Just passing on what I think is GREAT news - Anton has posted about it here:

http://www.contentparadise.com/forums/contentparadise/index.php?showtopic=3976

fabulous news. anton is one of the most talented poser content creators IMVHO.

God... 100+meg Zipped file(s)?

THE MAN OF THE CENTURY... :lol:

Be great to have Apollo out there for everyone to use. That's gonna be one hell of a free item!

Fantastic news! 

Hopefully the merchants out there will snatch him up AND MAKE stuff for him.

Carodan -- perhaps you should set up a nice directory of all of your ADS pose threads ;) Show those merchants what Apollo is capable of ;)

A time to rejoice -- thanks, Anton!

-- Jeff

I do have a short animation (less than a meg) that gives a pretty good idea. If someone was prepared to host it...

I'm very excited for everyone to see what a great figure he is :)

Wow! Great news!
So if a figure like Apollo is free, commercial figures must have to compete his quality!
Also all the new feautures that Apollo has introduced maybe will make the Poser figure creation move a little,it is time to step forward

caro, they may be able to host it for free at photobucket.com. depending on size and porno content.

There is a full frontal nudity issue. I seem to remember that being a problem with someone else's inages some time ago. I may have an idea though....

Attached Link: Apollo Cole ADS Character Preview (via carodan Apollo freebie page)

Thanks to Salashin for hosting this.

This is incredible news and can only be good for the Poser scene.

Hopefully it will lead to improvements in commercial figures, to justify their price. If not, perhaps the prices will need to be reduced.

I can't wait to get hold of this!

Wow.  I missed the opportunity to get Apollo and after reading so much about how revolutionary this figure was I always hoped I'd get the chance to check him out.

This really excites me and I can't wait to see what all the fuss is about.

The fact that he'll be free is even better.  Based on what I've read I would gladly have paid for it though.

This is really great news...i know that daz has an M4 in the works, but if it is a disappointing as V4, they can keep him...AM is the best conceived and executed poser character  thus far, bar none...

Also, if I understand that thread correctly, Poser 7 has Face Room support for Apollo .... which is also fantastic news.

This has been a great day and a great evening.  I haven't been this excited about 3D since..... well since Apollo was originally released!!  

I'm so looking forward to this update and to see what all the new folks that have joined the party in the past year are going to do with this wonderful mesh and all his goodies Anton's including!!

Really? oO I think this is great news too, and everyone who doesn't have the figure will get to try it and see all that brilliant innovation. I wonder what the improvements will be? I had a few things on my wishlist. AK is at CP now? And there's FaceRoom support too? oO This is whole bunch of good news. Win Win Win for everyone. ^^ bB

**its the best DAMNED news ever!!! i LOVE AM, but never use him enough becuase there was never enough stuff for him!

Make way V4/M4 cos AM is ganna kick yo booti!!**

Darkstar, I love your avatar!   :D     I am a little surprised to see Anton return to the scene after the last huge blowup, but it is good news. Personally, I don't think Apollo is going to really give the DAZ figures that much competition (mainly due to support), but there's certainly nothing wrong with more figures and more choices for everyone.

SnowS

this sounds great news, i always wanted apollo but missed out on getting him, so i look forward to seeing how adaptable he is, from what i've seen he does look the most adaptable figure. So many thanks for this Anton.

They thought him safely in the ground.... until he returned. >:)= Just as an FYI, be aware that AM has a learning curve, as Anton did some of the innovating lots of people have been clamoring for. If all you know is Dork and M3, things will take some time to learn. But it's worth it. I just wanna know what goodies he's put in....

Quote - Darkstar, I love your avatar!   :D     I am a little surprised to see Anton return to the scene after the last huge blowup, but it is good news. Personally, I don't think Apollo is going to really give the DAZ figures that much competition (mainly due to support), but there's certainly nothing wrong with more figures and more choices for everyone.

SnowS

Well, with this new release, there is no excuse for merchants to not consider making something for him -- they don't have to buy him, no investment aside from time. And Apollo can be just about anything: creature, man, teenager, boy, baby, and even a woman. And there's no politics of business involved -- he's free to use. Grab him, make something for him and see how well it does for you. You might be surprised :)

Remember, every person who owns Practical Poser 6 has an Apollo base figure, plus there's all of these free clothes to texture, too. He's got a following, and there's money to be made.

So support shouldn't be lacking this time. It's a whole new release, a new lease on life for the figure, and the best time to discover what all the fuss is about.

He's free -- so merchants: make stuff for him :)

-- Jeff

YEA! What he said!

That's true Jefsview, but no matter how good Apollo is, he has one thing going against him - he's a MALE figure. It's always the same with male figures; merchants try to support him, few people buy what they make, merchants stop making stuff for him, people complain that merchants aren't supporting him.
:rolleyes:

"And Apollo can be just about anything: creature, man, teenager, boy, baby, and even a woman. "

I can't completely agree with this statement, to me Apollo's face looks virtually the same in every render I ever see of him. That's likely the result of the user, but still. At least if he's supported, he'll be the flagship figure of all those who don't like DAZ for whatever screwy reason and refuse to use V4 and M4.
:glare:

SnowS

The always the same face is usual thing happening on figures that don't have Texture support
Since there aren't many textures for Apollo it is common most renders look the same!

Jessi&James are another example of that! How many renders of them have we seen without the Default texture?

M2/M3 are more recognisable to me whatever texture/morph those use (only some exceptions just to make the rule) David is the only male that confusses me since his face can be morphed better...

Quote - Darkstar, I love your avatar!   :D     I am a little surprised to see Anton return to the scene after the last huge blowup, but it is good news. Personally, I don't think Apollo is going to really give the DAZ figures that much competition (mainly due to support), but there's certainly nothing wrong with more figures and more choices for everyone.

SnowS

**Spanx Snow :) its stupid i know, but hey i do that all the time LOL and your ave is just as cute AWWW KITTYY < major cat nut!!!

Well, i think, OMG im thinking since AM2007 is going to be FREE hello major model makers, make all models FREE, take notes please i think this time round he is going to have a much more better following, i know i flippin love him, i havel almost, almost everything for the orginial, but was missing just a couple, and now, being free my almost collection is getting that lill bit better :D

Anyhoo, im soooooooo going to enjoy him once again!!**

Off to work now..... I'd rather play but oh well, gotta work to earn the bucks to keep doing this kinda stuff!!

Richard ;-)~

This was a test render I did a while back -- he can look quite different if you put your mind to it...

don't tell me he's the dog in the bottom piccy, man he is adaptable!

Snows did you ever make a seam guide for Apollo please? Thanks for your other seam guides by the way!! much appreciated.

Thanks SO much for all your morphs, Carodan - I got Cole a little while ago, and and am just getting around to installing him. 

:) You're welcome aproctor. There are more in the pipeline (whenever I get some time off work that is)

Carodan, you are the main reason why I said "virtually" in my previous post.   :)   Those are truly excellent images and really show that Apollo CAN look different if users take the time to tweak him. Everyone's pics look good and I didn't mean that he can't be made to look different, just that when I see him, I can always tell it's Apollo (I can't always do that with Jessie unless it's a full body shot).   ;)

Vince3, yes I did make a seam guide for Apollo. Should be available in Free Stuff, if it's not working for any reason, let me know and I'll get it fixed.

SnowS

Quote - don't tell me he's the dog in the bottom piccy, man he is adaptable!

Hahahahha.  Damn that would be adaptable.  ;)

Oh whoa... Did I just spot Alan Alda in that group of pictures?  oO

bB

:)Thanks SnowSultan
I think perhaps because not many character sets were previously released for Apollo that included morphs as well as textures interacting to produce really different looks - like some of the ones you see for V3 and other figures - that he can look similar in many renders. Very true of many a figure in Poser though. 
I know the P7 morph brush tool is enhancing my approach to character design. I feel much more free to paint a morph from scratch or tweak on top of the morph dialing. I've found that Apollo's face mesh works very well with that tool.
Not to say that someone with sharp eyes couldn't spot the tell tale signs of a character's underlying mesh, however.

Quote - *"Oh whoa... Did I just spot Alan Alda in that group of pictures?  oO"

Indeed you did ! I'm tempted to have another go now I have the morph brush in my arsenal.

Carodan, your work is nothing short of incredible!

Not only your morphs, but the renders themselves have a clarity that is exceptionally rare for Poser. How-do-you-do-it?!

If it weren't for your images there wouldn't be nearly as much excitment about this figure, which in a way is a shame.

Do you make your morphed characters available to others? I ask because your Dobby is perfect!

Keep raising the bar...and making the rest of us look like hacks! :)

I echo ClawShrimp's sentiments ..... carodan, your renders are extraordinary ! .... any chance of you letting us in on your secrets ?

On page 1 of this thread I posted a link to a small video clip of Apollo ADS poses which takes you to the freebie page where you can download all the poses I've put up to date. Some require Capsces Cole Apollo. The House Elf character is in one of the Cole ADS packs.

As for secrets etc - no secrets really, just perserverence (or is that an obsessive nature).
Ok, I'm a portrait artist by trade which does play a big part - but a lot of that is observation. But really, I've taken the time to learn what the morphs can do and spent many hours playing with different combinations - saving poses, loading different ones on the animation timeslider and making intermediate blends (neat trick that Anton suggested for making characters), constantly rendering and revising them. 
I've learn't all I know about rendering from these and other forums - following the threads, trying the suggestions (I do document what works, when and why which helps). The interaction between lighting and material setups is a balancing act that just takes time (days sometimes to tweak - that's the hobby isn't it ?).

I have more new character poses that I'll be putting up before too long - some revised ethnic morphs, the werewolf and (in time) some expressions and the female (although there are a few problems with that one).

Wow! Some of those pictures looked like.....well.....real people! Imagine that:O

I'm really excited about this. I have almost bought AM 2 times, but every time, I just couldn't afford the expense due to RL issues. Now, it looks like that won't be a problem!

carodan, thanks, you excel not only with morphs but also with the texturing of the characters, and the lighting as well. I seem to remember you saying somewhere that you use displacement maps quite extensively, is that correct ? 

Also what lights do you use ?

VERY good news.

I had brought AM and a few textures, and was just getting ready to get a a more extensive wardrobe for him when POOF!! It was all over. (Yikes! What the!?)

I loved the character and was well up on the learning curve with him. All he needed was some textures, clothing and etc which I was just about to buy (as more became available) when I was abruptly left flat footed with a BEAUTIFUL but "dead" character. :-(

I haunted various sites for MONTHS after that trying to find out who would still be supporting him but (Oh, well) it seemed it was all over.

I am very VERY happy he will be back, and making him free is VERY shrewd as I admit I would be a bit wary about jumping back into the pool and buying too quickly after having already been burned a bit.......

If he takes off, I would gladly go on a spending spree as long as there was good stuff for him. He IS the best Poser character I have ever seen.

OMG I love Apollo............ I have him, yet was really disheartened by the lack of support around for him.  A terrible shame too.  His rigging was to me lightyears better than any of the Mil men.  I will be salivating to get my hands on him!

I own Apollo (the first one) and thought he was really cool and very well done mostly. At the time I was still in the formative stage of learning polygon modeling (I'd been using NURBS till then) and texturing. Had I known then what I know now, I'd have at least tried making a displacment map for him, as I think the figure had/has tons of potential. I for one look forward to this release and I'm both glad and sad about its status as a free item.  Work of that caliber deserves compensation.

This is good news indeed.

I'll be looking forward to this...

JB

Impressed with carodan's pics

OMG, Carodan, you've actually created an Alan Alda look-alike LOL :)

I hate to be a bit of a wet-blanket on the great news of Apollo being back on the market, lord knows I was one of the biggest supporters of him at www.rawart3d.com , but I do have to comment on the posts made about how the fact that Apollo is free is a good thing for this community. One of the big problems in this community is its low pricing, which forces alot of merchants to no longer be able to produce the quality figures which we would like to have access to. This kind of de-valuation on the work of figure creators is very dangerous to the market as a whole. 
Now while I limit myself to texturing and not figure creation, it doesnt affect me directly to make these comments, but I do know that through my contact with many of the top modelmakers in this community, that quality figure creation can take at least several months to work out. So when their work gets devalues to the point where they can no longer afford to take the time to develop, we loose more and more of the quality developers.
So as much as I like Apollo, this business of him being free is not as much of a boon to the community as some may think. The community is more than the consumer, without the producers, then the community will not have much growth.

Just something to keep in mind.