You guys are making amazing stuff!!!!!!

Too true BB.

I don't normally have the mouth open, so it's a step I usually skip. Plus, this was a test run for the shader...it just turned out better than I expected. :)

I'm toying with another image now. I'll post the result here once I'm done.

Thanks again BB!

Holy crap ClawShrimp that looks amazing!

I'm working on an expression pack for my 'Deaky' character (available free over at Apollo's page), and here's one of them. I'm working on ten, but that could go up or down depending on how they come together. Unfortunately they'll have to be Pose files, not Expression/Face files as I use the morph brush pretty extensively to fix distortion, particularly around the mouth and eye-brows. I'll also have to figure out how to include scaling and translation for the teeth in said Pose file, because Apollo's default teeth size in this caricature-like head just look wrong.

This is BB's Body Builder preset at work, which I found suitably extreme for this character. The neck bulge is a little weird, but that's more the displacement map than the shader itself.

edit
I apologise for the weird strobing (kinda like wearing stripes on camera). My lame attempt at making the background a little more interesting has backfired.

Beautiful work! That is such an interesting face.

A little note on the lighting - again I'm feeling the want of clean shadows in the mouth. And if you're going for that blown out lighting effect, try reducing the Teeth brightness, so that they show some detail.

Or, lower the light, and boost the skin Glow and Specular instead of using such a hot light.

Thanks BB!

That was really something I should have done with the Sumo render, but for this one I actually liked the super-white (or as I call them He-Man) wall of teeth.

I'll try your suggestions with my next 'realistic' render, which honestly hadn't even occured to me.

I made this guy as a brother of sorts to Carodan's Freaky morph for Apollo, which I absolutely loved (as I do ALL of his work).

Incidentally, how are you finding Poser 7's take on HDR? I think I read somewhere around here you finally took the plunge :).

This latest character will not update the torso, or hands and feet - even though I've replaced the Image Map just like the other 4 character as show in the picture above.

Any suggestions?

To replace the textures, I use a "replace material" script BB or some one else mentioned somewhere on one of these threads.

The body texture I was adding in had 2 different listings in the file selection menu.  I replaced both and wa-la!

Incredibly unique looking Apollo there jdredline. I don't think I've ever seen him look quite like this before...bravo!

Is this your own dial spinning or was it one of BB's presets? And what texture is it? It's really striking!

Quote - ...Is this your own dial spinning or was it one of BB's presets? And what texture is it? It's really striking!

Oh dear!  A credit check!

Let me see if I can remember - the textures  are pdxjims "Apollo Lives!" with BB's Apollo shader and lights.  I swapped out the image maps.

Supermodel morph is by Richard - I think - I hope I'm not wrong - aka RamWolf?

They were discussing over in another thread somewhere about how Apollo always looks the same, so Richard spun up some dial and posted it for free.

I have since tweaked it a bit and changed the texture to "Jake - for Apollo Maximus" , Copyright 2005 by usslopez 

Jdredline--got a link to that thread?!  That morph would make an awsome jump-point for some characters I have in mind.

Ditto!

I really need to diversify my stable of ogre's and freaks with a liberal sprinkling of finer-featured males. The face in my avatar is as close as I've gotten! i.e. not very close at all :)

Claw, I actualy just found it. Here: http://forum.daz3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=61513&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
The link for Richard's "supermodel" is on page 7, I think.

---but, Jdredline, would you be willing to share that fine pysique you spun out above there (the freckled fellow)?

Coolio, thanks raelislington.

I'd better shoot a thank you PM to the Wolf too :)

Quote - Claw, I actualy just found it. Here: http://forum.daz3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=61513&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
The link for Richard's "supermodel" is on page 7, I think.

---but, Jdredline, would you be willing to share that fine pysique you spun out above there (the freckled fellow)?

Thanks so much for finding this. Because I visit so many forums, I couldn't remember which one it was where I found it.

I didn't touch the body - only the face.

His body is part of the super model morph.

How do I remove AMUCFS from a model?

I had experimented with the AMUCFS on a model from my current project, but the style is too different to switch on this project.  So, I need my model back the way he was.

I select the Ashok texture from the Pose library and the preview shows the applied textures.  Even when I go into the material room, I can see all the materials are attached to the various zones. 

However, when I render, it looks like the image above.

Any ideas what's going on or how to correct?

Sorry but I do not believe you. You're saying that in the skin material zones you have a simple shader with an Image_Map like everybody uses? This is not possible.

Before you try anything else, you should select this apollo, go into the material room, and save his current settings as a new material collection. This is for two reasons. First, so we can get it back and see what's going on. Second, because that's kind of a cool cartoony shader!

When you said you "select the Ashok texture", are you talking about a material collection, a mat pose file (a normal one), or is it a fancy mat pose file that runs a python script. If it is the latter, it may be that it did not remove my shader, but merely replaced some texture file names.

The most certain way to get your entire set of shaders back is to

a) Load a brand new apollo, apply the Ashok stuff you did in the past, and save the result as a new material collection.

or 

b) Load some other scene where you know the figure has the right shaders. Save the shaders as a new material collection.

Then - open your current project, select apollo, and apply the material collection you just saved.

Also, to remove the Parmatic dials, select Apollo and run the Parmatic Delete Parameters script.

You see on the right, the nodes showing their simple Ashok image maps.

And in the middle is the rendered image.

Did you save that collection from the messed up figure or a working figure.

If you load a new apollo into that scene and apply that collection how does he render?

It sure looks like you've found some hidden toon rendering option.

Agreed.

Accidental or not, that's a pretty cool effect :).

Quote - Did you save that collection from the messed up figure or a working figure.

If you load a new apollo into that scene and apply that collection how does he render?

It sure looks like you've found some hidden toon rendering option.

I deleted all the nodes so the textures are no longer present.  I saved it as a material collection.  When I load it onto a whole new model and render, it still gives the same "Silver Surferish" effect.

I have no use for the effect and am willing to share it.  I just don't know how.

Quote - Yep .. the white preview is that way for me ... Basically it seems to mean old computer can't deal with the number of nodes.

I have Poser 7 SR2 and this white preview sometimes happens to me.

Work around #1:  Go into the Material Room and select the material library.  Click on "Add New Material to Library" - the plus sign button in the library.

Did all the textures show up?  Mine did.  Cancel out the "add new material".  And they're still there when you go back into the Pose Room.

Work around #2: When you go into the Material Room with your Apollo body model selected, the "skinbody" zone updates the texture preview.  You can go through the zone menu and select each one.  The textures will all update from white.  And it stays that way when you go back into the Pose Room.

Hope all this helps!

Keeping this alive...

At least for me.

Hi,

THis shader has so much potential that I can see.  Unfortunately that I might did something wrong on the installation or the process and get this error when I load the preset face.
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "", line 2, in ?
  File "D:Program FilesCurious LabsPoser 6RuntimePythonparmatic__init__.py", line 29, in ParmaticReplaceImage
    inp.SetString(value)
poser.error: Invalid file name: File doesn't exist
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "", line 2, in ?
  File "D:Program FilesCurious LabsPoser 6RuntimePythonparmatic__init__.py", line 29, in ParmaticReplaceImage
    inp.SetString(value)
poser.error: Invalid file name: File doesn't exist

I install parmatic 2 and the shader
I load Apollo
I run the parmatic updater python
I load the AMUCFS no trace
I choose the face and that what I got.

I can get only one type of body text and face 01 only.

The shader dial works fine.

Would you please help me out for this trouble?

Peter

Hmm interesting. Because of the error message:

poser.error: Invalid file name: File doesn't exist

I would guess the face texture image you're trying to load doesn't exist :biggrin:

The Faces folder contains pz2 files that call parmatic to change the files associated with the Image_Map nodes in the shader. I tried to reproduce your problem by moving one of the face files out of my runtime and then tried to use the preset to load it. Instead of getting a Python error as you did, I got a Poser dialog box saying that Poser could not find the file.

I'm using Poser 6 SR3 for this test. Perhaps this behavioral difference is because you're not using SR3? I don't know.

In any case, please check that Anton's various face files are in one of your runtimes at this location:

:Runtime:textures:Anton'sApolloMaximus:Body:APM_Facexx.jpg

where xx is actually the particular face number you're looking for.

I do not believe this is an issue with external runtimes, because I have all my Apollo stuff in an external runtime and it works fine.

If the file location is not the problem, come back and we'll try some more things.

Hi there, Bagginsbill, I know I'm just repeating what everyone else has said, but GREAT WORK!! Thank you so much for being so generous (and so kind and patient in your responses). I just wanted to mention that I finally got Parmatic 2 to work in Poser 7 on the mac. It's been very frustrating both with this and with the Matmatic. I could never tell if it was a Poser 7 problem, a mac problem, or I just messed up somewhere, so I've only been working on it on and off for the past month (well, I've only been working in Poser for about 3 months anyway). I saw the post for matmatic on OSX at Runtime (http://www.runtimedna.com/mod/forum/messages.php?forum_id=92&ShowMessage=321622) and tried it and it worked for me. Woohoo! Then I thought, well, why not? and copied the parmatic folder into the same place inside the Poser package (didn't delete the old set but maybe should) and just like magic, it worked! Those damn dials finally showed up! I get that white thing happening that is mentioned here but it clears up when I "touch" them so no biggee. Now maybe I can get around to playing. I, too, would prefer one of the girls but no hurry. And I'm thrilled that you're going to be working in P7 now. Thanks again!

droderick,

Great!. And yes I'm already working in P7. But I'm not seeing any of these problems about matmatic and parmatic needing to be in a different folder. This must be a Macintosh thing only. I'm glad you guys figured this out. I have P7 because EF gave it to me - I wasn't going to buy it. And I'm not going to have a MAC unless Apple gives me one, too. :biggrin:

I'll need to clarify this for Mac users in the installation guides.

Here's my latest go of it :)

Thanks Bagginsbill for all your hard work on this.

http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/index.php?image_id=1485862&member

That looks great Jeremy

The download counter has reached 500!

Not many pics out there in the galleries. Why is that? PapaBlueMarlin has the most so far. Are the rest of you not using this?

we are using it. i dont think my renders are good enough to post it.

just to say,  i haven't used it yet.  swamped with projects and stuff to learn.  i've been using the inverse r squared light material you posted in that thread on trying to make something glow, but i haven't posted an image for review yet.

i think it would be hard to find in the galleries when someone did use AMUCFS.  lots of people just put, "thanks for viewing," or some such, and don't list the items in their scene.  still others only list commericial products.

and by the way, the inverse r squared thread is the best and most useful thread drift i've ever come across. 

Quote - i think it would be hard to find in the galleries when someone did use AMUCFS.  .

You got that right. It would be buried under the TON of  "look-a-like" Vicky pics that get posted at light speed.

Most people are putting UCFS or AMUCFS or Bagginsbill in their comments - I search for those all the time. It's cool to see what's done with it.

I have V4UCFS and V3UCFS basically working but I'm having a difficult time trying to figure out how to deal with the texture file issue. There is no standard set for either that i can count on you having. So i need to make it easier to plug in your textures.

I know it's pretty simplistic, but can't you just rename the nodes "Texture Map Here" and "Bump Map Here" in the mt5 file?  It's what I did with the UBSS to remind me what goes where in case of a brain fart. ~lol~

They already are named like that. But it's still a pain to go through all the mat zones, unless you use the matmatic script itself.

Trying to learn to make a Poser XML UI for use in Poser so you can choose the files with a GUI.

I'll be looking forward to your next shaders :)

Not a "real" solution to your problem, but a useful tip for those that haven't discovered this maybe...

Once you've set up your shader with the texture map(s) for the first zone you can right-click with the mouse and "Select All" then click "Copy.  Once you've done that you can select each mat zone in turn, right-click again, hit "Paste," and the whole shader is applied to that part.  It saves a whole Hell of a lot of time believe me.

slinger,

Doesn't that leave all the exsting nodes too? Meaning, when you paste 100 nodes into one that already has 100 nodes, there are now 200 nodes. I know the old ones are disconnected, but each time you do this it grows the shader data so that previews become a pain. I think after you paste, you want to click the wacro that removes disconnected nodes.

Just wanted to add that this shader is incredible, and has given me renewed enthusiasm for Poser.

I'll be sure to include UCFS in my comments hence forth! :P

Quote - slinger,

Doesn't that leave all the exsting nodes too? Meaning, when you paste 100 nodes into one that already has 100 nodes, there are now 200 nodes. I know the old ones are disconnected, but each time you do this it grows the shader data so that previews become a pain. I think after you paste, you want to click the wacro that removes disconnected nodes.

Err..yes, I should have added that bit about the "Remove Detached Nodes" wacro shouldn't I? ~DOH!~

I wonder if you could set it up like Real Skin Shader so that it can apply to textures already on the figure...

Quote - I wonder if you could set it up like Real Skin Shader so that it can apply to textures already on the figure...

From a programming point of view (not that I program with Python, but in a general sense of my experience in other languages) that could make things a whole lot easer.  If there was an already applied texture that the new program could capture and use...

You'd need to set up seperate variables for head and body (and perhaps things like the eye nodes, especially the cornea?) but all in all it sounds like a promising route to try.

In referrence to HyperREAL it'd be fanstastic if the script actually applied the material.  We could render, and if the last tweak actually worked, then create the Material Room Preset.

Quote - ...The only way you can claim to know it is not running would be if you have moved shader dials, but confirmed that nothing is changing in the material room. Have you done that. Most people don't even know how to get the parameters up while in the material room.

Go into the mat room.
Select one of the skin zones so you can see the skin in the preview of the root node.
Use the Window menu to display the parameters window.
Change the "Skin 2 Blend" parameter from 0 to 1. If parmatic is running, the mat room will refresh and you'll see the black skin. If something is wrong, you won't.

...

If you're still convinced that parmatic is not running, open the parmaticUpdater.py file. Change the line that says verbose = 0 to verbose = 1. Then run the script and leave the Python window open. Then move a dial. If it says "Parmatic Callback" (or similar - it's not in front of me) then the callback is working and something else is wrong.

What version of Poser? What SR?

Here I am again.  I've switched to a Xeon Mac Pro.  Does your shader work on Mac?

If so, here's my latest message I'm getting when I try to run the updater:

================= Parmatic Updater 2.0 =================
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/Applications/Poser 7/Runtime/Python/parmatic/parmaticUpdater.py", line 21, in ?
    from parmatic import ParmaticActor
ImportError: No module named parmatic

I'm sure this has been covered before but I don't have time to investigate.

All that I've quoted above, I've tried and I get negative results.

Help, again!

It does work on a Mac. I think you need to reinstall parmatic.