don't mind them right on the texture, but I LOVE a great set of eyebrows that is customizable.

Must have a plain, no make-up texture. Make-up as well is okay, but I need to be able to add my own stuff. Photo-realistic or close. Textures that looked airbrushed are nice, but I can get that effect myself in Photoshop with a realistic texture. I can't go the other way around. Variety. Less Valley Girl Barbie, please. Let's have some real people from all different parts of the world. Morphs and such are nice additions, but it's rarely a make-or-break for purchase. Skin flaws - moles, freckles, etc. would be nice.

"Less Valley Girl Barbie....".... YES!!! I won't buy textures that look too much like ones I have (I made that mistake with Mike during one dark period and ended up with three blonds with goatees...no more!) I'm with Crescent on what she says all the way around. I'm not as experienced but I need flexibility on how a texture is used. If there isn't a plain version, it's not much use to me.

I am also a little over the tattoo thing, too. I don't use blue and green lips often either. I appreciate when a model has a variety of looks. A nice transmap can make or break the package.

My truly ideal package would have at least these 4 maps:

1. Little or no makeup
2. Normal day makeup (pinks or peaches or corals)
3. Evening look with darker tones(cinnamons or burgundies)
4. Vamp, Goth or punk (reds and blacks)

This allows a variety of characters and more bang for the buck. A true value is when the character does not just have one look.

Blackhearted and Rio totally get it. They have natural, versatile makeup maps (with maybe 1 or 2 rad ones thrown in for good measure).

Just finished watching an old episode of "Charmed"--why has no one done a character that resembles Shannon Doherty?? Not the current skinny look that she has now, but the kind of soft, full face and figure that she had when "Charmed" was in it's first couple of seasons. For textures, I always buy the highest quality photo-real ones that I can possibly afford--Yuma by SteffyZZ is my favorite, and I'd love to get another one by her. I'd love to see a very fair-skinned, Black Irish texture that could go on a Shannon Doherty character, with the make-up variations that Carcinogen listed above.

If I see a texture/character pack which says that the character can go from naughty and nice, sugar and spice, innocent and evil, twisted and straight, dark and light, etcetera ad nauseum... I simply avoid it. One size fits all usually fits very, very badly. What I'd like to see is more morphed characters, faces and bodies, with recognizable features. (I don't need to recognize the particular source model.) What about beaked noses or pug noses or roman noses? Some really high cheekbones? Some real dimples (placed far enough away from the mouth to have real smiles!)? Squared jaws or pointed chins? Not everyone has to be a fashion model... Katherine Hepburn and Anthony Quinn had interesting features. Perfection isn't nearly as interesting as quirkiness. Carolly

1. High res texture. I don't care about tats, I can always add them later. Photo realistic is required. I'm tired of getting textures that are mostly a consistant flesh tone with no skin details. No more green lips or heavy makeup (if any). No more fantasy or goth stuff. I don't have anything against it, but there's plenty already. The only exception might be a good sad clown texture. The best female textures are still done by StefyZZ. 2) Morphs that make the face look nothing like the original character, but still like a real person. Some face morphs are more characature than charater. 3) I don't want them to look exactly like a real person, unless I have a specific need for that person. I don't want a morph of Sandra Bullock or Liza Mineelli. It's a use once then probably never again. I wopuldn't mind some political figure morphs, like Bush or Clinton, but only of people in the news that I have a resonable idea I may use again. Maybe Hillary. Marilyn Monroe or Lucile Ball might be a nice package too. Katherine or Audry Hepburn would be very nice. If you're going to do an actress, do one of the classics. Shannon Doherty? I've heard the name before... She may be beuatiful, but no one is as lovely as Audry Hepburn or as sexy as Mayilyn. I'd love to do a series of Hepburn/Tracy movie stills or one of I Love Lucy episodes. 3) Real body morphs. No super models. There are tons of those. There are very few available of bigger women that work well. 4) P5 allows you to overlay one texture over another. I'd like tats, body variations (like beauty marks or scars), body hair variations (especially for male textures) done this way as part of a package or as a package in itself. I know that doesn't work easily for the P4 users, but for P5 it's really great. I'd love to see a set of mody hairs sets that could be used for any other texture.

I must say green lippies as an option is great, I really dig blue and green lippies as well as multi-hued, but there is a lack of natural going on.