Hi Apollo fans, just to let you know thatAnton is now working on Apollo 2008!!!!

Here is the message from over at CP.

Well, it's that time of year isn't it? Apollo 2007 was released about a year ago and Apollo 2005 just about three years ago. He has been wonderfully received, winning over thousands of users. First thanks to each person who uses, supports, and enjoys Apollo.

And I think 2008 should see another expansion update. The goal of such things is to round our boy out diversity-wise, and ensure free still means cutting edge and fabulous.

I am doing this in my spare time, but more of a good thing is always a good thing.

Everyone's existing content will still work. All your clothes, maps, etc will all work just as great as worry-free as always.

Now, let's get the obvious out of the way...

-There are two camps these days.. Poser and Studio. Apollo will be ensuring his place in DS as well as Poser. So there will be focus there as well.

-Morphs will be expanded again into new shapes and details. There will be specific focus on muscles and countor details this time around. Certain mature morph requests will be satisfied for those with a more personal relationship with their Poser figure.

-Textures for the Epic Library will be expanded, along with morphs and settings to configure them into fun new shapes and styles.

-Poses. We all love more poses and I have some goodies

-All of Part four, which is finished will be released updated to reflect to 2008 release.

-Alternate download options

-The blog will launch during the 2008 release.

-The ADS character library will be exponentially expanded.

-and some new goodies

So please spread the word, and remember all of your existing content (Like the uber fabulous Wizard Robe and Inner Robe by Connie and Randy) will still work as well as utilities.

Please feel free to chime in and spread the word. Obviously due to the production of M4, certain details will remain a suprise.

Thanks again for keeping Apollo strong and supporting his existance in a hostile market.

PS: Forgive any typos.
Go Apollo. Go Apollo. It's your Birthday....

All the best.

Richard

Most impressive!  Who needs to pay for a M4 when better is FREE?  Great news!

I haven't seen m4 yet, but unless they've greatly ,greatly improved on m3 apollo would be a better deal even if m4 was free too.  imho

Paganeagle, you beat me to it LOL!
And we also have new high end products for Apollo in the marketplace... with more to come any day now!!!!
http://market.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/index.php?ViewProduct=63149&WhatsNew=Y

I've never yet used a male figure, would Apollo really be worth adding to my runtime?

My question really is this, is Apollo better than M3? If so, in which way?
Forgive my ignorance, I've only been around Poser for over 2 years & I know nothing of the male figures!

Apollo is far better than M3. And there are LOTS of free clothes and morphs and goodies. Definately pick him up! Apollo is sooooo good that there are spooky similarities between him and M3 (which came out later).

I'd say it's at definately worth a try!!!! Heck, it's free, you can't loose much by trying it out!

What I really like about Apollo is that it has some innovations (over M3). All of it's morphs are included (not an add on purchase), and to me he looks better them M3 (out of the box)
The amount of morphs and poses and things you can do with is are awesome.
To me Apollo has much more of a 'guy next door' physique then M3 does, and I like his face better. (So there's a lot of personal preferences here too).

There are rigging innovations Anton came up (I think while still at DAZ) over M3 for better bending and posing (innovations which are now used in V4). There are also scaling innovations, where at a spin of a single dial you can turn him into a hulk, or into a little boy.
You also get a whole free clothing library to go with him.

Let's not forget BagginsBills free realistic shader for Apollo  AMUBCS I think it's called. Unbelievably complicated Apollo Maximus Skin Shader that allows you to have realistic renders without buying add-on characters.

Plus, whenever there's a heated debate about M3 Vs. Apollo, you could chime in and argue with pople  muaaaahahahahahaha [evil kitty]

Hey there,

Thanks for posting.

We just broke the most users online at CP, and people are all over the place browsing. Fun stuff.

Thread is here
http://www.contentparadise.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8447

stormchaser,

Apollo has to be experienced. Many fell in love only after they played with him and realized what it was all about. But there is a massive Image thread and tons of pics around. Everyone prefers something different, but so much fuss speaks to how much people really enjoy him.

Thanks for all the kind words. Some daz people just rolled in. Go peek.

Yeah, my bad, Conniekat8 is right. slaps forehead I knew it was one of those Mil folks... Heh...

Apollo and M3 don't have much in common. I think Connie means V4 in regards to spooky similarities.

Cheers.

Actually, I should have brought up both... there are technical similarities between Apollo and V4... 

and on the other hand I've seen people about which male figure they like better... Apollo vs. Michael... or David purely on the 'out of the box look'  Which I never really understood why so many 'artists' can't see past the default look.  (well, let's not digress into that can of worms...)

Out of the box, Apollo was meant to be a wax blank, which is why he is so flexible. His default look was never meant to be used.

Apollo was, and still is for the most part, is the first figure to have the blank default; which I am sure just throws off some. Many figures don't have much morphing/scaling, so I think people panic if all the details arn't baked into the default obj.

But after playing, people come around. :)

In the Daz Chat, after they showed those pics of M4, Steve Kondris wrote:

DAZ_SKondris says to  (14:33):
this is not the base mesh shape, but what we're working on for his
default/load in shape.

SO I am guessing they are going for the blank default obj now as well. lol

2 words:

Whoo hooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Quote - I've never yet used a male figure, would Apollo really be worth adding to my runtime?

Stormchaser - in my opinion, the answer is a resounding YES!!

Can't imagine how he can get better, Anton, but I'm looking forward to this!

Cheers,
Alisa

Reading this my hope comes up again for Apolonia or Venus.

Please Anton, think about her again.

I'm having real trouble here, how can I convey how excited I am without going all silly? I guess I can't, so............

WOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

:b_grin::b_grin::b_grin::b_grin::b_grin::b_grin::b_grin::b_grin::b_grin::b_grin:

Quote - Reading this my hope comes up again for Apolonia or Venus.

Please Anton, think about her again.

I have to second this request - having a female figure as fabulous as Apollo would just be a dream come true!!! :)

Quote -
I have to second this request - having a female figure as fabulous as Apollo would just be a dream come true!!! :)

I completely agree !
Please !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for the info guys!

Well, I've heard alot of good stuff about the guy so I'll check it out. I'm amazed it's free, how can something which is so good be free?!!

Anton - I know from my time here that you are well respected in the Poser community so I know what you have done will be very professional.
Thanks.

Quote - Apollo will be ensuring his place in DS as well as Poser. So there will be focus there as well.

...so those funny-looking birds I saw out the window this morning were pigs!

/P

I personally will not use any other Male Human figure besides AM. Anton could make allot of money off of his work but he is more than generous to give us this wonderful model free.

THANK YOU ANTON!

I agree it would be too cool to have a female Apollo.

3/12/08

Apollo is the ancient Greek and Roman god of the sun, prophecy, healing, athletics, music and poetry. Often called Smitheus (mouse god) he was also the god of plagues. While the male beauty of Apollo was reveared, he is not the god of male beauty. Apollo was bisexual and all of his female and male lovers had tragic ends, and most of their names are not particualrly attractive.

Artemis is the twin sister of Apollo, and the ancient Greek goddess of the forest and hills. She is often depicted as a virgin huntress. Artemis often killed Apollo's enemies for him. She is associated with the Roman goddess of the forest and nature Diana. Common symbols included a cresant moon, but Selene (Roman-Luna) is the ancient goddess of the moon.

Apolonia (Apollonia) means of or relating to Apollo, or having Apollonian qualities. Venus is the Roman goddess of love, lust and beauty, and is associated with the Greek goddess Aphrodite. Cupid (Eros) is her son. There is little classical connection between Venus (Aphrodite) and Apollo.

Artemis is not really a pretty sounding name, so classical symmetry might suggest the name Diana.

LMK

It'd be interesting to know if enough people shown interest in a female version, if Anton would consider it.

I think 'Artemis' is a great name for a Sci-fi/Fantasy type female character.

Quote - 3/12/08

Apollo is the ancient Greek and Roman god of the sun, prophecy, healing, athletics, music and poetry. Often called Smitheus (mouse god) he was also the god of plagues. While the male beauty of Apollo was reveared, he is not the god of male beauty. Apollo was bisexual and all of his female and male lovers had tragic ends, and most of their names are not particualrly attractive.

Artemis is the twin sister of Apollo, and the ancient Greek goddess of the forest and hills. She is often depicted as a virgin huntress. Artemis often killed Apollo's enemies for him. She is associated with the Roman goddess of the forest and nature Diana. Common symbols included a cresant moon, but Selene (Roman-Luna) is the ancient goddess of the moon.

Apolonia (Apollonia) means of or relating to Apollo, or having Apollonian qualities. Venus is the Roman goddess of love, lust and beauty, and is associated with the Greek goddess Aphrodite. Cupid (Eros) is her son. There is little classical connection between Venus (Aphrodite) and Apollo.

Artemis is not really a pretty sounding name, so classical symmetry might suggest the name Diana.

LMK

Nice bit of information.  Thanks for Mythology lesson.  I knew some of it but was not aware the Apollo was bisexual!  Totally cool in my book.  So Apolonia was a true figure in Myth history then.  That's cool to know too! 

Thanks again.

Thanks to Anton for all of his generosity.  I'm particularly grateful since Apollo 2007 was made 100% compatible with DAZ Studio, my main render app and this will continue on for the Apollo 2008.  Thanks Anton, you really are a very amazing and generous man.  Mmmmwhaaaaa! 

Um, I think 2bitsculptor made a Diana morph for Apollo already, here's a thread with the info:
http://www.contentparadise.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7392&highlight=diana

(I never got around to playing with her... I just can't seem to get my hands off Apollo long enough)

Quote - [Thanks Anton, you really are a very amazing and generous man.  Mmmmwhaaaaa! 

I'll second that, RIchard !

3/12/08

Apolonia (Apollonia) is a feminized derivative of the name Apollo. There is no mythical character named Apolonia that I can find. It is, however, popular in current usage.

Apollo is the architypical kouros or beautiful young beardless man. He is the patron of the palaestra, a place where young men gathered to train and compete athletically (naked of course).

Most of Apollo's lovers rejected him in favor of some one else, and suffered because of it. Some were killed accidentally, some were killed in retalitaion against Apollo, some were killed by or for Apollo. All of Apollo's relationships were selfish and exploitive. So he became an example (but not a model to be emulated) of the typical powerful or older man taking advantage of younger men and women. Mythology  is used to explain the way things are, and Greek gods are flawed, thus explaining a flawed world.

LMK

Connie the link in the thread you linked to doesn't work anymore, any chance you know of another where I can download Diana? legal links only please ;)

Quote - Connie the link in the thread you linked to doesn't work anymore, any chance you know of another where I can download Diana? legal links only please ;)

I just downloaded the diana morph from the link - seems to work ok for me (although I can't get the actual site to load right now...)

Took a while for me but now the link works.

Same here, was beginning to think it was my connection.

Quote - Mythology  is used to explain the way things are, and Greek gods are flawed, thus explaining a flawed world.

....And in 6000 BC Man created God in his own image...  ;)

Apollo 2008 is certainly something to look forward to. It’s remarkable that Apollo 2005 remains the best-bending and generally flexible Poser figure three years after its release.

Quote - It'd be interesting to know if enough people shown interest in a female version, if Anton would consider it.

I think 'Artemis' is a great name for a Sci-fi/Fantasy type female character.

I'd certainly be very happy to buy a female version - especially since it would be rather nice to give something back in return for Anton's exceptional generosity.

I love AM he is the only male figure I use. Never really caught on to and version of Michael.

Hey thanks for the kind words. Happy to do it. Be sure to cheack out the cp thread as thing develop. Remember their notification system isn't quite working.

Stormchaser, yes Apollo is worth the time to download! I do textures for characters and I can tell you he accepts textures much better than M3. Won't say much more than this, But I'll be releasing my first texture/character set for him very soon now and I love how well he takes the textures. He poses great too. :)

Apollo does indeed have a very pliable face!!  That's a good one there DrifterLee!

Thanks! I love him, LOL!

Wow! Apollo 2008? When is he coming out?

Crikey carodan, those renders look amazing. That's definitely a good promo if ever I saw one!

:) Thanks stormchaser - the ADS character poses for these are all done with the default 2007 morphs, and the African texture is the default one also. The only commercial products I use were the textures for the first two images and control maps for parts of the shader setup.

Anton's doing new morphs for the 2008 update so the options should expand even further.

Stormchaser.  That is one hell of a scary vid you have running in your sig line there!! :blink:

What character is that if I may ask??  Reminds me of The Ring movie, which, in my humble opinion, was hella cool!!  :scared:

looks like the dead chick from The Grudge movie.

RAMWolff / MachineClaw - That's my friend, first thing in the morning.
Well, it looks like her & she does scare me! :scared:

No seriously, it's something I found off the net sometime ago but I can't remember from where. She does look like she belongs in 'The Ring' or 'The Grudge'. Two great films I may add. I agree with you RAMWolff, The Ring was cool. I just found the imagery in the film really creepy. I'll never forget the first time I saw the girl come out of the TV near the end. Jesus, I would have had a heart attack!

LOL. I hear ya!! LOL

I would still love to see a "Venus" :(