Oh she is sooooooo cute!!! I really love her too. Question Sharen........ When you add her hair at what size do you do it? and do you have to tweak her clothes? I seem to be having problems :(

Adorable!! What hair is that? I like it ia lot - good for Fantasy type work. :-)

Sharen, she looks wonderful! Great job on this :) And you are so right, she is just to much fun!

Yes, this is the Koshini-Toon character I've always wanted! Five fingers, V2's highly useful BOD, and tons of great clothes, morphs and faces to go with her! (Which I already OWN and don't have to run out and BUY) My first 10 minutes of playing with this babe has got me convinced how much I like this SHAZAM concept. I've been using Sarsa's PS-PT maps (like Sara) and her lights with SnowSultan's Z-Toon via Ockham's great Python script, and getting beautiful Disney-like airbrushed illustration effects. They look like high quality characture artist work! Now- if I could just get a TUTORIAL to tell me what ALL THE OTHER STUFF does (since there is nothing but a file list and basic readme) I would be an even happier camper! Oh, and- hope he does an M2 version soon. I have lots of BORIS characters I would like to see as TOON illustrations!

The hair ia UltraSalon, I think you can get it at Daz, if not, Poser Pro, by Mehndi.

Oh - the UltraSalon - thanks!! It's beautiful.

I just don't get it. To me she looks just ...weird. Out of proportion. Why is this look appealing? This is a serious question actually.

LOL! Anyone got any midget tossing poses???

I think what you might be missing is the COMMERCIAL appeal this has in other areas. The Big Head-Wide-Angle photography look is actually a hot visual item these days if you follow advertising and stock photography trends. (That's one advantage of getting "outdoors" and seeing what's going on outside of Renderosity- speaking as a Renderosity-holic) There are TONS of people who have NEVER heard of POSER- and probably don't CARE. But what they want are SPECIFIC IMAGES. There's a MUCH BIGGER world out there that wants specific imagery-stuff. That's what DKE was referring to in his promo paragraph at DAZ. Maybe people HERE don't GET IT, but there IS a market for these looks! Frankly ALL TOON CHARACTERS are out of proportion! That's what makes them CUTE and different from standard proportions. Why does KOSHINI sell so well? She's a really GOOFY looking DOLL with FOUR fingers! (Before all the KOSHINITES attack me in mass- I'm just speaking rhetorically- take a chill pill. I have a BUNCH of Koshini stuff myself. Just don't get me started on Ichiro! He's the UGLIEST LITTLE CREEP ever created!- A 3D Michael Jackson-Anyway...) I just think that people who "don't get" this character, maybe don't spend much time finding out what the "real world" wants in the way of characture and illustration.

veritas, Well my specialty is supra-real fantasy, not toon. So this kind of figure proportion has zero to little demand in that area. I can see that it has some mass market appeal .. a quick walk through Toys-R-Us confirms it. Big headed little critters everywhere. they're LOOKING at me. make them STOP The only time I'd use a figure like this would be if a client wanted a gnome or pixie type figure. I just don't understand WHY its appealing. Which is why I asked. Lyrra

kitsch

I think the "WHY" is because it's different..... "Just don't get me started on Ichiro! He's the UGLIEST LITTLE CREEP ever created!" DITTO!!!!

Sorry Lyrra if I got TOO EMPHATIC ---(But, HEY, why do I CAPITALIZE SO MUCH???)(BECAUSE AFTER A FEW GLASSES OF WINE MY FINGERS GET HEAVY!!!)-- But, yes, BIG HEADS do SELL! Look at PEANUTS and a million other comic-toon characters in print and on TV. The vast majority of them have BIG HEADS! I think DKE noticed this and the current Stock Photography trend of REAL PEOPLE with BIG HEADS! Big Heads on little bodies must somehow tap into some sub-concious NEED we have, I suppose. Cartoons are always a DISTORTION of reality. I know a guy who has done the same style of cartoon charactures of people - Big Heads on little bodies, and makes up to $1000 on a good night. Works at a major hotel-has done this for over 20 years- (conventions are the best.) He learned the style from his father, who did the same style for decades at hotels in Florida. You can see lots of other street and hotel artists doing big heads on little body type charactures all over. Call it "kitsch", buy AMAZINGLY it STILL sells well after all these years! BTW- I helped this one guy computerize his business- does it now in photoshop with layers and prints them on velour paper with an inkjet printer. Saves him tons of time and he makes good money with it. He doesn't use Poser, however. He would FLIP-OUT if he saw this new character application!

Babies and children have large heads in proportion to their bodies (same for most mammals)... so many people react to them immediately as "cute" and the nurturing/"Oh s/he's adorable"/"I HAVE to have this!" response. I think... LOL

I STILL don't understand what this character is besides being a scaled V2 with a big head. And Ichiro isn't ugly! :) SnowS

Well, I like her, I think they did a great job. So, some will like some won't. But this one is really fun to come home to after a long day. kayjay97, I tweaked them only a little, the hair I scaled up alot, I also wish they had a better description of what everything else is. Sharen :-)

Is this one of the Olson twins??

Sorry, and no offence intended to SAMS3D, but to me she just looks weird. Figures like Sara, Alexa and AnimeDoll are fine for me, but here the finely realistic Vic head on top of an ill-proportioned body makes her look like a congenital freak.

She looks weird to me, too, but that's the point. Think MAD magazine, or political cartoons. You could get a similar effect by just scaling up the head, but then the neck just doesn't look right, and tapering doesn't help much, unless you only scale up by a small amount. I still haven't decided if I'm going to buy this or not. I'd be more inclined to buy if it were Mike. The victims of caricature being more often male than female. :-)

So far, I don't really like this character much. I'll keep an eye on the galleries and see, but to me she looks too much like the "Bratz" dolls (which I happen to dislike considerably). As for the weird proportions being toonish, that's certainly true. One could just as easily mke an argument for the toonish tradition of four-fingered hands... ;) bonni

I understand and respect others reservations, but as for me, I think she is cute, and all my textures (huge to me), work with her, and all my clothes work. Now I did notice that her hands and feet are larger then the standard Vic, which as far as toon goes is a general characteristic. I like her, I like her, I like her. And well, I guess that is all that matters. LOL, I do feel that this investment, was a huge sucess for me. Sharen :-)

But I have tried just scaleing up Vicki's head, with a little bit of taper on the neck, and it looks just the same! Sorry, I still don't get this

the hands, feet and other body proportions have also been scaled.. check her out over at Daz.. I think she looks interesting, too, especially since there are SO many v1 &2 morphs and outfits out there! Can someone who's gotten her LMK if the outfits and such need to be fixed, or will they conform fine?

The ones I have tried conform great, and you do have to do a little fixing around the calves and feet and breasts, but really not much at all, I have tried her in almost all the clothes I have gotten over the past 2 years and she is good to go as far as I can say. Sharen PS: lots of head morphs too are included.

I don't understand the appeal, and what's weird is that I LIKE Koshini & Ichiro, Sara, Alexa, NefToon, etc, I even like the Bratz dolls & a morphed LaRoo! But Shazam scares me. :D contemplates

Hi Sharen, I like her too, but I really don't like her head being so big. Can you tell me if you can scale it down to look more proportional to her body? I really hate to buy her and then find out it can't be done. (: Genny

I will try it tonight, but how much would you want to scale it down? Wouldn't that kind of leave you with a larger hands, larger feet, regular Vic? Sharen and Caly, I know that at first when I saw her, I went yikes....then laughed, then played and thought...this is perfect. Sharen

elgyfu, how much did you scale up? I routinely scale up Mike and Vicky's heads slightly for normal work (I think DAZ made them too small), and it looks fine. But when I try for the "bobblehead" look, and scale up, say, 500%, the neck looks bizarre, especially from the side, and no amount of tapering will fix it. Head morphs...now that sounds promising. If someone offered a package of "caricature" head morphs for Mike or Vicky, I would definitely buy it. I'm interested in capturing a likeness. Not necessarily realistic, but recognizable and humorous. Just enough so that people would know it's supposed to be George Bush or Derek Jeter or Jennifer Aniston, etc.

Beth

Oh Beth, you are always welcomed...and ernyoka1, I love this, and look in the Poser under DKE, I think it is the second pose one and the hair is for Kozaburo's it is towards the bottom. Sharen

Lots more is on the way- Versions for M3, V3, as well as M2! You haven't heard the LAST of Shazam by ANY MEANS!

Thanks for the info, Veritas. If more is on the way, I think I'll wait. I use M3 and V3 a lot more than I ever used V1, and so have a lot more stuff for them. I'm going to hold out for the M3 version, I think.

Capsces, is that Ichiro? Uh...when did he get breasts? ;)

Sharen, thank you....but don't worry about trying it out for me. I never thought about the hands and feet........sooooooo.....it's really not important. (: I think I am going to go sleep on this and then make my decision.........after-all..........I think I can afford to spend the money and possibly not like the product.....Heck...I still have those Mil-Teeth.......that I have never used.........but maybe.....someday? LOL! Genny

Yep, Snow, that is Ichiro. I've been morphing again. The face isn't great, but it was quickly dialed up. I haven't had a chance to actually try to make some feminine faces for him. Beth

Ichiro was always a weird dude! ---Now that he has breast implants I think he looks MUCH BETTER! (But I certainly wouldn't want to go on a date with him!)

Woah, long thread. I'll probably get buried down here at the bottom, but... I just wanted to thank everyone for the positive comments, and express my appreciation for those that went so far as to publicly mention they do 'like' it. Releasing a new product is always nerver-wracking to me, since I'm continuously worried that I missed some last detail, so the postive feedback is very much appreciated. That being said, I'm getting the impression that some of my doucumentation could have been better :) Before I address that, I would like to ask Lyrra (and the other's who are questioning the appeal,) if we could start another thread on that topic? I will right away anyways, but would invite you to participate since I find the topic fascinating! So on the 'extra info/documentation' side, I think the general question revolves around how to use the Morph AutoLoad features included with Shazam? Hopefully, because if it is, here's at least the start of the answers. Actually, this thread has gotten pretty long, so I think I'll start a new thread for that as well. Never know, someone might have a question :)

Why is Shazam getting so much praise when I never saw anyone at all comment on these two? Galaween, The Elf Warrior Queen Valendel, the Elf warrior King Yeah more expenseive, but look what they come with and you can actually get them together in a pack. Were they just marketed wrong? I mean, I personally like this morph much better (yeah, matter of opinion, but i like big head characters and i think shazam looks like neither a characature or a cartoon out of the box) and could do everything you've been talking about with these two (only with M2 as well as V2). and if i wanted their heads bigger, i could just scale them (basically, love the bodies, easy to make the heads extreme). I'm actually curious- if unreal charactes have such an appeal, why haven't I seen anyone use these two besides the creator?

I will be at the other thread, need to know exactly how to use this baby...Sharen

Cobaltdream, near as I can tell, the Galaween/Valendel characters are just morphed characters. They looked like very nice ones, but you'd have the same problem you always have: no clothes, other than the ones they come with. The beauty of Shazam is that all the Vicky 1/2 clothes should fit. No more having to buy a whole new wardrobe, or fiddle around with magnets or The Tailor. The versatility of Shazam also appeals to me. Galaween looks like an elf, and I can't see using her as anything but an elf. So I can't justify her price. Shazam, though...if she works as advertized, she can be anybody. And she won't be naked, either!

as far as i can tell, the way she can be "anybody" is by using other people's morphs, such as beth's roxanne. which i can do with galaween. or any v2 character. or are people mainly using her own morphs?

if she can use victoria's clothes, then the body isn't really that different, right? actually using the 100 body morphs would, i assume, make clothes not fit, as with any extreme character - especially as there is no note of any features that would morph clothes.

i can see your points on drawbacks on galaween. i guess i just don't yet see any advantage other than big hands, big feet, and big head, and galawaeen was the only v2 character that had big hands and feet.

basically, i'm just not seeing any advantage to buying this and rather than just scaling v2's head. especially when every morphed way i've seen her used seems (but may not actually be) to combine big head with small roxanne body.

really, i guess i'd like to see a comparison of, say, sara spriteling with big head (who can morph clothes), roxanne with big head (freebies for morphed clothes), and shazam. not that i expect anyone to do this just to satisfy my curiousity and incomprehension.

it's just that usually when people get excited, i understand why and covet even if i don't buy. this time, i'm stumped as to how this is even useful, so i assume i'm not seeing some aspect that's obvious?

Well, DKE said he was going to start a thread to try and explain the appeal to those who didn't get it. Though they might make him do it in Product Showcase. For me, though, I've always wanted to use Poser to do caricatures - of politicians, celebrities, my friends and family. I already do caricatures, with pen and ink, but I'd love to do it with Poser. Just scaling the head and hands bigger doesn't work. You get very strange artifacts, and tapering doesn't help (unless you only scale by a small amount). You could export the part into a modelling program, but that's an awful lot of work. I'm happy to pay someone else to do it for me. :-) I'm sure the appeal is different for others, and still others may never see the appeal, but I think I will eventually be buying something in this product line (though I'll probably hold out for the M3/V3 version, since I've barely used V1, and don't even own V2).

capsces he is! :)

Ah, Beth! I've been hoping and hoping you'd do a Puppet for Ichiro... Koshini is so lonely with a plain Ichiro beside her, I think he's been getting jealous :D