Personally I like the lace/eyelets and piping detail/s you've arrived at... They look so realistic. The way that bow just hangs there - wow! 

This is soooo exciting!!!

I also have that Robby the robot - freebee - and I can't trace a creator name for it either. It takes ages to render out on my system though - but looks terrific when it finally appears... 

I'll add some more images from my UFO stock and also a few of my beloved Zek!!!

This pic should be of both my half size tryout and partial full size in production in the workshop...

... hey where are that lazy pilots if I need one ...

Hey Morkonan ... superb work with the suit ... :thumbupboth:

Also the lace and the piping is well done. For a close up the piping is perfect and for far away pictures even a much bigger piping wouldn't be seen. So I would stay with this.

Only a small critic point ... comparing to the blueprint http://ufoseries.com/artofufo/ellis.jpg
I would suggest that the abdomen strip comes to the hip with a elliptical curve like on the front and not with a more sharp edge like you did. Ok, its not well seen on the blueprint cause wearing a skirt in back view, but approximating the curves from the top down tends me to a more rounded version.

In the same sence I would give the back part at the side laces the same design as the front part. So not rounded but with a straight line and two sharper edges. I think this is also more physical correct with pulling the lace tight it's better to do this with two nearly parallel cloth sides, what do you mean ??

The suit fits super tight for sure, but this could cause problems if using the wooly underwear. To get the real stripy effect I had to use Displacement especialy in closeup's and that means the displacement might than poke through in the render (not seen in preview).
Ok, for far shoots I see no problem than it can be made with bumpmap only, that means the polygons stay behind the line ... :closedeyes:

For the boots you need not to worry ... I'm making some trans and bump maps for the boot from the superb Sexy Leather outfit by pretty3d (http://www.renderosity.com/mod/freestuff/index.php?user_id=29204).
They match very well to the outfit. I have modified the CR2 with Morphing Clothes by Dimension3D to catch some V4 morphs for thickness etc. Works very fine.
Also for the skirt I will give the dress from that package a try with some transmap. This is neccessary cause the skirt from the Winter Clothes is for sure the absolutely best match but that's not a freeware. And in freeware I didn't find any matching skirt ... the minis are too mini and mostly to deep sitting and the longer one's are either too long or absolutely without any morphs, so not well fitting.

And the work on hair, in this case ParisHairV3, is finished. It's well fitted, ok, a little bit less volume, but rather close. There I have also a modified CR2 with the special morph for the front look. But you need the original from Lisbeth (http://www.renderosity.com/mod/freestuff/index.php?user_id=100042), but that link seems broken.

So I think tomorrow I will load up a ZIP with materials and modifications and so on ... let's see ...

Quote - Only a small critic point ... comparing to the blueprint http://ufoseries.com/artofufo/ellis.jpg   I would suggest that the abdomen strip comes to the hip with a elliptical curve like on the front and not with a more sharp edge like you did. Ok, its not well seen on the blueprint cause wearing a skirt in back view, but approximating the curves from the top down tends me to a more rounded version.

Thanks for that artist's sketch!  I looked all over and could not find it on that site!  I must have just overlooked it or it didn't load right for me.  The only thing I could find was the commander's uniform.  If I had that pic, I could have been more accurate.  But, I could only go with what I had at the time.

Quote - In the same sence I would give the back part at the side laces the same design as the front part. So not rounded but with a straight line and two sharper edges. I think this is also more physical correct with pulling the lace tight it's better to do this with two nearly parallel cloth sides, what do you mean ??

I do agree that the hip region is lower according to that artist's rendition.  However, from what I saw, the basic suit seemed to fit actors somewhat differently.  There are several pics with actors where the suit hip-region seems much higher and others were there almost seems to be some material that begins to travel down the thigh.  I decided it was due to the fact that when sitting, any material is going to have a tendency to stretch and rise up a little bit.  So, the suit would naturally rise up a tad.  I also wanted a slightly more "modern" look but, this is troubling me as I want to be "authentic."

I may just combine it into a morph.  That way, a "traditional" lower hip-line could be achieved on demand.  That wouldn't be too difficult as it's just a slight stretching of the mesh in two regions.  (I'm leaning in favor of this as I want to be as accurate as possible.  So, there will be a 60's look and a more Modern look to the jumper, available with morphs if I can make the grouping work the way I want it to.)

Quote - The suit fits super tight for sure, but this could cause problems if using the wooly underwear. To get the real stripy effect I had to use Displacement especialy in closeup's and that means the displacement might than poke through in the render (not seen in preview).
Ok, for far shoots I see no problem than it can be made with bumpmap only, that means the polygons stay behind the line ... :closedeyes:

You can take care of that by building a matpose for the texture/displacement and using a transparency map to keep the displacement to specific regions.  There's a tutorial on that either here or at renderosity.  That way, we can still simulate the unitard without having to worry about displacement poke-throughs.  At least, that's how I'm going to go about building the displacement map.  It also allows it to work with any V4 texture simply by applying it as an overlay material.

Quote - For the boots you need not to worry ... I'm making some trans and bump maps for the boot from the superb Sexy Leather outfit by pretty3d (http://www.renderosity.com/mod/freestuff/index.php?user_id=29204). They match very well to the outfit. I have modified the CR2 with Morphing Clothes by Dimension3D to catch some V4 morphs for thickness etc. Works very fine.
Also for the skirt I will give the dress from that package a try with some transmap. This is neccessary cause the skirt from the Winter Clothes is for sure the absolutely best match but that's not a freeware. And in freeware I didn't find any matching skirt ... the minis are too mini and mostly to deep sitting and the longer one's are either too long or absolutely without any morphs, so not well fitting.

Well, I wanted to offer a full package, boots included.  There's no reason not to offer boots if I can make them.  (I've never done any footwear but, it should be fairly simple.)

I can make a skirt as well but, there's only so much I think should be added.  With all the uniform costumes that show had, I could spend months creating UFO series clothing. :)

Quote - And the work on hair, in this case ParisHairV3, is finished. It's well fitted, ok, a little bit less volume, but rather close. There I have also a modified CR2 with the special morph for the front look. But you need the original from Lisbeth (http://www.renderosity.com/mod/freestuff/index.php?user_id=100042), but that link seems broken.

Paris hair is good hair.  I think Koz's short bob would be sufficient and it could be modified with a morph to give it the right look.  I'll look into it.  (I've never done hair morphs either.  But, shouldn't be difficult if the mesh cooperates.)

Quote - So I think tomorrow I will load up a ZIP with materials and modifications and so on ... let's see ...

Awesome!  I really would love to take a look at your displacement maps for that unitard!  I agree, as you said before, getting such detail right is very difficult to do!

Quote - Nice one of Col freeman and Lt Ellis... Good belt detail also...

Great belt detail!  Thanks!  That lets me know the spacing of the belt holes. :)  I was unsure how many there may have been.  Hopefully, I'll get the count right enough. heh heh

As you see the displaced version is really good for a closeup. The only bumpmapped version tends to look flat against that in such a close situation.

But as you might see on the following images if the situation is more distant e.g. some figures plus scenery the displacement is not needed any more.

This make sense cause be warned that material includes all what the firefly renderer isn't amused about ... reflection, displacement, bump, transparency. So render time may increase significant.
Special on bend knees or ellbows it was thinking long, long how to put some pixels on the screen but without displacement it tends to be a little bit better, ok, no subdividing than ...

Both wooly materials have some transparency but if using it as a second skin you might set it to zero, otherwise Vicky could become somewhat ghostly ...
In that case it might be neccessary to reduce the specular values a little bit cause the material than will become to silvry compared to the full leather fabrics.
That's cause the transparency normally mixes with some color of the underlying skin making the look a bit darker. I have included 1 material without transparency for reference.

For the width of the ripples you need to change only the value in first math-component after the u-component. The look of the dense stripes is a bit influenced by the actual figures u-v-map. So I have made some stripy socks that only needed 20 for nearly the same density as on the bodysuit. There I found that 50-70 makes good results.

There are some flaws seen on the tighs. That's the rest of the boots which is / should be unvisible by the transparency map. Normally a trans value of 1 or full black should be 100% transparent but not neccessary in P7. This effect is very heavy if filtering is set to quality ... which nearly never is a good solution (except might be hair), making resulting images tweak and blury.
But it seems that this antialising of the input maps also tends to tweak the transparency level to somewhat darkgrey but not black.
I found in most cases setting the transparency value to 2 will avoid that effects. But in some situations with reflective material and some light angles this might not be enough ... so don't hesitate to set the value toward 5 or even more to have that results gone.

I have build some transmaps for the free V4 Sexy Leather dress. The resulting skirt for sure isn't canon but on other hand I find it's very adequate with the 2 front laces compared to the lace at the sides of the suit ...
The 2 shorter boot versions are nearly canon besides that the heels in the 70ties wasn't such spiky and the toepart was fuller and round or even rectangled ... not so flat.

Quote - "Well, I wanted to offer a full package, boots included.  There's no reason not to offer boots if I can make them.  (I've never done any footwear but, it should be fairly simple.)

I can make a skirt as well but, there's only so much I think should be added.  With all the uniform costumes that show had, I could spend months creating UFO series clothing. :)"

Yeah, that's a super idea. Suit, Skirt, Boots and Belt make this costume complete. So next costume can wait until some more time ...

I'm with you that the designing of footware is not as problematic. With one exception ... the foot area ... there a lots of really good poser boots that look chuncy clumpy in that part ... a little bit like the shoe's of old fashioned english bobbies (sorry) ... something to trample a crocodile to death ... :lol:  Oh, yea, nearly all male poser boots tends to this look ... or like rubber boots.
The Sexy Leather boots are a nearly unique example of the opposide ... they tend to be to flat in the forefoot. If you know the P4-Boots made by gerry (I think the download's are available on animotions.com up to now) you know how the forefoot was looking according to the styles of that times.

But as said the design isn't that problem but the rigging might be more difficult ... special V4 seems to be very tricky in that context ... as I have read.
I tried to convert one of the gerry boots to V4 using PhilC's wardrobe wizard and the result was superb ... as far as I look on the shins and tighs, but with the foot and special toe area I'm looking forward to some big struggles. There is a additional problem that V4's feet are somewhat to long, so the boots get stretched between heel and toe more than good looking at the moment.

Quote - "Paris hair is good hair.  I think Koz's short bob would be sufficient and it could be modified with a morph to give it the right look.  I'll look into it.  (I've never done hair morphs either.  But, shouldn't be difficult if the mesh cooperates.)"

Koz's Short Bob is a wunderful hair and it solves perfectly the only problem I see with ParisHair. It has more volume in the lower parts so the outside in curve is better looking.
But the problem with the Short Bob is that it is to narrow in the forehead and makes it very difficult to create that pointy bang over the nose and bring the sides a bit back out of the face.
The mesh consists of lots more stripes than ParisHair ... good for it's versatility but not well for a simple magnet morph. I think one must load the geometrie into a modeller and build the neccessary morph via vertice movements. The last time I did such via C4D and riptide the original mesh didn't except the new morph but if I exported also the original unchanged all worked right. So it was not the vertice change but the transfer between the applications. And reloading the original mesh might result in some licence troubles. Maybe I have to try this next time with hexagon but C4D is much much more robust and the tool's do what they shall do and what is expected. In hexagon (as also Amapi) I am not sure sometimes ... :unsure:

One little problem regarding the bodystocking is left. If I see right there are some laces or even metallic cleats along the outer seams of the legs.
With a procedural material it seem not to be done for this. But even with a image map it's mostly tricky cause this real seams are perfectly the template seams. That means it's completely a thing of trial and error to get that cleats fit front and back side and if posing and bending the results might be desastrous. The second problem in that is if doing such a image map also the rest of the fabrics has to be done in that map and must match the procedural material.
So I decided to left this out cause closeups from the legs are not so often and with a far shot that details are nearly unvisible ... specialy with a look to the not so sharp rendering of firefly compared with the P4 render engine. So I think in this point it's neccessary to find a balance between authenticy and versatility.  :sad:

Attached Link: SHADO-mats.zip

And he's only looking for a cheap service station ... even that misunderstandings ... :sneaky:

Here comes the package ... :thumbupboth:

There are two modified CR2 in the ZIP for Sexy Leather Boots and ParisHair which will only be useful if the originals are installed. I have choosen to do so to transport some new morphs more easily.

Also the material collections for Sexy Leather and for the ParisHair uses some of the original images. For the ParisHair you will need the 2 additional styles packages named in the readme.
My procedural additions are build over a blue colored hair map and the grey color hair map makes a good bumpmap to give the hair some volume and structure.

So have fun and nice renderings with the materials.
Have uploaded the file on shareCG cause to big for attaching.

B.t.w. find some more stuff from UFO including the above alien on Anthony Appleyard Web Site
http://www.buckrogers.demon.co.uk/
special UFO themed: http://www.kuroyumes-developmentzone.com/appleyard/3d/3d.htm
I think one of the first stuff I loaded from internet and residing since years in my runtimes ... thanks for that ....

Quote - .... Don't look behind you .... a real alien .... :ohmy:
.... Tz, tz, tz, keep cool ... and tell me more stories from the sea ... :rolleyes:

And he's only looking for a cheap service station ... even that misunderstandings ... :sneaky:

Here comes the package ... :thumbupboth:

There are two modified CR2 in the ZIP for Sexy Leather Boots and ParisHair which will only be useful if the originals are installed. I have choosen to do so to transport some new morphs more easily.

Also the material collections for Sexy Leather and for the ParisHair uses some of the original images. For the ParisHair you will need the 2 additional styles packages named in the readme.
My procedural additions are build over a blue colored hair map and the grey color hair map makes a good bumpmap to give the hair some volume and structure.

So have fun and nice renderings with the materials.
Have uploaded the file on shareCG cause to big for attaching.

Outstanding!  I'm going to work with those ASAP to see what I can do.  As far as the seem going down the leg and using procedural textures, wouldn't it be possible to use a transmap and a texture underlay for that?  That's what I was thinking of using if a straight texture map was too difficult for me.  There are some advantages for procedurals as well in that mesh deformations may not effect their quality as much as a texture/displacement map would be effected.

As far as getting the lines right for any seams, that shouldn't be an insurmountable task.  Never fear, SeamGuide Vicky is here!!

Quote - B.t.w. find some more stuff from UFO including the above alien on Anthony Appleyard Web Sitehttp://www.buckrogers.demon.co.uk/ special UFO themed: http://www.kuroyumes-developmentzone.com/appleyard/3d/3d.htm I think one of the first stuff I loaded from internet and residing since years in my runtimes ... thanks for that ....

The Shado vehicles were some of the first models I downloaded for Poser as well!   Great stuff there!

Still working on the outfit.  No new WIPs at the moment.  But, I'll see what I can come up with.

JoEtsold, those materials and displacement maps are great!

I started working on the problem of using a displacement map with the tight-fitting jumper I'm working on.  Here's a render before I started:

Obviously, any decent amount of displacement is going to cause poke-thrus.  However, we can map that displacement out, somewhat, while still preserving the standard values for the material.  I tried a quick test:

After applying a map to the displacement values, the region that was causing serious problems isn't so bad now.  Yet, displacement still exists outside of that region for the entire torso map.  I hooked in a simple 2D Image Map into the displacement node as a test:

I've got it hooked into the Math Function 2 of your displacement node generator.  It removes most of the displacement except the base values in the noise generation  (I think.)

Would there be a better place to hook in a map?  More importantly, this is just a 2D map.  It does not follow the topology of the model.  Would there be a better place to hook this into the displacement generator or, even better, a way to get a 3D Image Map into that structure in order to mask the displacement values in certain areas?

That way, your excellent displacement maps would still be usable as they are except with the addition of a masking node that removes displacement under the garment and in a very small region outside of it (to allow for movement without poke-thrus).  Any ideas you have on this would be greatly appreciated!

PS- This technique could easily be used, IMO, to generate some "seams" in your displacement map so it would mimic the original series' costume more.   They wouldn't be as dramatic on closeups but, for normal renders, you'd see an obvious seam wherever you wanted one.

Amazingly outstanding work and results there, JoEtzold...

I tried my (virtual beginner) best to follow your posts above here, and must admit to being lost (on my part) a few times thereabouts, but found your descript extremely interesting and inspirational...

An outfit for all weathers and occasions, heh... Brilliant! And you've even managed to add a UFO alien to your renders here. Great stuff.

I hope you're enjoying this journey (I'm sure you are) as much as I am, Jo...

Many thanks to you

@paramount :  Thanx for the flowers. I just lurking on ShareCG was surprized to have 275 view and even 99 downloads ... in only 24 hours without any great promotion. Seem's as if a lot of people reading in this thread. That is really a pleasure journey ...

@morkonan :  Thanx for the quick try out. It looks really good in the breast area. Displacement and cloth is in the right heighness perspective. Matches wunderful !

That the displacement overlapps the suit I feared as I saw on your first images how tight it fitted. On far shoots withput the displacement node it should bear no problems.

Quote - - I've got it hooked into the Math Function 2 of your displacement node generator.  It removes most of the displacement except the base values in the noise generation  (I think.)

Would there be a better place to hook in a map?  More importantly, this is just a 2D map.  It does not follow the topology of the model.  Would there be a better place to hook this into the displacement generator or, even better, a way to get a 3D Image Map into that structure in order to mask the displacement values in certain areas?

That way, your excellent displacement maps would still be usable as they are except with the addition of a masking node that removes displacement under the garment and in a very small region outside of it (to allow for movement without poke-thrus).  Any ideas you have on this would be greatly appreciated!

PS- This technique could easily be used, IMO, to generate some "seams" in your displacement map so it would mimic the original series' costume more.   They wouldn't be as dramatic on closeups but, for normal renders, you'd see an obvious seam wherever you wanted one

You might reach a better result with the inbound 2D-map with "filtering" set to "none". Firefly will first antialise the map and then use it on the node. That means it becomes blurry and will not cover the displacement completely out. But the idea as such is well working for smaller pieces to be covered out, though it migth be a bit tricky sometimes to find the right place.

Regarding 2D or 3D as I understand that it should make no difference at that point. The U-V-Geometrie is a plan map of the 3D-geometrie and the math functions at this point are working 2D-wise. So a black and white or even grey 2D-map should fit fully.
The rest of the displacement as in your second images might be really more a product of the blurry texture filtering. In transparency channel I have that eliminated by pushing the channel value over 1 but here there is no such value. It might be good to try more than 1 as value there you linked the map.

OHHH, I just see you used the full silver mat without the transparency. In that the noise is connected via blender to the displacement channel. You can eliminate that noise problem connecting the blender input 1 directly to the bump channel. A bump value of 0.3 to 0.5 should work well. And connect the blender input 2 directly to the displacement channel. The blender is than obsolate. This is the way like the transparent displaced wool mat is working.
The ripples are result of the displacement and the noise as bump makes the wooly effect without levering some parts.

If you use the material as a second skin as you did a full solution should be to take the u-v-map of your suit and transfer it on the respective region of the V4 u-v-map. This could be used in the now empty transparency channel to wipe out all under the suit. This will cover the 3D needs well.
If you make that map some pixels smaller as the suit really is there should all gaps been covered if no extrem pose will happen. If than some small poke throu at the border happens this might not been bad cause normally such suit equal if leather or plastics would press a little bit on the weaker wooly material of the bodystocking. So it's normal to have some overlapping. In this fact also the borderline comes handy cause it's somewhat higher than the normal cloth.

For the use with the bodysuit this might work also but is more tricky cause the transparency is allready in use for the material. And as seen on the boots transparency this parameter is not without some perfidy ... :mad:

Mainly I have used the bodysuit to have the laeg and arms a bit loose more like pants and sleeves as I remember that this parts has been not so tight as if it's a jumper.
But the problem with the side seams at the legs is the same. I will give it a new try with your ideas. I have the seam guides from snow sultan, I believe that was the guy, with the marker to match them correctly ... let's see what photoshop will do ...

Quote - ..

@morkonan :  Thanx for the quick try out. It looks really good in the breast area. Displacement and cloth is in the right heighness perspective. Matches wunderful !

That the displacement overlapps the suit I feared as I saw on your first images how tight it fitted. On far shoots withput the displacement node it should bear no problems...

You might reach a better result with ....

Wonderful instructions!  I'll try them out and see how it all comes together.

I'd like to ask permission to include a great portion of your material settings for the V4 overlay, modified to work with the jumper, of course.  (That is only if I manage to make it all work together well.)  I would include both the bump and displacement versions with modifications for the displacement version to fit with the jumper.  Proper attribution will be given, of course, along with a link to your area on ShareCG, this thread and wherever else you would like me to include a link for.  Otherwise, if I don't have time to do the procedural the right way and take care of the poke-throughs on the displacement, I won't be able to include displacement mapping, just bump and/or texture.

Quote - Mainly I have used the bodysuit to have the laeg and arms a bit loose more like pants and sleeves as I remember that this parts has been not so tight as if it's a jumper.
But the problem with the side seams at the legs is the same. I will give it a new try with your ideas. I have the seam guides from snow sultan, I believe that was the guy, with the marker to match them correctly ... let's see what photoshop will do ...

Yes, the bodysuit does help to increase the realism by adding some dimension to the limbs.  But, not everyone has the bodysuit.  I don't. :(  heh heh... However, IIRC, the bodysuit takes the same texturemaps as the main figure.  So, users could use the bodysuit and create a fit-morph for the jumper simply by some judicious use of scaling and a few joint-parameter tweaks.

*I'll be using photoshop to try to get those seams included as well!  I think the result, if it can be achieved, will be excellent!

Thank you very, very much for your tips on getting your displacment map to work with this jumper!  I can only hope I'm up to the task!  Even if you would rather keep your displacement maps separate, between the two of us there will be something that U.F.O. fans will enjoy!  :)

Well, the Belt is done except for a few minor tweaks.  The jumper is the old version I had already prepared in Poser.  So, I used it instead of the newer version that has some minor details ironed out.  So, if it looks like it needs adjusting somewhere in these pics, it has already been done. :)

Details: Front - Bandolier and Case

Details: Rear - Rings & Links

*Evidently, I moved the buckle along the Z-Axis when exporting the belt into a .obj.  I'll fix that when I do the tweaks.  Yes, the buckle is supposed to go underneath the belt. :)  The bandolier and "case" (I don't know what it is.) will be smartprops.  As you can tell, the bandolier needs a little bit of adjustment before smartpropping it.  Using these as smartprops will let the user use the main costume belt for whatever they wish without too much trouble.  I need to tweak the Case and put in some detail I forgot and I also need to adjust the joint parameters for the belt.  It's way too "stretchy" right now for my tastes and will stretch a good 30% when following V4's bending.  It's not supposed to be made from latex... :)

I will also include fit-morphs so the jumper can be used with and without the belt without danger of poke-through yet still leaving it excellent for rendering if used alone.   About a dozen more things need to be done before this is released.  So, I'll have to push the release back a few days.  Hopefully, I can get it all packaged before the weekend is over.  If not, add a few more days. :)

Anyway, I am going to take a stab at creating boots tonight.  I tried and failed miserably yesterday...  So, with a bit more experience (a whole couple hours worth) in creating very bad boots... I might be able to work something out.

However, if I do not manage to create a decent set of boots, I will include a morph-pose (without geometry) for Aery Soul's "Aermy" boots along with mats.  Those boots are very well done and they are also free with that freebie set.  (There's a free leotard there as well that people could easily transmap and make a passable UFO costume.. if they didn't have access to mine/ours/whoever's.  :) )

*Note: I have no idea what the detailed symbol is on the "Case" that attaches to the belt.  So, I just came up with something that sort of looked like one of the pictures I had.  If anyone has a good pic of that figure they can post, I'd appreciate it. 

OH-MY-GIDDY-AUNT, Morkonan...

This outfit is truly Stunning! Beautiful! I did wonder how you would eventually 'tackle' the belt detail - especially those six rings at the rear. The front of the belt you've created here and those hanging side laces had that huge beaming smile lapping across my face yet again - WOW!

I wonder if that 'Case' is a radio!?! I recall Ms Ellis speaking into something at the side of her head once... Might have been a control consol phone though!?! And then those wee capsules!?! Again I recall an image of the Lt applying lipstick whilst seated at the control desk - though there are a few on-set shots of her being suitably daubed with her Sci-Fi 'war paint' by a make-up artist ...  

I truly feel a sense of the past and those hip and swinging Sci-Fi filled sixties drifting back into our lives again here, with this incredible Moonbase Girl Outfit...!!!

Loving it...

AJ   

@morkonan

Glad you understood my explanations ... though I have to excuse. It seems I had a short black out yesterday regarding that 2d-map linked to the math node with the mod function.

Might be I was a bit too much surprized that this worked. But clearly a map is allowed at this point but normally in an other manner to control the function.
I assume you know the mod function ... back to school that's that thing bringing the rest of a division as result, e.g. 10 / 2 = 5 rest 0  mean's 10 mod 2 = 0, 11/ 5 = 2 rest 1 mean's 11 mod 5 = 1, and so on. So the input from the e.g. v-component is the respective value to be "mod"ded.
And in this case both value's in one and two can control the result, value 1 is a must and value 2 have to be unequal 0. But there can also a bitmap given for a variety of results.
For example the other math node with round doesn't except any value in 2 nor a bitmap, ok, no error, but also no change in result.

So while using a bitmap in mod value 2 will bring the desired result if value 2 is set to 1 and the bitmap is only black and white otherwise the result might be unpredictable.

The better or being precise correct way is to create one math node more in chain in front of the round node. This node takes the result of the round node in input 1 and your 2d-bitmap in input 2. Then you can experiment if ADD or MULTIPLY as function brings better result. In this form the 2d-map and the resulting stripes are brought together. And again that it is 2D is without problem cause working on the u-v-components which are the plan 3D-topology.

I have a bit experimented for the side lace of the legs. It's not so easy and I think only to be done using the characters u-v-maps.
B.t.w. right, the uv's of v4 and the bodysuit are equal but only in total not in the single mat zones. The bodysuit has more detailed matzones than V4. But for our purpose it's no problem.

Back to the side lace they not only needs to be uprised via displacement but also needs darker color to be seen. So a map is needed which can be used as displacement/bump and also can be added to the color channel(s).
In displacement the next problem is that I get as the result from round a black and white map which is then controlled for the effect by the value in the displacement channel.
So in this state there is no possibility to get more, higher displacement for the lace.
I will use one more math node to change the black-white result to a black-grey result and than the laces might be go in as white, also something like add, multiply, subtract or so ... I will find it.

Naturally, you have all permissions to use my materials and input them into your package ... that's the sense to whom they are build. If you might give me credit then input a link to the shareCG page. I have some things in fire like a V4 swordbelt and sword of the sort each pirate is looking for, which I hope to come to that page in next time.

Only the 3rd-party things as the both morphed CR2's shouldn't be been included they are licensed  materials.

In that licence thingies I have my own opinion or let's say frustration. OK, I'm the last who will touch anybody's rights special artificial or creative ownership. And the more if someone is lifing from earnings of this.
But on the other hand special in freebies lots of licences are much much overload.
I have there a certain sense for it's related to OBJ geometries or image maps but stuff like the CR2 or even mat poses are things consting of parametered functions included in poser. So everyone is possible to build this either with tools or only by hand. And there is no way to copywright a idea the one or other got or found and coded ther down.

For sure this is even a software problem. For example if I have a great idea for some program source code and tell about that in some forums (online or real) than it's really really ridiculous to say nobody is allowed to use this. Also this is not controlable and rules for things that can't be controlled technical are really senseles and waste of time.
And in example of the shado-materials might be that there are some more ways to get that result but never so much way's as there are poser users. So if every poser user would try that material we get hundreds of same pz2 ... and which licence will control or decide who was first.
So, ok, seems we live in a world or better time there commercial licences or rules becoming somewhat like a bible but in lots of cases I think  less will be more ...

But back to the project ... your belt is really great and those rings in the back are only marvellous, superb, gorgeous ...

B.t.w. did you split the vertices of the belt between the pipes and the plan parts and so on?
I often get there problems. Looking on my meshs in C4D all is looking smooth and then poser and his understanding of smoothing angles tend to produce shaodws of twisted plan pieces there no twist is happening. I once have cut some torpedo holes in a submarine body. Ok, by ruke of function they are lying in a region there the bow is really curvy. In C4d's origianl mesh all looked fine but in poser it got a touch of that the submarine captain rather often seems to run his boat with the nose against the harbour walls ... might be it wasn't a torpedo which crashed the Bismarcks prop but it was my submarine running directly that battleship ... :rolleyes:

Talking about morphs in the belt one of the most appreciated would be to widen or tighten the belt. Not only neccessary to adopt to several clothings underneath but also it gives the chance to wear it on different body heights where the hips/abdomen is wider or smaller.
Ok, this could be done also by x-/z-scale bat that streches all, will say with a morph only the belt can be adjusted but the buckle stays in form.

the case looks fine though a bit hardedged at this time ... but the picture on it. I don't know what it will tell us. I think not that it's a communicator. That's more the startrek fraction. Looking to the picture with it's specific head form I think it's the box for comb or brush ... so right side the lipsticks and leftside comb and eyelash color/brush ... all for the perfect make up around the clock ... :tongue2:

Aermy boots are also well choosen ... they are flat heeled as I remember ???
And they are short height that's correct for the series.

I'm looking forward sure we are getting well done results ...

B.t.w. apropos boots, I saw this picture from the series showing Foster in silver moonsuit http://ufoseries.com/photos/killStrakerStraker.jpg

You might have a look to his boots ... it seems they are bought at the next department store round the corner ... good old agricultural rubber boots and then someone from the wardrobe pull out the silver wheel spray for his/her car and collored them ... :tt2:

Rubber is a bit oily and sprayed color will not dry right on it, so it never is very durable and will scuff quickly.

But this is a often seen behavior. Normally women are wearing boots in several styles mostly fashioned and good looking but for the men in best case the main actors get proper boots adequate to their role. All supporting actor or supernumerary and as seen main actors with only occasional use are getting what is even on hand ... :lol:

Ok, looking to online stores and catalogues it's the normal way of life ... women have ... at least ... in this point a quatity and quality advantage ...

This is also seen in startrek ... Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, all in their own leatherboots ... and the poor crewmen changing from episode to episode (you know that guy's that have to decease quickly if neccessary for the story) got what is in store and applicable ...
I remember to one episode such a guy had gotten real mud stompers ... might be he had a a bad foot size ... :lol:

You see also for male actors live is not as easy ... good that foster had his silversuit, having the wheel spray rubbed on his office suit would not been amusing ...

Even on this picture he doesn't have that tools left and right at his belt ... this assists my theory of lipstick, comb and lash brush ... he might have no need for this ... :sneaky:

Quote - OH-MY-GIDDY-AUNT, Morkonan...

:)

Quote - This outfit is truly Stunning! Beautiful! I did wonder how you would eventually 'tackle' the belt detail - especially those six rings at the rear. The front of the belt you've created here and those hanging side laces had that huge beaming smile lapping across my face yet again - WOW!

The laces in the updated version of the jumper are a bit better.  I worked with them a little bit more so they don't appear so "twisted" around the loop area.

Quote - I wonder if that 'Case' is a radio!?! I recall Ms Ellis speaking into something at the side of her head once...

I have no idea.  I read someone refer to it as a cigarette case in a post so I called it "Case" in the mapping.  /shrug  Whatever it is, it's there, to be hung on the belt or used as a box of playing cards. :)

Quote - And then those wee capsules!?! Again I recall an image of the Lt applying lipstick whilst seated at the control desk - though there are a few on-set shots of her being suitably daubed with her Sci-Fi 'war paint' by a make-up artist ... 

I have no idea what they are either.  They looked like lipstick or Chapstick lip balm containers to me.  They could be small pill bottles..  But, I think I just called them "Lipstick."  They're mapped separately from the "Bandolier" that holds them so you can put whatever image map you want on them.  You could even transmap them out and stick pencils in the badolier if you wanted to. :)

Quote - I truly feel a sense of the past and those hip and swinging Sci-Fi filled sixties drifting back into our lives again here, with this incredible Moonbase Girl Outfit...!!! Loving it... AJ   

You're very welcome!  I'm enjoying creating this much more than I originally thought I would.  Not that I didn't also expect to enjoy it, I just didn't think I'd find as great a sense of pleasure trying to duplicate a 60's style sci-fi getup!  Admittedly, I've taken some creative license with it though.  I wanted to stay as true to the original but I've broken with that just a tad - I think I'm going to leave the slightly higher cut hip area on the suit instead of lowering it or putting a morph there.  There are a couple of basic reasons why it's practical as well - I'm not sure if the suit will deform properly and still "look good" because I think the mesh will have to be too stretchy there to cover movements. (If you notice in the original series photos, the suit material does EXACTLY the same thing and has the same problems - it deforms too much, rides up the hip, and generally takes a beating whenever a model sits down or has been moving around alot.)  

As it is, it stretches perfectly in any pose without getting too stretched out.  If I had only a tad bit more area on the hips, the mesh would be forced to cover a lot more area as the JCMs force muscle-flexing and such.  So, it would stretch jet if I manipulate the joint-parameters too much, something I'm not good at to begin with, then I may not get the good conforming I have now.  There's also the fact that a slightly higher hip region than the "canon" jumper has makes it seem more "Updated" like a revamp of the series might want it.

Anyway, I'm working on getting this out to you and whoever wants it as soon as possible.  When it is released, I'll support making changes and testing-results for awhile as well, just to be sure it's a quality freebie!   I don't have anyone to beta it for me so I'll have to experiment on the public. ;)

Quote - @morkonan

Glad you understood my explanations ... though I have to excuse. It seems I had a short black out yesterday regarding that 2d-map linked to the math node with the mod function.

I understood what you were trying to say.  But, don't think that I know "Why" the nodes work the way they do. :)  You have a much greater knowledge there than I do!

Quote - Might be I was a bit too much surprized that this worked. But clearly a map is allowed at this point but normally in an other manner to control the function. I assume you know the mod function ... back to school that's that thing bringing the rest of a division as result, e.g. 10 / 2 = 5 rest 0  mean's 10 mod 2 = 0, 11/ 5 = 2 rest 1 mean's 11 mod 5 = 1, and so on. So the input from the e.g. v-component is the respective value to be "mod"ded. And in this case both value's in one and two can control the result, value 1 is a must and value 2 have to be unequal 0. But there can also a bitmap given for a variety of results. For example the other math node with round doesn't except any value in 2 nor a bitmap, ok, no error, but also no change in result.

So while using a bitmap in mod value 2 will bring the desired result if value 2 is set to 1 and the bitmap is only black and white otherwise the result might be unpredictable.

The better or being precise correct way is to create one math node more in chain in front of the round node. This node takes the result of the round node in input 1 and your 2d-bitmap in input 2. Then you can experiment if ADD or MULTIPLY as function brings better result. In this form the 2d-map and the resulting stripes are brought together. And again that it is 2D is without problem cause working on the u-v-components which are the plan 3D-topology.

  (Emphasis added)

Thank you very much for that detailed explanation!  I'm going to try that last suggestion and see what results I can come up with.  The real problem will be getting the map correct.  I can't simply overlay it over V4's map as the mesh is signficantly different so the UVs don't match up.  But, I've got a couple of different ways I can try to use in order to manipulate the UVs to force a matchup.  That might take a bit of time though even though it would be more precise.  

Quote - Back to the side lace they not only needs to be uprised via displacement but also needs darker color to be seen. So a map is needed which can be used as displacement/bump and also can be added to the color channel(s). In displacement the next problem is that I get as the result from round a black and white map which is then controlled for the effect by the value in the displacement channel.  So in this state there is no possibility to get more, higher displacement for the lace. I will use one more math node to change the black-white result to a black-grey result and than the laces might be go in as white, also something like add, multiply, subtract or so ... I will find it.

Yes, the laces that are shown in the above pics are of the older model.  Also, no displacement or maps have been applied to them in these renders except for a slight color change so they stand out a little more from the eyelets and the fabric of the jumper.  In the final version , they'll probably have a procedural bump map applied to them along with a procedural texture.  However, if I can get them to yield a very good UV map, I might try applying a texture.

Quote - Naturally, you have all permissions to use my materials and input them into your package ... that's the sense to whom they are build. If you might give me credit then input a link to the shareCG page. I have some things in fire like a V4 swordbelt and sword of the sort each pirate is looking for, which I hope to come to that page in next time.

Thank you very much!  In my opinion, your procedural materials for that unitard are what will make this project what it is!  Seriously, the quality that the material brings to the overall theme of a 60's Sci-Fi suit can't be denied.  Without it, it would just be another jumper.  With it, it's as great (or greater) a reproduction of the "UFO TV Series" suit as anyone has ever done.  I'm truly humbled by the knowledge you have shown in creating that material.

Quote - Only the 3rd-party things as the both morphed CR2's shouldn't be been included they are licensed  materials.

I agree completely.  Everything in the final package will have either been made directly by myself or you. 

Quote - In that licence thingies I have my own opinion or let's say frustration. OK, I'm the last who will touch anybody's rights special artificial or creative ownership. And the more if someone is lifing from earnings of this. But on the other hand special in freebies lots of licences are much much overload. I have there a certain sense for it's related to OBJ geometries or image maps but stuff like the CR2 or even mat poses are things consting of parametered functions included in poser. So everyone is possible to build this either with tools or only by hand. And there is no way to copywright a idea the one or other got or found and coded ther down.

I agree also.  I can understand geometry, textures and such but simple things like combinations of  "dial spins" of existing morphs are a bit too much.  But, in order to safeguard the rights of other types of products, sometimes it's necessary to extend protection to things that seem frivolous.

Quote - B.t.w. did you split the vertices of the belt between the pipes and the plan parts and so on? I often get there problems. Looking on my meshs in C4D all is looking smooth and then poser and his understanding of smoothing angles tend to produce shaodws of twisted plan pieces there no twist is happening. I once have cut some torpedo holes in a submarine body. Ok, by ruke of function they are lying in a region there the bow is really curvy. In C4d's origianl mesh all looked fine but in poser it got a touch of that the submarine captain rather often seems to run his boat with the nose against the harbour walls ... might be it wasn't a torpedo which crashed the Bismarcks prop but it was my submarine running directly that battleship ... :rolleyes:

LOL!  I didn't split out any vertices in the laces, as I understand the term.  However, the laces, the piping (rolled edge) of the suit and all the other components all have their own vertices/edges that are not shared with their neighboring objects.  So, they stand out from the mesh fairly well.  Poser, according to DAZ, has problems rendering split vertices, that may be something you've run into.  Also, booleans cause no end of pain in many packages and I wouldn't be surprised at weird results in meshes containing boolean operations.  Did you use a boolean operation to cut the torpedo tubes in the submarine?  If so, that may be the issue.

Quote - Talking about morphs in the belt one of the most appreciated would be to widen or tighten the belt. Not only neccessary to adopt to several clothings underneath but also it gives the chance to wear it on different body heights where the hips/abdomen is wider or smaller.
Ok, this could be done also by x-/z-scale bat that streches all, will say with a morph only the belt can be adjusted but the buckle stays in form.

All of the clothing objects will have V4 bodymorphs and JCMs if I can put them in there without too much trouble.  So far, the jumper works very well without any Joint Control Morphs in it at all.  But, that is on the standard V4 mesh.  I'm going to test how it looks with morphed versions of V4 once I get those morphs loaded into the CR2.

Quote - the case looks fine though a bit hardedged at this time ... but the picture on it. I don't know what it will tell us. I think not that it's a communicator. That's more the startrek fraction. Looking to the picture with it's specific head form I think it's the box for comb or brush ... so right side the lipsticks and leftside comb and eyelash color/brush ... all for the perfect make up around the clock ... :tongue2:

 I agree.  I have to do some tweaking there.  I just wanted it in the Progress Update render so I spent more time putting the texture of the figure on it than I did making the mesh. :)  I'll put some tweaks on it and maybe even bevel the edges slightly so it doesn't look so hard edged.  LOL, yes, "Makeup around the clock" indeed!

Quote - Aermy boots are also well choosen ... they are flat heeled as I remember ???
And they are short height that's correct for the series.

Yes, they're flat heeled.  However, in some photos I saw, especially the Artist's Rendering you linked, they apear to have a short narrow heel on them.  Aermy boots have a wider, standard flat heel.  So, it's "servicable" to use Aermy boots but won't be exact.  That's why I'm working on making a pair of boots that are more appropriate.  I hate leaving out details like that.

Quote - I'm looking forward sure we are getting well done results ...

I agree.  This is turning out to be a great project!  Thank you very much for all of your great input and especially for that procedural material texture!  It REALLY makes this outfit much better!

Quote - ...
This is also seen in startrek ... Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, all in their own leatherboots ... and the poor crewmen changing from episode to episode (you know that guy's that have to decease quickly if neccessary for the story) got what is in store and applicable ... I remember to one episode such a guy had gotten real mud stompers ... might be he had a a bad foot size ... :lol:..

LOL

Quote - Even on this picture he doesn't have that tools left and right at his belt ... this assists my theory of lipstick, comb and lash brush ... he might have no need for this ... :sneaky:

:)  Good explanation!

Hi Morkonan

Quote - - Yes, the laces that are shown in the above pics are of the older model.  Also, no displacement or maps have been applied to them in these renders except for a slight color change so they stand out a little more from the eyelets and the fabric of the jumper.  In the final version , they'll probably have a procedural bump map applied to them along with a procedural texture.  However, if I can get them to yield a very good UV map, I might try applying a texture.

Uiih, I think this was a misunderstanding. What I was talking about was not the laces at your work but the laces or clamps I had seen at the legsides on the TV images.

Quote - - Thank you very much for that detailed explanation!  I'm going to try that last suggestion and see what results I can come up with.  The real problem will be getting the map correct.  I can't simply overlay it over V4's map as the mesh is signficantly different so the UVs don't match up.  But, I've got a couple of different ways I can try to use in order to manipulate the UVs to force a matchup.  That might take a bit of time though even though it would be more precise. 

I agree partly. What I was meaning is to project the contours of your suite on the original V4 uvmap right in place and use that to stop the displacing under the suit that making the poke through's. Sure you can't use the suit's uvmap directly. For the purpose it has to be matched onto the V4 uvmap.

Quote - - LOL!  I didn't split out any vertices in the laces, as I understand the term.  However, the laces, the piping (rolled edge) of the suit and all the other components all have their own vertices/edges that are not shared with their neighboring objects.  So, they stand out from the mesh fairly well.  Poser, according to DAZ, has problems rendering split vertices, that may be something you've run into.  Also, booleans cause no end of pain in many packages and I wouldn't be surprised at weird results in meshes containing boolean operations.  Did you use a boolean operation to cut the torpedo tubes in the submarine?  If so, that may be the issue.

Yes, what you did is what I meant. Pipe and belt and so on are not connected, not shareing the same vertices. B.t.w. Poser seems not to have problems with split vertices, only if the parameter "weld vertices" on loading a geometry is check it could get problems. Cause than split vertices will be melted and than Poser tries to smooth all the connected polygons. That's the background of that problem. Poser is more optimized to render organic structures like animals or peoples than technical structures like buildings or vehicles with sharp edges.

If you have a simple beam made from a cube, so 4 sides plus 2 ends, and use polygon smoothing you end up rendering with a more or less blobby thing but never a beam.
But there is also a trick for such thingies ... beveling or inner extrusions with only some very small difference keeps Poser from bulging what should be plain.
So the idea to have a small bevel or a little engraved pipe around the "case" might not only look good but also stay's the case to be a case.

Using boolean procedures in C4D is not the problem cause the are all changed to object mesh again. Otherwise they will not been usable for poser. And also I optimized the resulting triangles a lot by hand but the problem was that the share all their vertices at the corners.
And the smooth angles from C4D are not equal to that angles as poser is looking on. So what is looking clean in C4D isn't neccessarily in Poser. It's more a problem of different render engine or their interpretation of parameters than of the mesh as such. But makes some fore and back activities to get things sorted out.

Attached Link: Updated SHADO materials

I've found no way to make that leg lace only using procedural shaders. I used the bodysuit uv-map to have influence at the right position. That's the same way as to use to flaten the displacements under the jumper then using a second skin on V4.

But the problem was that the region in uv-map to be used is only round 20 pixels wide. So it's to small to make really great detailed things ... might be also my skills in texturing are no sufficent. The original size of the uv-map was 3500 * 3500 pixels that made 38 MB map size and that might be than round 40-50 pixels in that region. But I found that map size as to large in memory according to the purpose and so reduced to 1500 * 1500 as 6.4 MB. That's, looking to the memory hunger of V4 etc., is also a big amount.

So the outcome was what's be seen in the image. Not really well for closeup's but for more distant images it's usable ...

In this I also have seen that the u-v-components of the front and back don't match exactly over the map borders but this is as is. Without remapping there might be no way to change that.

B.t.w. I found that I was wrong. The uv-map's of V4 and her bodysuit are completely different stories. I had that from V3 in mind which are more similar, I think.
So to have that leg lace on a V4 uv-map is a completely new thing, especialy that it's a task to find the right position for the line. On the bodysuit map it's directly the border of the map but the V4 map's border is at the back of the legs. Seams that you have to experiment for the position.

Oh that is a really nicely crafted seam there, Jo...
It makes the otherwise bland wooly/lycra fabric stand out as if sterioscopic - 3D...
Super!!!

Quote - I have a bit worked on the seams along the leg sides.
Though it's not working like I hoped I have updated the materials package with 2 additional mc6 and mt5 files.

I've found no way to make that leg lace only using procedural shaders. I used the bodysuit uv-map to have influence at the right position. That's the same way as to use to flaten the displacements under the jumper then using a second skin on V4.

Great seams!  Even though they're not going to be good for closeups, they're just fine for normal shots and do help to keep within the canon of the series.

Quote - But the problem was that the region in uv-map to be used is only round 20 pixels wide. So it's to small to make really great detailed things ... might be also my skills in texturing are no sufficent. The original size of the uv-map was 3500 * 3500 pixels that made 38 MB map size and that might be than round 40-50 pixels in that region. But I found that map size as to large in memory according to the purpose and so reduced to 1500 * 1500 as 6.4 MB. That's, looking to the memory hunger of V4 etc., is also a big amount.

Yes, you can only work with what you have and deciding to reduce the map is more important than trying to put in too much unnecessary detail.  A 38 meg map just so the seams would be more pronounced isn't worth the memory.

Quote - In this I also have seen that the u-v-components of the front and back don't match exactly over the map borders but this is as is. Without remapping there might be no way to change that.

Yes, the seams don't line up throughout all sections.  However, they do fine for some important pieces like the legs and arms, if I recall correctly.

Quote - B.t.w. I found that I was wrong. The uv-map's of V4 and her bodysuit are completely different stories. I had that from V3 in mind which are more similar, I think. So to have that leg lace on a V4 uv-map is a completely new thing, especialy that it's a task to find the right position for the line. On the bodysuit map it's directly the border of the map but the V4 map's border is at the back of the legs. Seams that you have to experiment for the position.

Really?  Wow, I always thought that they shared the same mapping!  I suppose I was thinking of V3 as well but, I don't own the bodysuit for either and have never experimented with them.

I'm still working on the project.  I had to take care of a few other things this weekend but I'll be devoting some more time to it tonight.

I've just been playing about with 'Outoftouche's'  Super Bob Hair - it's quite UFO adaptable and there are plenty of styles/colour mats to go with it... 

Also here is Freja & Adiene Frad Bambi V4 morphs with nice UFO-like make-up selection

There are also slight Naika V4 face/head morphs added here thanks to Kaposer

Hope you like...

I used only 2 spots one with raytrace selected and 100mm cam lens - a basic tryout set up when I play with hair, make up, morphs etc  - for quick render times...

...please critique my light/cam set up to bits in nessassary... it probably needs this!?!

Wow, that hair looks great ...

Though a bit sharp edged left and right forehead and not so sharp in the middle but it has never the less that cool touch. And it has that volume left and right which I missed a bit in ParisHair. Did you use the 5. color from the promo pictures? It works well ... a bit more specularity and touch silvry shine ... and done.

The makeup is fabulous ... even that dots should be more left and right on the height of the eyes and the eye shadows need a bit more of skyblue color.

But that eyes and brows are perfect. Looks like a small puppet ... :biggrin: a bit toonish, I'm normally more a friend of more natural face and body contours ... but otherhand it's a matter of the surrounding in the image. A toonish girl needs some toonish (styled) scenery. 
If coming together with such a realistic model like for example the moon mobile which is been reported as W.I.P. in the C4D-forum, it would not look as good.

Mouth ( to voluptous) and nose (to bumpy) is not so like my gusto ... might be I don't want to be remembered so much to my own nose ... :ohmy: ... but this is a absolute personal view and as ever "beauty lies in the eye of the beholder".

Cam and light is good for a quick render. For portraits 100mm is minimum needed, could also be more. Up to 150mm is absoluty no problem.

From the photographers point of view I would turn her head a bit ... that than looks not so as made for the next passport ... :biggrin:

For the left spotlight (with shadows right ?) you could change the shadow parameters:
Shadow blur radius to something between 2 (absolute minimum), better 8 to 12 like gusto. That will soften that extrem hard shadows.
The minBias parameter should be round 0.2. It's the difference how directly shadows start at the object. This seem's to be fine as far as I see.

And as last I would try to have the shadow light more as a only main light and the second with much much less brightness only to have also darker parts filled with structure. It seems as if the 2. light came from the top front (there is such a light place in the middle of the hair on top) with same intensity ... or am I mislead ?
But never the less in total it's a real cutie in the image ... and she has a lot of the Ellis touch ... I would say "well done", paramount ...

Looking forward for a complete image ... legs are important, aren't they ? :tongue1:

Update:  Boots are done.

Yes, I am including boots.  However, I'm not very happy with them.  They conform fine but, they're really not very good looking around the foot area.  But, for distance renders and such, they're fine.  I've never modeled any shoes/footwear before and I can see why this is left out of so many modeling projects!  I definitely need to work more on modeling shoes/boots but, I'm not a big fan of feet to begin with.  If it was up to me, I'd get rid of feet altogether but, they're sort of important in the whole locomotion process... 

Anyway, no WIP on the boots right now.  They're done but for a couple of tweaks and to add the piping along the top which will only take a few minutes.  I had some weird problem with one of the object exports not wanting to import properly into other apps.  I'm going to try to nail that down before passing them for inclusion in the package.

I'm finalizing the UV maps and materials now.  Even though procedural textures are used for a good bit of the outfit, everything will be mapped and templates provided so users can do what they wish with it.  If they want purple pipling and a plaid "lipstick" bandolier with tiny transmapped pill bottles along with a iPod texture for the belt "case" they can easily add it themselves.

If I get the chance, I'll take a stab at morphing Koz's free Bob Hair (Since it is freely available.) to suit so if someone wants the exact look, they'll be able to get pretty close.  But, morphing hair isn't something I've done before either. 

That's the beauty of just taking a stab at creating something completely different - You learn new skills!  You also learn a new appreciation for the skills of others as well!  I have learned that I am terrible at modelling footwear.  What I produce in that department has probably not been recreated since the Inquisition and Prada would surely seek to have me banned from anything below the knee for my latest attrocity in modelling those boots...  :)  But, the end-user will have the chance to do full body renders without having to resort to third-party clothing and that's something I really want to provide for them.

Quote - Hi...

I've just been playing about with 'Outoftouche's'  Super Bob Hair - it's quite UFO adaptable and there are plenty of styles/colour mats to go with it...

Is that a transmap, original morph or a combo of some morphs included in their original package?

Quote - Also here is Freja & Adiene Frad Bambi V4 morphs with nice UFO-like make-up selection

Wait a sec... They had their own makeup look?  I know they had the silver eye-shadow and heavyily outlined eyebrows/lashes... but, they had little dots and such on their faces as well?  (/groans at the thought of wanting to include makeup options in order to give a complete package....)

...please critique my light/cam set up to bits in nessassary... it probably needs this!?!  

I think it's fine for our purposes.  After all, it's a demo render of the hair, not a finalized "show quality" piece.

Thanks for your constructive comments Jo, Morkonan... I know this might well be second nature to you guys here, but I'm still at the tinkering stage with Poser 6, with lights/shadows/settings etc, and often feel that single image (I've done some animations that took 30-hours to render out) render times of ten minutes plus are too long!!! But I'm learning that with proper set-ups, settings and scenes times need to be looooooonger - or so it would seem.

This image (I feel much improved thanks to JoEtzold) render took about an hour and already, with most of your suggestions added, Jo, I feel I can almost see 'a' light at the end of a long, long tunnel. I barked a huge WOW!!! when it finally appeared. Thanks! I've never attempted such vast shadow changes on a light before - and I'm rather glad I did. 

And you also guessed exactly where the lights were, Jo... And the brightness for the left main light was 100% in the previous image for some reason?!? I've adjusted that to 70% and turned the right light down from 45% to 30%... Oh and I added a spot above the hair with 40% brightness and a purple hue.

Having pulled the above (or below if that's where its appeared) image set-up from a saved file: File/Open etc, I'd forgotten that I'd added a colour matpose to the Super Bob hair from a collection of 35 and I can't seem to locate any readme file as yet. All I have is a dmaersksuperbob title for the selection in my poser pose file... The purple hair as used here is no: SDD 27... I'll try to locate exactly who owns the superb collection, though it looks like Dmaersk...!?! 

I'll try out those specularity and silvery tones you mentioned, Jo - and I'm guessing I do that via the material Room!?!    You see - learning all the time... 

The make-up is titled MU 06 from the fradv4bambi selection in the pose library...

The backdrop is thanks to a Olympus Props freebie - which looks stunning and adds a lovely dreamy glowing oblect to any scene... 

I'll try putting together a Sci-Fi full length shot of this character, Jo...  

Hope you like the refreshed version thanks to JoEtzold...

As promised: here is a full length shot of our beloved Moonbase Lieutenant in all her shimmering glory... First of all I've used JoEtzold's amazing Moonbase Girl Outfit mats to partial cover her cosmic body, set against Stonemason's fabulous Level 19 Bay Doors, with the lower half of the Sci-Fi Heroine Outfit for V4 by aremar. Also the Thigh Boot for V4 is by idler168, and the ultra conforming V4 cami by kirwyn. The silver mats are from the E.B.E. Toon Alien package by I believe: The3DZone...

Thanks once again for those Moonbase Girl Outfit mats, JoEtzold, and those light shadow and other settings and changes that have made an amazing difference to my renders/images!!! 

This image rendered out in 18-minutes flat... Not bad! The super Naika V4 morphs do increase render times marginally, but the results are easily worthwhile. The Bob Hair also added maybe 10-minutes to the render, but this too is a great item and easy to use.   

I was wondering: what does WIP mean, guys? Is it Work In Progress? And gusto? Is this meant as simply gusto - or is it someone else's username?!? I have to work out these abrevs, you see, as I'm quite new to them! 

Hope you like the latest render...

Once again, please do suggest any changes you think might improve my work. I'm up for any suggestions in my relatively early days of CGIing. 

Also, although I am indeed floating 'round seeking out places on the forum where I can pick up starting out newbie's tips, is there any particular area of the forum/s where you feel I might learn more?!? As you can see, Jo helped me out with some such settings today even, and I'm still beaming due to those results. 

Thanks everyone so far and to date...

I'll try adding a top half render next - to show up some more detail...

AJ     

Hi...

Not at all, bagginsbill...

Thank you for pointing out the error of my ways...

Where in Poser 6 do I gamma correct?!?

I'll hazard a guess its that Material Room!

..ain't that body mesh just lovely!!!

...It makes me feel itchy just looking at it - so realistic!

@morkonan
I think we can make a hand shake ... as I said some postings back I (and also seems some more modellers) have my problems with the foot section of boots.
I didn't see yours but from your words I guess they are becoming to big, right ? Did you for example consider that it's possible to build the foot region more lean cause it's possible to hide V4's foots. So no need that the figures foot is covered correctly.

For the makeup ... that girls had something like a round point or bullet left and right at the eye corners. If we would be on Startrek next generation I would have identified that as the contact's for such a thing like engine officer's visor ...

@paramount
That closeup image is much much better, especially the shadows are now fine tuned without that hard "interrogation light" ...

But with a view to the lights I see something I meaned to see also in your first image. You have a highlight on the top of the hair as also on the left side bang. But the region between this 2 points is lots darker ... might it be that your lights are rather near to the figure or the spot angle is very small?

If yes, you might try to give them more distance and than if neccessary you can tune the spot lights with the 4 parameters for angle and distance. Though that can be tricky and might be a thing of trial and error. The illusion of the lights in the preview with full shaded is mostly far away from the result if rendered.

And for all lighting, in german we have a saying that never a master is falling from sky. Don't know if it's fitting right in english but has the meaning that one have to try, learn, try, learn, and again and again until sometimes becoming great.
Especially the lighting is one of the most complicated themes ... having lots of own tutorials and complete books. The effects are the same as in photography but the technical side is much more complicated. So myself didn't work up to now with such things as AO or IBL. Trying first to come to good results with the base parameters and also trying to keep my memory alive and the rendertimes in handy regions. B.t.w. 10 minutes rendertime normally is a nothing even for testrenders. Ok, as long as possible so while dressing the puppets, building the scene, posing and so on I only work without any raytrace and/or shadowmaps.

Shadowmaps is even my main hate ... normally they tend to crash the render process and on other hand mostly the shadows doesn't fall right or looks unrealistic ... my opinion and experience.
Without shadowmap there is more memory for the models, ok, than with raytrace the processor(s) have to work harder. But that's their task for what they are paid, aren't they.
And I think that's a task they enjoy more ... something other like all days only waving the adminstrative rubbish that microsoft programmers has forgotten to decontaminate from windows.

Apropos rubbish, on your next way's with poser and lighting be prepared for some surprises build in at no extra cost. For example the spot lights are also shining through complete walls and other very robust things. With that in reality we could save lot's of energy. If your neighbors left and right switch on their lights you could save your own lamps
For example I tried a halloween image with a couldron. Placed a spotlight in aiming to the top as if light is coming from the soup. Up to top it worked. Also the sides of the couldron are dark. But vicky's feet and other things standing beneath the couldron are highly lighted and producing shadow to wall and floor. Very annoying. This seams to be a problem of spot and point light. The global lights don't have that problem but are not usable for that effects.

But you will find that this are not the only problems (bugs) build in into poser. Otherwise show me one, only one bugfree software. So for the price and with look to the enormous number of owner's of the programming team I think poser is really not as bad as some people are saying.
And as system developer I know what talking about.

Though especially to that aspect there are some bugs I'm really angry about. For example that bug in working with directory path's finding textures and sometimes also object files. Even if there is a complete path equal if relative notation (MAC style) or with complete structure (Windows style) poser tends to take the first file coming along with the same filename.

I once have spend hours to find my mistake as some boots for Posette first didn't conform right and second looked untextured. And that happened sometimes and sometimes not.
The point was there had been two different boots in two different path's having the same object filename but naturally different characteristics and map zones. If working from the library pallet Poser took the right one and also wrote the right path to PZ3. But loading the PZ3 it took what came in handy firsttime ... what a mess. I had to rename the object file and also all refences to that. And this is something a normal programmer should have learned in his first lessons ... a unforegivable bug ... if he had been in my team he would have had a very bad day for sure ... :cursing:

B.t.w. talking about learning, that word "gusto" wasn't a name or abbreviation it was simply meant in the sense of taste, smack, flavor. Sometimes I have to use the dictionary ... my problem in languages since school times equal if english, latin, basic, pascal or html. Yes, also with common computer languages in projects I need the reference handy to have sometimes a look into. Things to be learned in a logical way are well but to learn something by heart only memorizing in brain it's a other thing.
So I was happy finding gusto thats the same as in german and used that. Seem that it is not so common in english ... ok, in german too it's a bit more oldfashioned ...

Bagginsbill is right. Gamma correction is a point but it depends also a lot on the characteristics of the output medium. So paper, photo print or monitor needs very specific gamma correction.
In that closeup for my gusto (here we are again), äh, ok, my taste your darker version looks more "charming". With the gamma corrected the colors tend to bleach out. Especial with respect to the background prop it's to lightened ... the mysterious touch goes a small bit down the drain.

That's also a point in the full lenght render. There is to much light in it.
First from photographic point of view the highlight areas of the silver suit have lost their structures ... overexposure. Might be also a bit too much refection in the silver color. Looks less than fabics more like metal.
And second with respect to the artistic theme the wall is covered with rust and dirt ... so ok, might be they invested all money into the lamps but normally such surroundings are more or less rather dark.

One last critics to that image but not specific to it.
Did you hear somethere from the "golden section", might be better found in english as "Golden ratio".It's the name for a very very old experience since the day's of the old masters in painting. Meaning that the main object never ever should be positioned in the middle.
This is a great arts theory with lot's of mathematical backgrounds. You might look to wikipedia.
For our purpose at the moment it's enough to move vicky somewhat out of the middle ... so to 2/3 or 3/5 ... and also rotate the camera a bit so that the background get's a angle away from the 90 degree view ... making some perspective in x-z-axis as also might be y-axis.

Hey the V4 Cami is a good choice. Have to try it.
I love that boots. Have them too. Though I hope Vicky has not to walk through that door. Than she might get problems with her heel's ... :tt2:  But hey, that's normal in fanstasy images ... swordfighting amazones on 6 inch heel's ... poor gal's, there must be lot's of orthopedist 's  work in that worlds  ...  :laugh:  OK, no complaint, that's the charme of that artistic genre we all love a little bit or more ...

B.t.w. with respect to your figures character ... it's at the moment the 24-day's-of-advent-time so you can be a busy bee collecting lot's of freebies from the calender's. I don't know if your on that way but over there at 3D-arena today's freebie is a character with lot's of the touch in your image. I will give the link though not sure if it is completely in line with the TOS not to post links outside rendo. But it's not a comercial ... ok, in this moment ... let's try ... http://3-darena.com/Market/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=1454

Regarding the super Naika V4 morphs I had a view to the promo page. That's a huge amount of morphs. Are they used additional to the V4++ or with V4Basic. If additional .... poor memory ... I mean V4 plus morphs makes 44Mb plus object file plus textures that's filling up nicely the memory. As I said ... for more crowded images P4 Posette is nevertheless my favorite.

If you look for other forums with good advices for all skill's from newbie to expert besides the freebies and poser forum here. You could go to DAZ Commons and partly Freepozitory, good for freebies less for discussions on how to. In the commons you have to sort out between commercials and the rest of threads in that als lots of good advice could be found.
And than naturally RDNA. There are some real great expert themes for example shader themes. Lot's of bagginsbill expertise ...
Also on Poserpros you could find some advice but only for reading. Since that store is closed and integrated to DAZ the forum is dead but as a resource all threads are readable. Ok, you can also post there but there will no echo ...

Just de-lurking to add that I think you guys are amazing. Watching a project start at the gate and near the finish line like this is extremely interesting, to say the least.

BTW, I've been using Poser for the better part of a decade, but I don't even go near modeling, do very little texturing and have absolutely no desire to start either. Fortunately, we end-users have wonderful people like you.

For my big hands a bit too small in abdomen ... have fear to break her ... :tt2:
But otherwise sadly I'm not aboard on that ship for a little talk with her ... :tongue1:

But apropos aboard ... is the alien in there ... her look and gesture tend's me to think she might see something not very amusing ... has the touch as if she next turns left and start's to run for her life ... :ohmy:

Quote - @morkonan
I think we can make a hand shake ... as I said some postings back I (and also seems some more modellers) have my problems with the foot section of boots.
I didn't see yours but from your words I guess they are becoming to big, right ? Did you for example consider that it's possible to build the foot region more lean cause it's possible to hide V4's foots. So no need that the figures foot is covered correctly.

Yes, I had started out with that in mind.  But, the problem is that V4's zero pose is built around being able to fit a high-heel more naturally in a zero pose so, my base V4 mesh I was modeling on had her toes pointed down.  That's not really a problem but it makes correcting joint problems much easier if you just model around a zero pose to begin with.  Also, her feat are pointed outwards and further tilted.  ... It makes getting a basic starting location somewhat difficult.  So, after several tries at modeling from the "ground" up, I went from the knee down instead.  It's not exactly the best workflow for that but, it got the job done for a pair of boots someone can use in mid-range renders.  (I did have problems visualizing the toe of the boot though.  In the series, it is pointed.  In my boots, it's more rounded because I couldn't decide just exactly how to point it.)

I'll post a render of them tomorrow if I'm brave enough. :)

Quote - For the makeup ... that girls had something like a round point or bullet left and right at the eye corners. If we would be on Startrek next generation I would have identified that as the contact's for such a thing like engine officer's visor ...

LOL!  Hmm... I'll have to see if I can find anything like that in a pic.  Was it just a bit of makeup or was it an actual "aplique" that I could model?

Hi...

Well many thanks for the 'headsup' Jo(Etzold)...
 
Your brief teaching's here has/have giving me lots to think about/with. Most I understand and few bits not. But all much appreciated. I'll try absorbing these wisdoms into my work ethic - if I indeed have one. 

Again you are 'spot' on as regards to the added spot/hair highlight and its position in the scene. I think I turned the highlight spot angle to 30 on that one, and the brightness at 40%. That light is also about 3 metres from figure, and the right hand shadow fill light is about 4 metres distant from figure, and about camera height  and closer to it - or thereabouts. The main, left side, light is about 5 metres distant, and maybe 5 metres in the height. I don't seem to have been able to get the, is it: light fall-off, controls on the P dials/controls to do their destined work... This is often why my light set ups flood the whole scene, rather than give control it. But I have to admit to not having 'tinkered' much with this/these light settings. Will take note though. 

I've had a number of years where photography had been my life... Not professionally but never ending and within many fields. So I know the basics of the art, composistion/lighting etc, etc, but find/have difficulty at times when adapting these skills to the Poser workspace. I think also that at times I am lazy!!! Simply wanting results without the required work ethic. Tut! Tut! But I do practise with many set-ups and scenarios and try to have fun as I go. I must admit that adding new content to my runtimes takes up much time in itself - in taking a peek at what the new item looks like under minimalist basic sets. I think also my brain power is not in the top class CGI'ers league, but will always try my damnest to keep up!!!

Who Dares Wins - as they say!!! 

Yeah I see the 'light' with the gamma thing... With it added, as bagginsbill showed, it does give a much certain punch to the scene... Again, as you say, it might be down to personal taste. I quite liked the soft, dark original image, with some element of mystery lurking in/at the rear, amidst that backdrop. 

For some reason I used some post work on those two latest images, which brightened too much, with also some added sharpness. The original was certainly darker and maybe richer in tone.

Oh-yes! The figure centred in the scene!?! Apologies to all there... I wasn't actually thinking artistically when I activated the Firefly renderer. Maybe I should do this at all times... I was, by and large, trying mainly to get the image of your amazing silver texture body suit and maybe the characters face in all their glory, and didn't consider the rule of thirds or such - sorry! I do get carried away sometimes - especially when balancing with trying to cook the dinner and feed the dogs and generally attempting to make the house look less like a cave and something more like a home. I must make an effort to escape my ways of juggling ten things at once every now and again.    

Thanks for the freebie headsup, Jo... I'll go take a look today!!!

As regards to the Naika for V4 morphs, you only need to add the basic V4 character (thank the lord) to the workspace and prop her with the magic N before going to the pose pallete selection - and then you're off... I tried out using all V4 morphs on Vicky and then added the Naika for V4  yesterday and it actually worked quite well - even though the memory count must have been well and truly through the roof!!! Oddly enough, when I first introduced Naika V4 to my Poser, nothing would work well, and the magnets more resembled the earths magnetic field than anything else, and the cursor would vanish for up to 30-seconds and freeze Poser with each and every small change/alteration or movement. But it seems OK right now! But then I've had that before with Poser... the programme seems to like hosting/holding gripping new content for a few days before finally letting it out to play!?! Strange!

I love the V4 character in general but can only load one figure into any scene at once - which is a shame and probably means I need the new Dell super computer when it is available. 

I'll have a look round at these suggestion you've pointed out here. Jo... thanks again for all your help. 

And now I suppose I should allow the thread to get back on track!!!

Oh Ms Ellis what have you created here!?!

AJ 

morkonan , just found this link in a other thread here around. It's about moddeling as shoe. Though for Wings3D but except the commands the process should work in each modeller.
http://www21.brinkster.com/jrcsurvey/tutorials/alana/Index.html

If the boots are not so pointy but more round that's perfect. See that image and also I remember that in the 70th that was the fashion. Spiky foot's like in example idler's V4 Tightboots or normal boots is timely more located in the 90th up to now. In early/mid 60th (James Dean time) I remember that men are wearing very spiky shoe's ... not the best for the toe's. Women's fashion don't know ... not really in my view/interests at that time ... was somewhat of 4 to 7 so tough boy's had been cool not really little girlies ... soccer ball's in front of other type's of , umh, ball's ... :biggrin:
http://ufoseries.com/photos/ellisClothesChange.jpg

Regarding that "visor contacts" found that 2 images. Looks like a flat silver pickle.
ufoseries.com/photos/ellisCloseup.jpg
ufoseries.com/photos/ellisCloseup3.jpg

Hi paramount,
glad I could help you a little ...

Photography was my biggest hobby for 15, 20 years including a small laboratory at the end.
And there I learned my lessons first cause use of real films was expensive. So you looked more than once if the picture was well composed to suppress waste of material. Digital photo's makes things much cheaper and easier but not neccessarily better.

And second a had a friend who was really a semi professional on that and I learned a lot of his knowledge.

The lab was mainly to try artistic effects. Also not cheap and extremly time consuming. So as software became grown up and computer's tend's to give user's a chance to play with them I switched off the warmwater color processing. The advantage of that digital work was to stop or start with it as you had time and not as the chemistry was mixed and ready.

But cheap it wasn't also not in the beginning ... my first 468 (real 20 Mhz) with it's incredible 80 Mb harddrive and 256 color vga-card cost's 8000 DM that's round 4000 Euro ... and 6 month later for the same prize you got 33 Mhz and 120 Mb ... :cursing:

Some years ago I have cleared out lot's of (paper) photo magazin's  from over 10 year's ... sometimes it's neccessary to find again all corner's of a room ... :rolleyes:
In that magazin's every month the editor's staff published best pictures send from the readers.
Looking on that through all that year's in one go it was interesting to see how quality and especial creativity descends while digitalisation ascends. Might be that this also went hand in hand with quicker rotation (less expertise) of peoples in the editor's staff ... times became more and more stressy ... and looking to lot's of image galleries in internet today, oh boy, there a millions of picture times ago nobody would have take his photobox out of the pocket. I hate that shots with mobile telephones ... ... and that people than thinking they would be the new Piccaso and the world is waiting for their rubbish.

Ok, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and we all started from scratch ... but also less could be more ...

B.t.w. your time problem and/or sorting your runtimes ... well, you are not alone ... got me round 4 weeks to sort only my V4 runtime with all the stuff found over the last year. And there are waiting round 2500 zip's and rar's with stuff for Posette, V2, V3 (and also their men), buildings, vehicles and other stuff. Lot's never needed but than you are searching for something you know you have seen and it's in some archive but WHERE ...

And it's not only saving on the runtime ... lot's of thingies have crude path's in it or other problem's and poser bothers you searching that things ... for example in that lovely V4 Sexy Leathers I used for the skirt someone was so clever to delete all parameter dials from the body section. I wanted to move the unconformed cloth some 100 out of the way to have a look to the material without the skirt and first had to rebuild the dials an that ...

Also with that lot'S of magnets in V4 I'm sometimes not happy. They are done fore more realism but in some not too extrem poses it looks as if they are blowing up a limb more as good. With the effect that even morphed clothing wouldn't conform any more ... strange ...

But your pc memory seem's very small ... 3 full clothed V4's are no problem to me ... though there might be than some funny effects. If posing the clothing tend's to come later ... nude vicky is moving and her dress running behind ... :laugh:
But as said for scenery with more people I love Posette and without closeups she is a beauty too. Having terrain, a tower, row boat and 8 Posettes and 1 V2 and 1 V3 in a scene is not a big problem.

That behavior with new contents you're describing ... really strange ... didn't have such. Normally poser find's or ask's for something. Ok, not ever what it's finding is what it's looking for and what you think it should find but in libraries mostly not a problem. Even more than reusing saved PZ3.
Regarding that magnet loading and freezing ... might be that there are flaws with the readscripts for loading also that technics introduced with V4 to update their CR2 etc. are somewhat mysterious. I have reading through the tutorials and "white papers" publish by DAZ and even I'm a professional in such stuff like software structure or workflow charts I'm lot's away in getting the hang of that ... really ...

Apropos flaw, bug, irritation ... in my newest material for the legseamed displacement (the mt5 as also than the resulting mc6) is something not working as foreseen. And I'm not sure if it is new with Poser7 or was also in the earlier versions.

I have combined the displacement uv-map and the stripy material with the ADD function in the math node directly going to the displacement channel. And if looking in that node pictures all is running well.
We have a clear black-white image meaning black = 0 = no displacement and white = 1 = full displacement. But looking very tight into the render I found that all white areas comes with different displacement heights.

Mathematical it's easy found. In both input channels are black-white maps and adding them we get black + black = 0 = black, black + white = 1 = white AND white + white = 2 = whiter as white (advertising for washing agent ).
Up to now I was in the opinion that the resulting map was used for further work and no the numerical result.  But this declares the seen discrepancies.

If using that material you should take MAX instead of ADD as function. MAX will compare both inputs and take the higher value. So white + white results as 1 = white and the displacement is on equal height all over. In this case this will work perfect ... with greyscales one have to look carefully. So things can be tricky ... must have sometimes a look to the other pc and it's Poser 5 if it will react in the same manner ... :unsure:

So further on happy rendering ... time to look for some evening meal ...

Quote - morkonan , just found this link in a other thread here around. It's about moddeling as shoe. Though for Wings3D but except the commands the process should work in each modeller.
http://www21.brinkster.com/jrcsurvey/tutorials/alana/Index.html

If the boots are not so pointy but more round that's perfect. See that image and also I remember that in the 70th that was the fashion. Spiky foot's like in example idler's V4 Tightboots or normal boots is timely more located in the 90th up to now. In early/mid 60th (James Dean time) I remember that men are wearing very spiky shoe's ... not the best for the toe's. Women's fashion don't know ... not really in my view/interests at that time ... was somewhat of 4 to 7 so tough boy's had been cool not really little girlies ... soccer ball's in front of other type's of , umh, ball's ... :biggrin:
http://ufoseries.com/photos/ellisClothesChange.jpg

Thanks for those references!  I've seen several shoe creating tutorials and they follow a logical path.  What I should have done is probably started out with a V4 toe/foot/shin pose that was realistic for a boot and then constructed a base model.  After that, I should have moved it into a V4 with a standard zero-pose and repositioned my created model.

I could model a shoe/boot/sandal or Dutch wooden clog simply by itself.  But, I was working on a V4 scaffolding in a zero-pose with her feet pointed downward at around a 60 deg angle.  Modeling around that is difficult and I have learned the hard way! :)  Next time, I will start off with a base mesh modeled around different angles and then move it to the final zero-pose scaffolding for detail work before moving into the conforming process.

Quote - Regarding that "visor contacts" found that 2 images. Looks like a flat silver pickle.
ufoseries.com/photos/ellisCloseup.jpg
ufoseries.com/photos/ellisCloseup3.jpg

...

Thanks!  Those look like they just glued on some sequins.  A small cone smart-propped to her face with a good reflective material would be a very easy thing to do.  I'll put that in the final package as well.

PS- I'll post a render of the boots later today as soon as I get the new models conformed and any joint-parameter issues ironed out.

Hi...

There is actually a video of Lt G Ellis changing from her duty uniform to her off-duty attire, which as we have already gone over, consists of the slightly flared mini skirt and less the itchy leg material of the body/catsuit... I think we also mentioned that the legs of the catsuit unzip so as to offer this change of attire - and this is what the video clearly shows: Lt Ellis changing from the silver leotard and into her 'casual' mini skirt... I like 'casual' in this sense!!! 

Sorry, I could have offered those images you just have searched out, Jo; I just didn't want to add too many UFO images unnessassarily. And by the way, as I mentioned before that UFO was currently running on UK TV, guess what Lt Ellis did this very evening with items on her 'utility' belt ?!? The 'Case' is infact a make up compact - think Morkonan said this - which has a section that pulls out from the top with the mirror, with ample lipstick supplies inside to help keep even the most busy of Moonbase Girls topped up with their fav colours. there is also an aerial on top of the 'Case' of which I am uncertain as to its role of use - mostly would suggest a radio!?! Not suggesting for a moment though, that you should go into any further detail on the 'Case' Morkonan!!! It's beautiful the way it is... 

Yeah, Jo(Etzold), I too had a room in my last house for ten years that was built as a darkroom or lab... And every friday night for most of those years were devoted to 4 to 8-hours of B&W developing and printing... I would enter at around 8pm friday night and exit when the sun came up - or even longer/later if I could be bothered fitting the blackout screens... Holidays were the best for me: with 30 rolls of B&W and 10 of colour to be 'sorted' on my hasty return home to the lab!!! Oh! memories!!!

Good luck oh great ones...

AJ     

Quote - Hi...

Not at all, bagginsbill...

Thank you for pointing out the error of my ways...

Where in Poser 6 do I gamma correct?!?

I'll hazard a guess its that Material Room!

There is nothing built into Poser 5, 6, or 7 that will do gamma correction (GC) in one click. Only Poser Pro has built-in GC.

For the others you have several approaches.

1) Post work, of course. I find this the least desirable. It requires saving and switching to some other application. Not all image editing tools make it easy to do. It is not a simple matter of light level adjustment - there is specific math that must be performed. You cannot see your results incrementally during rendering, only after you switch to the other application. This means you must guess how to adjust your lights first, and then after rendering find out how you did. For best results, you must stop trying to compensate by over-lighting, so you have to guess how much to decrease your lights in anticipation of the post-work GC.

1. Use my "artistic lens". This can perform GC and other tone-mapping tasks directly as the render is produced. It works via refraction, so it slows your render down a bit, but you get immediate feedback - you will know even partway through the render if you like what you're getting or need to make an adjustment. It works better in Poser 7 than previous because Poser 7 improved the speed and quality of refraction. It produces exact and reproducible results because you're not doing any steps by hand. One problem is that unless you intentionally darken (anti-gamma correct) your incoming material, it can tend to wash out some saturation. However, including an HSV node in the lens can bring some of that back. Certain shaders, such as the default Daz V4 skin shader, have some GC measures in them already. As a result, use of the lens GC can over correct some things. You have to tone down the behavior of such shaders when using the lens. On the other hand, the lens really helps if you have a scene full of simple or naive shaders that make no attempt to compensate for gamma.

2. Make gamma-correcting shaders and use them everywhere. This is the best technique, but requires the most preparation. However, for any given prop or figure, once it is done, it can be saved and used again in the future without any work on your part. It does not slow renders down at all. If done properly, with anti-gamma correction of incoming material (images, colors, etc used in the shader) then it gives the absolute best results. It can match the quality of the Poser Pro built-in GC exactly.

To try the lens, have a look here:

Artistic "Lens"

To start learning about GC shaders, look here:

Can the Poser 7 Pro feature Gamma Correction be emulated in P7 or P6 with Python

Update including the torturous boots I made.

(No raytracing/anything on the renders.. They're just quick&dirty with no frills.  No textures on the suit, only reflection maps.  The only textures besides JoEtvold's basic bumpmap texture 2ndSkin are the S.H.A.D.O logo lapel pin and the belt-case texture of whatever I thought the texture looked like in the photos. :) )  The finished package will also include the little-stick-on-thingies (Star-Trek Visor ports) near her eyes as smart-props.  They're just two tiny inverted cones with a reflection texture and basic map on them.

(I haven't finished the displacement-transmaps for the displacement mapped texture which is much better.)

This is "Beta-Jumper" so the joint parameters for the shoulders haven't been tweaked yet and there are no belt-fit morphs, FBMs, etc built into it yet.  The boots conform well however, somewhere in the workflow a couple of vertices were either murdered or some faces had their normals switched.  You can see them on the lower-right boot render.  I'll fix it before release, of course.

Something interesting I noticed:  In an earlier release I admitted to something that wasn't my fault.  Specifically, the movement of a belt buckle outside of where it was supposed to be.  Well, that problem wasn't caused by me, it was caused by Hexagon's scaling!  The buckle gets moved out of alignment with where it is supposed to be when I end up rescaling the object down to Poser's itsy-bitsy-teensy-weensy object sizes.  I'll figure a workaround for that or see how Objaction Scaler does with it.

If Poser's objects were bigger, like around 500% bigger.. I bet there would be a lot of improvements in certain things noticed.  I bet rendering would be a bit improved as well.

Quote - There is nothing built into Poser 5, 6, or 7 that will do gamma correction (GC) in one click. Only Poser Pro has built-in GC.

For the others you have several approaches.

Hi BaginsBill,  I've read your comments in other threads on Poser's lack of any proper gamma correction with great interest.  Excellent analysis as always!

I've tried to use your VSS system but with no luck - It hangs when I try to load it. (Following the instructions, of course.)  But, I could have gotten a bad download/unpacking so I'll try again later.  You don't note any problems with it and running multiple copies of Poser sharing runtimes, do you? (It's installed in both P6 and P7 versions on my machine atm because I was checking for runtime conflicts.)

Anyway, the gamma correction (or lack of it) is an obvious issue with Poser.  It wasn't until you had spelled it out that I realized why so many renders that should have turned out just fine were way too dark and trying to use something like an IBL/light to correct that will not always work effectively.  So, either it's too dark or washed out.  Bad either way.

There's no problem with having VSS installed in multiple copies of Poser.

What do you mean by "hangs"? Poser locks up and is unusable and you have to terminate it? Or do you mean nothing happens. Because nothing is supposed to happen. When you run the script, all it does is load some library functions and install some buttons in your Poser Python buttons window. Many people never bring that window up and they think VSS has failed. It does stuff after you load the VSS control prop and use those buttons.