wow - he is really coming along.  that chaotic workflow actually kind of sounds sensible.

The work flow sounds like sculpting to me.

LMK

Hi esther, lkendall    :)

Well I am finally getting to putting in some erc into this figure. There are some problems.  Daz Studio setup tools dont like something on line a thousand and something.  I have just been using word pad to edit the cr2.  Wordpad does not list line numbers............................

So do any of you know of an editor that will list the line numbers?

P.S. I get this erc done and the JCM's for the mouth and........close enough for some testing.

Attached Link: http://www.vim.org/

PC: Notepad++, EditPad Lite
Mac: Smultron, TextWrangler
pretty much any text editor for programming or scripting will have line numbers. 

Thanks Esther, cobaltdream.

Took a look at Vim editor, looks good, it will do. Thanks.

This is exciting (for me) I'm on the erc!!!!!! On my own figure.   I know there is still lots to do, but still it is a milestone for me, a goal reached.

I know momodot does not like transmapped eyelashes. Probably others as well. So I thought I would make an extra set of geometry based eyelashes. Since the lashes have a bone they can be swapped out by choice. So geometry based lashes would be something like dynamic hair? Just make them in the hair room?

 I like transmapped but I can see that for other software geom is advantageous eg in C4D - then one can use sketch and toon.
Love esther

 I used to get very excited about the vickies and mikes, but this is the most excited I've ever been about a figure!
Love esther

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/index.php?image_id=2010116&user_id=240894&np&np

I like transmapped lashes well enough myself. At least I understand how to use them.

Would geometry based lases be made in a modeler and have morphs and textures like any other geometry?

LMK

 oops I posted in the wrong thread just now.
sorry for the confusion and now it;stoo late to edit it away.
Love esther

Hi Esther :)  I thought "but I dont have any images in the gallery"  :laugh:

lkendall:  I dont know how they're done, but I am just going to try growing some in the hair room and saving them out. I would imagine they will just have a shader and no texture. I would also imagine you could grow them longer or shorter and curl them more or less. I have not explored the hair or dynamic cloth at all. (been locked up in the setup room all my life)  I suppose I could make them in a modeler but geez that would take alot of polys, likely end up with as many poly's in the lashes as the whole face. Unless maybe double sided poly's?  I have heard that Poser dont like double sided polys.

Well got the CR2 fixed enough that DS dont object anymore. It was a pair of my body handles that it did not like. Kept saying there was no such actor. The two handles were just in there for development facilitation anyway so I just deleted them.

This figure does pose quite a bit differently, I hope it is not too strange. The worst weirdness is that the thighs are aligned for a sort of rotating swing, which works really well with IK on. With IK off you just have to compensate for the swing and rotation in extreme bends, not so much for regular range of motion. I really like it because it gives such natural looking deformations to the muscles of the legs and hip, but it is different from what people are used to.

I am going to finish it this way anyway, and if people scream too much I will try to compromise. There is a mesh break too that I am not sure yet what I will do, it is small and can easily be fixed with a JCM or I could compromise on the shoulder deformation in the arm up position, something I dont want to do if I dont have to.

Cheers,
Mike.

the other (small) benefit to lashes that are hair is that P8 and up have optimized hair rendering.  strand hair now renders faster than transmapped.  lashes are pretty much never big enough to make a huge difference  in render time (especially in competition with the eyes), but it's never bad to have optimizations like that.

Several people have been experimenting with dynamic hair since SM optimized Poser 8/Poser Pro 2010 for rendering dynamic hair. Maybe some of them could comment here if they are reading this thread?

LMK

I've not been making my own dynamic hair so I can't comment on that process, but I have spent some time recently rendering other people's in P8. 
What I've found in most cases is that I've had to dramatically increase the number of hairs and lower the settings for root/tip width for most groups before I start to get realistic results. This has had quite an impact on render speeds.
This may not be much of an issue for lashes since they cover a relatively small area, but IMO you're going to need to really experiment with the hair room settings and make test renders at high resolutions to ensure a good quality result. I know I've seen one or two attempts at this for other figures (although I can't point you to any examples) which have fallen short for one reason or another - probably lack of knowledge in the hair room.

I do think it'd be well worth the effort though, at least as an option. Dynamic hair is really starting to come into it's own with P8, and yields far superior results. IMO at present it lacks the input of those with enough skill to make it work well in terms of creating it - they're definitely out there but possibly lost patience with the ability of previous versions of Poser to render it fast enough.
Dynamic clothing also seems a struggle for many.

I'd like to see a conversion for M4 maps or Vittorio 4.2 maps done for him.  I've done my Bruno freebie that's gotten some good feedback so that would be fun to see that on him. 

In any case I think he looks awesome. 

He and Antonia will be the perfect couple.  I hope allot of folks jump on board to support BOTH of these figures.  I know PhilC and probably Evil will lend clothing conversion support through WWizard and XDresser but then there are the skins and accessories that really are needed to make it all come together. 

looks good. Will have to come back to see the whole thread and all the images of this figure in progress!

 It may be the pose, perhaps too much twist on the left forearm?

The elboes and knees were not set at the time that shot was taken I was primarily working on the trunk at that time. 

Here is the current state of the elboes and knees.

Ah, I was wondering when I was getting through the other pages.  Looks really really good!

 If daz or smith micro saw this they would offer you an instant job with them.

Thanks esther. I'm no pro though, really just a hack that didn't know he couldn't do something.

I am finishing this legacy rigged figure first, but when Pro2010 comes out I am going to make an updated rig with all the new rigging options and thought I might offer it to SM for Poser 9 maybe. Perhaps they will like it.
:biggrin:

 i am certain they will.  offer it for poser pro 2010 now and they might give you a free copy.
love esther

He is so amazing - I can't get over this "ballet pose" you've posted. Although it's of course a bit exaggerated it reminded me on the "Pure Dance" photos by Dieter Blum.

...and he can even spread his toes - too cute and so handy when using nail laquer!

Hi SaintFox :)  Thank you.  Antonio and Masha had asked for a figure with abilities for ballet, I'm trying. All the muscle makes it difficult.

I thought the toe rigging might come in handy for some poses, adds more actors to deal with but with erc it should be OK.

I was disappointed with the feet, they're so ugly. I dont know what it is about feet, so hard to do. Antonia has such gorgeous feet, maybe once I get Brad out someone will fix them.  :)

Feet just have complicated shapes. It took me ages to get Antonia's legs and feet right. I think her feet are still not perfect, but bearable.

phantom3D:

If I may comment on Brad's feet? The feet look good, and there are certainly some people who would have feet that look like the most recent foot examples. To achieve a more average or neutral appearance, I think you could make some minor changes.

From the pictures on page 9 of this thread, it looks as if the heel should be more rounded and less prominent. The pictures of your foot shape show the calcaneus (heel bone) correctly aimed downward. So, that does not need to be fixed.

Because the foot normally bears weight, the bottom of the foot, the planter surface, tends to be a little flattened in adults (and often callused), even when the foot is not on the ground. The bottom “edge” of the foot’s sides should be less rounded, and that looks right on the foot pictures you have shown.

If you look at the palm of your hand, there is a ridge across the palm just before the first finger joints. The foot has a similar feature that includes the great toe, and this is thicker and wider than the hand. This looks almost right in the picture showing the toes bent up (extended). In the other examples that area doesn’t look thick (top to bottom) or wide (front to back) enough.

The front part of the foot, the metatarsus region (before the toes), does not look thick enough from the top (anterior) surface to the bottom (planter) surface. This makes the foot look a little flattened. The anterior surface may need to be a little more rounded.

LMK

Did someone (dont remember who or which thread) say this couldn't be done with a Poser figure?

Knees to chest.

Really superb Phantom!! 

It's like poetry.

Exactly!

Quote - Did someone (dont remember who or which thread) say this couldn't be done with a Poser figure?

Knees to chest.

Whoever said that evidently didn't know what they were talking about or didn't want to admit it could be done.

Quote - Worked on the feet a bit, need to reset the center it looks like.  Have most of the erc in just a bit more.  :)

Did someone (dont remember who or which thread) say this couldn't be done with a Poser figure?

Knees to chest.

That's friggin impressive. phantom3D is my master.

Quote - Worked on the feet a bit, need to reset the center it looks like.  Have most of the erc in just a bit more.  :)

Did someone (dont remember who or which thread) say this couldn't be done with a Poser figure?

Knees to chest.

It is impossible not only for Poser figure. Human cannot do it in real world. Brad (and probably you) can bend chest to knees not knees to chest  ;)
Anyway Brad has excelent abdomen and chest bending. It looks very realistic.

 It's all semantics. The point is bringing the chest and knees together LIKE IN REAL LIFE! THIS is a breakthrough! WOOOOOHOOOOO! :laugh: Mike, this just rocks! You rule, man. Keep going!

It wasn't that it COULDN'T be done, but that it crumples or breaks the mesh. It can be hidden with clothes, but usually looks horrid without, like an accident victim.

To quote Mako from the Conan movie about THIS: "It was No accident..."

Cant wait for the weekend. I am going to work straight through and try to get the alpha out on sunday sometime. During the week I only get an hour here and there, and so many other things on my mind.

Thanks everyone. I hope you will still like him when he comes out. I was really pleasantly surprised myself with the way he is performing this time around. The drawback to this is just the roll and swing to the leg which just has to be compensated for in the pose. Does not bother me, but some people may not like it.

Knees to chest, chest to knees. You're right drapak, but this is the way I bend (have to sit against the wall to do it, getting old)  :) But it still takes mostly leg bending as well.

Also I dumped all body handles in this rig so it's all straight rigging. I still have the second rig with the body handles in it. I really like them both and want to keep them both. The second rig has the hip free bending so you can do much adjustment with out turning off the IK. I am going to use one of Cages geometry insertion poses to call the handle geometry when you want it.

P.S.  You can get the back alot straighter and bend the legs more, but it did not look natural to me that way. (unless he were laying on his back.)

I could make a lot of words to tell you how impressed I am - or sum it up:
You did wonders!!!

Or maybe he is going to kick his other leg up and stand on his hands :) Just thrashing looking for problem areas.

Well, looks like he'll bend well enough to do self-fellatio, at any rate. Should be a big hit over at 'otica :)

Smooth, those bends. Real smooth.

-- Jeff

Yup, I agree!! 

Man-oh-man Mike!  Just brilliant!!!

Brad is first Poser figure who can sit.
All figures have buttocks growing when bend legs. This looks totally not relistic. Brads buns bending with legs, it is great.

I know Neftoon Gal can sit without distortion, so I suspect that you are exaggerating.

Phantom3D is the Poser joint-handling king!  :woot:

Wish we had a Rigging Experience & Ability Transferometer.  Then we could have a world where every Poser figure had joints that could live up to the way the figure looks in a default pose.  :lol:

Dont know if anyone is interested in mesh deformations, I watch them often, 

www.youtube.com/watch

Still working.

Cheers,
Mike.

Thanks for the YouTube demo! It is very interesting work.

I think that the foot looks much more realistic in the last few renders.

LMK

I hope it will look better as I go I have been studying the feet and trying again to get something more realistic. I can sculpt a decent foot with clay but in Zbrush I have alot of trouble.  Cannot touch it and mold it like clay.  :)

Having watched the video, it's clear that we'd need a Full Figurebuild Experience & Ability Transferometer.

Seriously, though.  Just... wow.  :thumbupboth: