Just in case adding nudity tag.

Fab joints you say? Think you're understating it somewhat there mister ;) That knee bend especially is brilliant!

I think he looks pretty impressive even without textures! Great elbows, they're always one of my pet peeves when it comes to posing most figures... I know you're still working on the feet, to me they need to be a bit thicker depth-wise. Had to sculpt a foot out of clay once in art school, boy was that a daunting task... anyhow, can't wait to see more of Maximus, he's looking superb!

~ Molly

anytime you need some peeps to work on some textures Anton, hit me up.

L.

He is looking really good Anton, the joints are awesome and the mesh seems to handle deformation really well.

Very impressive Anton! I'm looking forward to see the morphs. Staby

lol yeah me too. :) I am dying to tear into morphs but still tweaking mesh. I have some really killer things planned. This version isn't mirrored yet so that left foot is the older one. Still shaping foot but I agree it is too flat still. Lobo, I will be in touch for sure.

Oh this is very impressive (As always) I really like the shape of the shoulders, and also the little details of the musculature.Sometimes it isn't much that makes a huge difference! You rock Anton! I wish I had your knowledge about joints tweeking! I am still fighting with Elle joints... I agree for the feet to flat, but it's easy to fix that. Can't wait to see the final version and some morphs. Again, excellent work!

Hey Anton, looking great :) just watch the flattening of the thigh just above the knee bend there - the poser 4 figures did that really bad. I would also like to see a tiny bit of tendon detailing on the top of the hands like the hi res hand figures in poser 4. None of the full figures ever had them looking as realistic and I haven't found morphs to make them look right. Can't wait to see your morphs either! Keep having fun! :)

Great Work, looking good... keep us posted.

Looks awesome!!! There are a lot of female figures, we need a male for sure! Thank you for sharing your progress with us!

Just the way this figure moves is lovely. this is a good neutral base to morph from too ...easy to make thinner or larger without fighting built in problems. Mike 1 is too beefy and Mike 3 too angular. Neck is a good length, head is the right size (according to classical measures) ...I'm happy. Whats the polycount/file size? and will there be a lores version as well (handy for crowd shots) Map this fella Anton and let the texturists get to work :)

Lyrra he is roughly 40,000 polygons. I don't really plan to do any lower res versions since generally the damand doesn't equal the work involved. Maybe sosmeday but not now.

I am very impressed with him, as well. I think you're dead-on with your intent to keep the mesh simple and build the character through morphs. Provided that there's enough geometry to support a variety of morphs, there's really no limit to what can be accomplished for him. I think it will also make the figure more resource-friendly, since the artist can put detail only where he needs it. Can't wait to see more!

I agree that he looks very impressive... can't wait to see the head morphs. Keep up the good work ;)

He is beautiful, moves like a dream, and the joints are amazing! I can not wait for the morphs ;-).

Anton, he looks great, and I think you have targeted a good polygon count. I think this one will finally be the universal man we have always wanted :-)

Looks good Anton

He's looking very nice Anton! I'm looking forward to seeing him with textures. And thank you SOOOOO much for "no JCM's"! Man they are a pain in the arse! A modeller's bane if you ask me!

Yeah they aren't much good when noone puts them in clothes anyway. I'll keep ya posted. Trying to get an direct answer from Daz on which of Studio's figure rigging procedures, aside from the standard Poser switchover method, they are going to keep private to themselves only. Wish me luck.

I think it's great that DAZ is getting some serious competition:) It's a very good model I think, you can see a personality behind the polys:) The one thing that strikes me a bit odd is that his body in certain areas looks a little "melted". The abdomen is so defined, yet his chest looks very clean. I think that if his abdomen and upper arms are going to be so defined, then he should look a bit more chiselled (the thighs, shins, chest, neck). But perhaps you have already modelled for that and it's just not showing for now.

Good luck Anton! Keep us posted.

a 'softer' less defined base is easier to morph in both directions ... muscular and slender. Have you ever tried getting rid of Mike1's boobs? yah? its an incredible pain. With the softness of detail on the base, and with the higher polygon count and I'm certain Anton has put extra polys where they will be needed (right Anton?) I think this chap will be easier to work with than many models we've had in the past. Also, all the fancy gizmo's in the world mean nothing if nobody knows how to use or support the bloody things.

I think textures, morphs, and bumps will make the difference. It can be odd looking at a solid colored statue. I really don't want to do the 70,000 polygons models people claim cause their computer's to chug so badly.

Anton, very impressive. Looks like the makings of a real winner. I'm noting in particular how smooth the bending of the joints appears.

Thanks. There are always distortions and pulls in Poser but his range of moevement is quite advanced so far. Hoping to start Uv mapping tonight or tomorrow. This is the current process I am following 1) Collect reference data (done) 2) Design polygon flow and hierarchy (done) 3) Test and prove figure design (done) 4) Create base mesh at low res (done) 5) Subdivide base mesh, clean up and create cr2 with base joints (done) 5) Refine alpha shape and joints (done) 6) Add/splice in support parts like bodyhandles (done) 7) UV mapping (tonight or tomorrow) 8) Reference map and final shape/joint tweak (next week) --Base figure complete-- 9) Morphs 10) Final textures and poses 11) Hair and clothes 12) Release

Very exciting... let us know more as the figure continues to develop :)

OMG, a Poser figure that has shoulders which are correct and well-shaped instead of the usual bent-pipe bulging monstrosities! Anton, I could kiss you. Maximus looks amazing. When he makes his debut, I am so there.

Bodyhandles? Which, uh, parts are getting bodyhandles?

I would assume the body handles would be for the joints, maybe that's how Anton's getting away with not having to worry about JMC's.

Basically the handles allow for flesh movement instead of relying solely on morphs. Examples: -Ability to lift pecs up and down without morphs -Bulging biceps and hahstrings without morphs -Allowing tesicles and ears to pose ehile keeping the area one structire so it is still easy for people to do morphs.

very cool :)

Hey anton, great job with him, but you forget some points in your post number 29, between 11 and 12: 11.1 Lw rigging 11.2 Saslite hair creation .... Just kidding but I keep thinking there is a market for him in LW users here, or in general.... have a good weekend

lol. I you know anyone with experience in this or fbx please have them contact me. I asked before but noone responded.

Can't wait to see this one finished, he looks great!

Hey Anton, I hope it doesn't come back to haunt you for showing it, but the separate joint material zones is a great idea! Very nice of you to look out for the newbies.

This pic should give you a good ideas of what the hairline might look like.

the hairline material on the mil figyres were to remove poke-tru on hair and hat props when scaling isn't friendly. I have ideas for hair and stuff i am designing. Thanks for the suggestion.

Very cool... that is something I would never thought of :)

Mmm, I dislike all this additional material zones. The make tweaking the material settings a pain, and I always tweak my shaders for every render, it makes so much of a difference. I strongly would prefer a few big material zones and a set of simple black and white maps that can be used as transmaps and to blend different shaders. Easier to use and more powerful and versatile. All these material zones where just a work around for the primitive material system of P4 and just make the life difficult in P5. The may be good for quick, one click, changes, but for really working out the materials of an character, the hurt more than they help, IMHO. Great modeling and joint work, looking forward to the finished product. Like the fact that the base shapes are more neutral than usually, that will make morphing a joy. Stefan

That's an idea. I will consider the maps instead though people may not want large areas as transparent dots. The above zones are only three named: ElbowJoints, KneeJoints, and ArmpitJoints. I will keep what you said in mind though.

Oh yes, these stupid dots. One of the things that make poser less fun to use as it could be.

Personally, I think more material zones are a good thing, the flexability is very useful. What we need is a Python tool that will let us select a material zone as a source and then one or more material zones as a target and then set the targets to match the source. Even the standard Vicki is a pain in the ass to experiment with, so something like this is needed anyway.

What I have always wanted is the ability to select polygons and toggle them hidden or visible without need for materials.

Soulhuntre, I have contemplated to write such a script myself many times, but it seem that the P5 shader trees are not exposed to phyton. And the workarounds of writing temporary pose files seems a little bit to messy for my tastes. It is a shame: This program has this very powerful scripting language and this great shader system and they are not connected. Stefan