Well... I still have both versions of the UV maps here so if ever you want to give it a try , even if only to find out what you like best - give me a holler!

Meanwhile I've textured many different figures with totally different uv mapping and material zones. And I found that there is not the one and only solution for mapping. Miki, for instance has not even a material zone for the lips - and this has it's benefits and it's problems. It is indeed very easy to melt the lips with the skin - while of course here as well you have to add the lips without lots of surrounding skin. Lips are very different from person to person, you always have to tweak (warp/contort) them to make them match to the mesh. So if you pick up too much surrounding skin you will distort the skin and get, for instance, weird pores. But then you can blend the lips with the surrounding face very smoothly. But this only seems to work for the pure, undone lips. As soon as you want lipstick you will have a sharper edge. Adding pure procedural gloss is impossible on a face without a seprate lip material. I always use a mask to create the gloss effect when I worked with Miki and likewise figures but I am not even sure how for instance DAZ Studio handles those masks. And of course even the blurriest mask will give a slight edgy effect under specific light situations.

On the other hand a seperate lip material offers more options for any kind of special effect. Painting the lips is easier - and especially with Antonia as the lip material contains some more space for surrounding skin. On the other hand: Yes, you have a different resolution. But as the lip skin is so completely different from the rest of the face with it's fine creases, the thin skin and the color, it is not as obvious as it seems. You may see from the parts of the photo-resource that the skin appears kind of blurry against the lips. And that' what I see as well when I look into the mirror - without makeup!

So I made just sugestions for small changes of the mapping as I and every other texturer has to be able to work with it. A figure lives and dies with the supporting add-ons you get. The Victoria-line is not so successful because it's more beautiful or "better" than other figures but because you can get whatever your heart desires to make her look like you want.

So it is a good idea to think like a developer as well after you took care about quality. Antonia will be available for free when she is finished - but I think that anyone involved in this project wants her not only to be downloaded but to be used as well.

And if people use her or not depends highly on supporting items like clothes, hair and textures, may they be free or commercial.
The easier it is for merchants and freestuff developers to create quality add-ons for a figure the more artists will use her.

As said, this is just my personal opinion and yes, of course I see things from the viewpoint of a merchant and freestuff creator.

I'm not always right, but my mistakes are more interesting!

And I am not strange, I am Limited Edition!

Are you ready for Antonia? Get her textures here:



The Home Of The Living Dolls