Attached Link: http://web.newsguy.com/xoconostle/aeon.htm

Dodger has done something very innovative with the DAZ Unimesh. He's created a male base mesh which looks more like Michael 2 than M3. It can wear M2's clothing, but accepts M3's textures and morphs. Morphs intended for The Freak and Puck can also be injected. Apparently some V3 morphs work too, for what that's worth. The advantage over the M3toM2 figure that comes with M3 is that M3toM2 doesn't accept body morphs at all. In my opinion this figure looks better, even without body morphs.

For my first tryout of the mesh I injected all of M3's head and body morphs. The only body parts I didn't modify or "bulk up" are the neck, hands, and feet. I intentionally used tight fitting hair (pjaj's LowCut hair for M2) and clothing (DAZ Beastmasters for M2.) Prior to this mesh's release, it would have been almost impossible to get a fit like this without a large amount of pushing, pulling, and use of magnets. I didn't need to do any tweaking at all for the hair to be a perfect fit, in spite of the fact that the face is heavily morphed. Interestingly enough, I was able to tweak the Beastmasters morphs, intended for M2, to fit the body, which was created using M3 morphs. Dodger will be releasing a whole family of similar characters in the future. You can pick up the first release, "Daniel, the Aeon Hero" at Poser Pros.

Please click the link to view a simple Quicktime rotational animation, which shows how snugly the clothing fits all the way around. After finishing the animation, I noticed minor errors at the shoulder straps, but that could be easily fixed with another slight tweak of the clothing. I regret that the animation is 8.5MB, so those on dial-up will probably have quite a wait for the movie to load. My DSL connection loaded it in about three minutes. The picture should give some idea of the possibilities if you don't want to watch the movie.

For those non-mods inclined to police the forums, please understand that Dodger has no idea I'm doing this, I stand nothing to gain from this posting. I did provide links to the content providers at the web page as a courtesy, but I'm posting because I think this is an amazing thing ... making morphs compatible with geometries previously thought to be incompatable. I merely hope to generate interest among those who don't already know about it.

I'm not the most technically astute guy around, so please don't ask me to explain how Dodger did this. :-)

Editing the post because I forgot to say: In the image above, nothing was postworked, I only lightened the image.

Message edited on: 05/16/2004 22:25

Message edited on: 05/16/2004 22:29

do you have a still pic of him? It'll take me 30 minutes to download the animation

Sorry, apparently the picture disappeared when I edited the post. Trying again...

no problem - pretty cool s

Wow, he looks great... Still I think I'll need a few more previews before I'm tempted to buy...

can you post a side by side comparison of the heads of M3 and Daniel?

Since Dodger can't or won't post his own ads, and you are doing it for him, shouldn't this be in the Product Showcase?

I want to know more. I see the product at PoserPros, but still slightly confused. Personally, I don't want to go back to M2, but being able to use the 'vast' (slight sarcasm there) repetoire of M2 clothing items on M3, per se, would be exceptional, while still having access to M3 textures and morphs. Appreciate any more indepth info (or links thereof)!

For instance, I cannot get to the link provided by Dodger's Readme in order to get RTEncoder. Nor can I seem to get a link to download in FreeStuff (cannot resolve host).

PapaBlueMarlin, I won't have time tonight but will try to do so sometime soon. Maybe if other people have this figure they can post some comparison renders, too.

"-----" is a the clone account, created today, of someone who didn't have the courage to make their post using their regular screen name.

Anonymous, what part of "Dodger has no idea I'm doing this" did you fail to comprehend? I've never had private communication with Dodger, I don't even know his real name, and again, I didn't do this "for him." I know and follow the site terms of service. I've described something that I thought was technically very clever, artistically useful, and which I'm certain will be of interest to fellow members. If actual Renderosity staff wants to question me about this post I encourage them to. If they choose to move the thread, I'll respect their decision. In the meantime, will the wannabe cops please let the real moderators do their job as they see fit? Thanks. :-) OK, let's get back to the real topic ...

Message edited on: 05/17/2004 00:14

kuroyume0161, you don't actually need RTEncoder to prepare the mesh. There's an alternative method (which is the one I used) to create the base mesh, basically just a matter of exporting an included version of it as an .obj file, very simple. This is what Mac users would need to do, as I don't believe there's a Mac version of RTEncoder.

I'm sorry, I confused you with another that posts in a similar fashion. Clone account, YES, created today, NO. Dodger does some amazing work, and I've bought a lot of it, but if he can't straighten things out between him and Renderosity, he shouldn't expect to have his products advertised at Renderosity, especially in a forum other than Product Showcase.

Hey, I'm sorry too, I was too harsh on you. I confused "last login" with the account creation date. I do see your viewpoint, but ask you to trust that this wasn't meant as an advertisement. The only contact I have with Dodger is occasional banter in another forum, and that's only been for a few weeks. I haven't told him about this posting, it was really intended in the spirit of enthusiasm for technical enterprise and new possibilities. I'm not crazy about commercial postings to this forum, I can see how this might look like one even if I didn't mean it that way.

That is an interesting innovation... and word of it might bestir others to creativity. We all have substantial investments in wardrobes for these critters, so extending their usefulness is a good thing. I'd prefer to see a fit with something more than mere straps, though. Jeans and long-sleeved shirt come to mind. The major problem with the M3 figure is those gross shoulders and jodhpur thighs. As this is not presented by the maker or tester, but by a satisfied customer, I'm inclined to let it stay here. I will keep an eye on it, though. Carolly

It seems to be just a bad time for communication. I'm sorry for being an A Hole here. It looks to be a great addition to the Poser character library.

"It seems to be just a bad time for communication." I agree, and regret being a part of that, but it's cool, we got past it quickly in this case. You weren't any more of a 'hole than I was, so let's both just forget it. :-) Carolly thanks for your understanding. You raise a good point about the figure ... M2 jeans and long sleeve shirts will work just fine if the figure isn't morphed too much, but there would probably be poke-through if the figure was overly muscular. It helped in this case that the Beastmasters outfit has the basic three FBMs for M2. It will take some time before I have a more robust understanding of just how far you can go. Dean

Hey guys! I'm the official Dodger product announcement poster! I got stuck with it in exchange for getting to beta test all his stuff. Nice things come from living in Portland only 10 minutes away! For information though, Anything not too form fitting should fit pretty well if there are no morphs applied. However, there's no reason Tailor can't work with Daniel (the Aeon Hero). Load The hero with the morphs saved in teh cr2 as the base, then the M2 clothing you want to add the morphs to, and go from there. I tested with the M2 base clothing packs from Daz, and they all work pretty darn well. Very little poke through, easily adjusted on a couple of items, and most work just fine as is. RTEncoder is available here in freestuff. Do a search for "encoder" and it's the only result, and the link works fine. Dodger has a few more surprises coming too. Can't say anything more. Side Note to Carolly: Have you seen Troy yet? What do you think of the costumes?

I have the AEON Hero. I haven't done a great deal with him yet, but here's a quicky render I did to show the curious.... This is the Vince texture (from DAZ), M3's genitals (I couldn't conform them, but it was pretty simple to just adjust the position slightly and parent to the hip), and the Head African M3 Morph on top of Daniel's own face (which is considerably different from M3 and from M2). The primary reason I got this figure was because I generally like M2, but I don't like M2's face, or rather, I don't like how every M2 figure looks the same. This guy is gorgeous. Oh, and that's an M3 pose, from the Esquire series (DAZ). I had to adjust the left hand very slightly, but otherwise it was fine. bonni

Hmmm.... I'm just the opposite. I'd like M2's head but not the body...

I've been playing with this guy. He poses wonderfully. He's got improved joints or something, because he's much nicer than M2 as far as posing. I'm seriously impressed with this one. bonni

xoconostle: you wrote that Dodger's hybrid accept Freak and Puck morphs; by that did you mean just face morphs or body morphs as well? If it is the latter, would appreciate it if you could kindly show a render with the Freak's default body morph, and if M2 clothes could still be made to fit (e.g. via Tailor morph transfer). Thanks!

;-D

Message edited on: 05/18/2004 00:16

elizabyte: you wrote "The primary reason I got this figure was because I generally like M2, but I don't like M2's face, or rather, I don't like how every M2 figure looks the same."

You just have to tweak those dials a wee bit more!

;-p

Could someone detail how us Mac users how we would decode the figure since that is the only thing preventing me from buying it or is that information included with the model?

There is an HTML document included which details doing the conversion on a Mac.

The Mac way of decoding is more tiresome, but the tutorial is very good and seems really easy to follow (I read over it out of curiosity). And just for the record, I only rarely go into any forum praising any Poser model. Not that I do or don't like them, I just don't normally feel the need to rave about them. This guy, though... He really impresses me. I think I'm in love... bonni

There is also a sort of version of the RTE encoder that works for Mac through Java .. Never used it but is supposedly works