Before I release my newest character, Xie, I wanted to know what you guys thought she needed. It's my goal to make a decent selling product, after all, and to please my customers. So far, she has one face map and one body map, as well as her transmap, and, of course, the gum/teeth map. I have several colors of eyes planned for her, as well as at least one make up texture. But I wanted feedback before I release her, so I make sure she appeals to as many as possible. Right now, the only requirements are Steph Petite, her face morph pack and the International Beauty set. So... What makes you buy a set?

The main thing people look for in a character set is versatility. It's getting harder and harder to make a good character set for V3 and make it a top selling product. In truth, the skin/character market, especially in reguards to V3, is becoming a very saturated market, and you're going to have to do a LOT to make your character set stand out. Although, I must admit, it looks very good :) The majority of the people here are going to be looking for options. Skin tones, make-up options, tattoos, poses, light sets, MAT poses, P5 material settings, morphs....AND all at a cheap price. That's why I personally stay away from character sets. Too much work for me - that and I'm terrible at texturing ^_^

Elements that would make me consider a new Character set; Ease of use. Realistic Detail. Natural (NoMakeup/Unplucked) version of head. Body version with no Pubic hair or detail for use on younger figures. Body versions with & without noticable tan lines. And the less reliance on existing add-on packs (beyond the basic set) the better.

Textures Price for package vs quality (realistic) and image size. I dont want to pay a lot for low quality texture or small image size. P5 support (more than just hooking the bump map to the right place) Morphs Realistic looks, significantly unique. Both body and face morphs. Independence of additional packs is preferred. Eye colors, makeup options, tattoos etc increase the value but only to a point. I think it would be better to add these options to sweeten the deal rather than to justify a high price. My preferences. Skin flaws such as freckles make the textures more realistic.

Oh, and I'd like to see a character that doesnt have giant lips.

Thanks for all the feedback! Tyger, do you think Xie's lips look huge from what you can see from the pic? I intend to try and do at least one variation on her face for the pack, if there's a lot of interest in it. I'm also taking my time, because Steph P's UV maps aren't the same as V3's, despite that they should be.

Non-Caucasian is a good start. It would be good to have a great solid market character pack for each of the many races. Lacking: East-Indian, Arabic, Native American...each race should have several morph options and texture variations to cover the spectrum. They should be flexible enough so that the end-user can customize them as they see fit without having to "undo" the merchant's work.

Xie's lips do look large to me. I'm not saying nobody has lips like that, but she just looks like she is puckered up for a kiss or something.

Will, I've tried to do different ethnicities... My last ethnic product bombed so badly I was too depressed to even work on a product for about a month. Tyger, I can see what you mean, though Xie's face is based on a real life woman.

I really like the shape of her face and would probably go for her as she's a SP3 character who looks beautiful (very unusual so congratulations on that alone!) I do think however, that her texture looks a little bland/flat at the moment :) Saying that, I have many fabulous textures which I can use on a new character to make them look wonderful so unique and unusual-looking faces are what I tend to go for at the moment. I like a product to come with a good basic texture, look good in the promos, and not be too overpriced. I also check out the galleries to see what other people are doing with something I'm considering buying - that can often tell me how versatile a character is. Price is the really big factor: notice how the really 'famous name' character creators have lowered their charges now the competition is so hot. I really do think she looks lovely, hope everyone's input has helped, and wish you the best of luck with her :) ali x

I really do wish more people would look at ethnic characters for the versatility they have. Every caucasian person doesn't look European, or have pink toned skin, so many of the ethnic textures are perfect for a little variety in your renders... without necessarily stating "this woman is East Indian" or such. (Khrys already knows I love his Dhara set, and think she deserves much more notoriety.)

I agree with most of what's been said, a character package really has to offer something unique to distinguish itself from the multitude of sets available.

Some of these are my personal preferences, or just things I've noticed in a lot of texture sets... but I hope they're still helpful.

Reasons I'll generally NOT buy a character/texture:

Morphs based solely on the standard DAZ morphs, I can twist the dials too.
Morph made to look like a particular well known figure, I want to be able to use these characters for unique projects, not fan art.
Overly plucked eyebrows, overly dense eyebrows, overly stylized or dramatic black/platinum blonde painted on eyebrows. All of these limit the versatility of a texture.
Overly saturated skin color, or dull flat-looking skin. Skin isn't the same color on the whole body, it amazes me how often I see that mistake made by texturers.
Lack of detail/distinguishing characteristics. Give them a freckle or two, maybe a birth mark on the back, even if you cover up facial discolorations in 'makeup' variants. Don't overdo it though, sometimes too much 'realism' ends up being a deterrant for those looking to make the standard supermodel types. (And that's a big part of your customer base with female textures, as much as I hate to say it.)

I don't see a lot of realistic makeup variants either, for that matter. Too many of them look like someone just made a selection and adjusted the hue/saturation. Another point to consider, eye makeup doesn't need to match lipstick, most makeup artists will tell you that's an industry 'no-no'. Anton's Fashion Model/Starlet face maps at DAZ are the best example of realistic makeup colors I've found anywhere, I'd reference them for my own makeup! lol

I don't think Xie's lips look too thick really, but maybe thinning out the top one a bit would give her a less puckered expression. I like her nose a lot, it's difficult to get a good rounded or flat nose without making them look like they ran into a window. :)

• Molly

For me, her [existing] lips would be a big selling point. I like the way they look - not as 'model perfect' as many characters, and I feel they give SP3 a pretty look which she's been sadly lacking so far...

I'm glad you two like the morphs. And I honestly agree. At this particular moment, Xie's texture IS looking a bit flat. I can safely say that Xie's face is NOT just standard DAZ morphs, and her body isn't DAZ morphs at all, but a custom morph I made, since I'm unhappy with Stephie's basic body shape, I refined it a bit. Here, you can see the body texture and shape.

Perfect body shape for her face as she looks quite sweet, young and innocent. Thank goodness you haven't made her into a huge-breasted freak :) ali x

Unfortunately, I'm probably atypical in what I buy, but here's what I look for: Ethnic characters. Xie's face is a good start, but I'd like to see a little more tint to it. Right now, without the face morphs, I'd think it was a standard, though pretty, Caucasian face. (Yes, I know that some Asian complexions don't have a slight yellow or olive tint to them, but I already have enough Caucasian skins to put onto morphed meshes.) I'd like to see a little more realism by way of flaws. Instead of getting 18 make-up options, I'd rather have 2 faces - idealized and very flawed - bags under eyes, a few veins visible, a few scars on face, etc. I'd love to get a set like that so I can blend the face textures together to get a variety of real-world looks. If the package doesn't have a no-makeup option, I won't buy it. End of matter. I like doing fantasy renders and when you're in the equivalent of the 1200s, there isn't much Maybelline around. (And some no-makeup textures look good on the guys, esp. since my people are usually clothed so little differences in male/female body textures wouldn't be noticeable.) Xie's lips are borderline to me. I hate the over-puffed lip look that so many merchants are using. I've gotten to the point where if I see the lips, I ignore the product, regardless of how the texture itself looks. If the upper lip was thinned a bit, I think it would look better. Otherwise the face and body shape look very nice. I just took a look at Dhara, and I think a part of the problem is that you rendered her on a black background for your promo shots. I just assumed it was a dark render instead of a darker skinned female, especially with the blue eyes and brown hair. Hope this helps, Cres

Detail. I want flesh that looks like flesh, not paint. I want normal human color variations, and I don't want any painted highlights. No highlights is VERY important to me. I can add those as part of my render. If the vendor hadds them for me as part of the texture, they limit my options. On morphs, I don't want dial twisting. I can do dial twisting on my own. I want different, noticable morphs that really change a character. I don't want "pretty". There's lots of "pretty" and "fashion" out there. I'd prefer more natural and varied morphs. One piece of advice. The texture looks pretty good, although I cant really see much skin detail. I love her look, but her face looks powdered with no sheen. Try giveing her a very dark highlight set at .1 to make her look a little less flat.

Thanks a lot for all the suggestions. I'm going to try them all, especially the scars and stuff. Something I've been wanting to try is a scarred eyebrow, transmap and all. I can also do acne and skin variations. As for the skin tinting, I intend to have at least three variations, one being the lightest, caucasian type, the second being the gold over white tone most Chinese tend to have and then a more 'pure' golden shade for the Islander type of texture. Xie doesn't have any make up, beyond perhaps a light powdering, which was actually the look I was going for. I'm going to adjust the highlight, though. :)

I second the above mention of a non-makeup map. I would even prefer it if it was the only map and then there were extra photoshop layers included for different makeup types...and I don't mean just different colors, but different styles of application. I can adjust hue/sat myself to get what I want. -WTB

Those of you who like natural maps, was this what you had in mind? I worked up some blackheads, some scarring as well as a lot of acne scars and discoloration in the skin, all of which are pretty common. I also heavily flesh toned her lips, to make them blend with her skin better, for an 'un made up' look to them.

very nice. did you physicaly modify the lips? the color change helps de-emphasize the lips and looks (in my opinion) much better. are you rendering in P4 or P5?

P5 with P4 rendering engine 'cause I'm not fond of Firefly unless I need to do something special. I kind of like the paler lips, too. I may do them as another texture variation. I think the thing I'm happiest with about her 'natural' map is that I learned how to make a pimple in photoshop. I know it sounds gross, but I couldn't find any high res models. And, having just exited my teens recently, I can remember what the horrid things look like...

Is this what folks meant by a skin set for use on preteens? Sort of like that one V3 no gen set available at DAZ? Her nipples are still there, but I haven't smoothed them out with morphs or anything...

I love her facial features she looks lovely.

Just thought you might like to see this... Xie and Stephanie Petite, with SP wearing the Daz3d texture using some custom lighting I'm working on... Do you guys like the light...?

The lighting looks great to me, that's one part of Poser I just can't get the hang of. Will that be part of the Xie package? - Molly

Most definitely, if I don't find any problems. It works pretty well so far, though. :)

Xie looks like a character that would get my attention.

My hard drive is loaded with dozens of V3 characters of every description. Plus numerous character creation packs / body-face morph packs.

For this reason, it's gradually getting harder and harder to sell a V3 character to me.

However -- Xie has a certain appeal.

I'll be watching the marketplace. And Xie's price.

Well, the most she'll be is about 10$, because I'm not doing a crapload of useless make up textures that no one wants for her. I made that mistake with Dhara, and I know it /was/ a mistake. And here's an update image on Xie. Minor postwork on the lighting, but none on the texture, just on the hair and the window/screen.