I don't want to step on Tori's or Cooper's toes, so I'm going to wait a bit longer.

so its not a new male figure just a morph. like i need more morphs,although i will get it,lol.... one question,why not a base figure?

Quote - > Quote - Miki's body was also completely resculpted.

Aw hell giggity giggity yeah!  :D

Miki 3's body allways looked rather weird to me.  I liked the Miki 1020 and Miki 2 default bodyshapes most. A bit of too much of a flatass, but nothing that cannot be fixed with a magnet ;-) . ^^

The first two Miki's had the most realistic body types of any figures I've ever seen before or since ;). They just had horrible joints. What a shame. I still use them tho.

Laurie

Wish you and Laurie were on the beta for Miki 3 then, Timberwolf. Miki3's original shape was very close to Miki 2's. I ended up bowing to pressure from my art director and the testers to alter her hips. I rebelled though, which is why there was a morph to get it back.

Yeah, that's too bad Teyon. The original figures were real nice :). I'm glad they at least added the morph...lol. I'll learn to weight map one of these days and fix Miki 2's joints ;). It's on the list...lol.

Laurie

Wake me up when something actually happens.

All the best.

LROG

"The first two Miki's had the most realistic body types of any figures I've ever seen before or since."

That's because MIKI I/II's body was carefully sculpted using human reference. In this case, czech porn actress Aneta Keyes.

I actually liked Aneta/Miki's body shape so much that I based one of my V3 custom figures on her.

Good job :)

Laurie

Thank you. :-)

Quote -  

I actually liked Aneta/Miki's body shape so much that I based one of my V3 custom figures on her.

Yours is much better. It does not suffer from the dreaded macaroni deltoids that seem to afflict just about every single figure ever made.

Quote - > Quote -  

I actually liked Aneta/Miki's body shape so much that I based one of my V3 custom figures on her.

Yours is much better. It does not suffer from the dreaded macaroni deltoids that seem to afflict just about every single figure ever made.

Yep, the shoulder bulge has alway annoyed the **** out of me....lol. Weight mapping should fix that...theoretically. I would LOVE to see Miki 1 and 2 weight mapped ;). I've got a feeling I'm in for a really looooong wait...lol.

Laurie

 I think that settles the argument as to whether or not Mik's body shape was realistic! :-) I never had a Miki- I suspect that will change next month! :-)

Quote -  

"The first two Miki's had the most realistic body types of any figures I've ever seen before or since."

That's because MIKI I/II's body was carefully sculpted using human reference. In this case, czech porn actress Aneta Keyes.

So, is Miki 4 sculpted after any particular model / actress, Teyon?

I'm guessing that's non-disclosable info... but I thought I could be first to ask...

You are correct, that is in the realm of breaking my NDA. Once we do the official launch and what not, I can spill but for now all I can say is we used multiple references. Initially I began with my own artistic views on improving her, then we pulled in reference photos to correct areas I got wrong or stylised too much. Then we compared it against two body scans of a woman I happened to have sitting in my hard drive to tweak things a little more. For me personally, she represents the most extensive research I've done on a character (well...until I completed her, she doesn't hold that title anymore). I'm very hopeful that you all will be pleased with her physical appearance. 

This thread is driving me nut's! OK granted it was a short trip but I really, really want to see some miki4. Can she bend? Will they be releasing clothing (well, loads of shoes and boots at least). What about texture maps? Morphs, what type of morphs.....

I really can't talk about it. Besides, when it comes to rigging, I'm a really great modeler, so I wouldn't feel comfortable even trying to discuss her rig after the launch. 

Quote - Then we compared it against two body scans of a woman I happened to have sitting in my hard drive .... 

What was the woman doing sitting on your hard drive?

(ba da bump! rim shot)

They just do that. Don't know why. I think my computer's just that sexy...women line up to spend time with it. 

LOL, so THAT'S the secret!

I think having Tyler and Miki 4 as re-sculpts rather than new base figures makes an important point - the potential was always there in the mesh, but it needed special artistry to release it.

So Poser users have a hefty shopping list now - if you don't already have it, it seems Zbrush may be on that list.  $699 for the single user licence. Poser Pro 2012 is now $500 if you are a first-time buyer. Zbrush is more expensive than Poser. I expect some people will be motivated to upgrade their version of Poser - will the plug-in architecture be in Poser Pro only or also in Poser 9? Will there be a special offer on Zbrush for Poser users? This is beyond Smith Micro's control I suppose, but it would make the Poser users very happy. Several people already seem to have Zbrush and may just need to upgrade.

Also Reality - not sure how that will be priced. Reality 2 for Daz Studio is just under $48 now. I expect the new version will be a bit more.

And then there are the new morphs - Tyler and Miki 4.

So people will be spending lots of money, and much (most?) of it will go to companies other than Smith Micro. Benefits to Smith Micro will only realise in the medium to long term, as the creators who have ZBrush make more morphs and they become available, making Poser and its native content more attractive. And also as people are motivated to upgrade their Poser. I think this is a very interesting strategy to adopt.

personally, I have no problem with tyler being a sculpt of ryan rather than a new base figure.  Before GND Anastasia I had written alyson 2 off completely.  Obviously ana gave me a reason to take a second look.  Now looking at her with an open mind as a base figure I think she is actually quite good, and you can take her quite far with just dial spinning.   I haven't looked much into ryan, but I plan to before tyler's release.

I can't find it in myself to get excited about Tyler :(   If he's anything like Anastasia there will probably be zero clothing.   We've already seen how difficult it is even for accomplished modellers to rig conforming clothes for Anastasia and vendors keep saying male stuff does not sell so I don't see any clothing for him on the horizon.    *sigh  I sure wish SM would coordinate a character release with a set of clothing.

Quote -  http://www.renderosity.com/mod/forumpro/media/folder_10/file_485039.jpg

 

"The first two Miki's had the most realistic body types of any figures I've ever seen before or since."

That's because MIKI I/II's body was carefully sculpted using human reference. In this case, czech porn actress Aneta Keyes.

• nods in agreement *

Quote - I can't find it in myself to get excited about Tyler :(   If he's anything like Anastasia there will probably be zero clothing.   We've already seen how difficult it is even for accomplished modellers to rig conforming clothes for Anastasia and vendors keep saying male stuff does not sell so I don't see any clothing for him on the horizon.    *sigh  I sure wish SM would coordinate a character release with a set of clothing.

 

i think it would help if Anastasia and Tyler had 'dev' version figures to be donors for the setup room.

and if Morphing Clothes came out with a new version to make wm transfer a 'breeze'.

can't remember poser life before MC  :)

could be wrong, but i'm under the impression adding Anastasia's morphs to Alyson2's dev figure isn't enough to make conforming clothes work for Anastasia. unless it's too skimpy to cover her joints.  not that there is anything wrong with skimpy. i like skimpy.

i prefer to have a base figure that starts like tyler and not a morph, because of the support by other vendors, as it seams and feels more like creating clothing etc for an add on to a figure, which has a more limited range than that of a base figure. if the base is good to start more people would be more inclinde to do less extreme morphing to their characters and thus making more vendors producing more stuff for them, would GND4 have more clothing if it was a base figure than if it was a morph addition(and blackhearted be richer,lol)?

Well, for one, I don't think Gabe does too bad with his morphs...lol. They're top notch. I'll take any morph by him for any figure, any day, base figure or not. He does excellent work and I'm still amazed that he could make Alyson (and hopefully Tyler) look like anything other than an alien/human hybrid. I'm a little disappointed that there's not more for Anastasia as well, but given that most vendors concentrate on Vicky that's not too surprising. The vendors are still gonna concentrate on what sells rather than something that may be a wash. There are still a few dynamic clothes and I can make my own clothing so perhaps I'm not as disappointed as others because of it.

Oh, and I agree - When they bring out a figure, SM should have a bunch of clothes for it right off the bat. Mimic the other guys. Not only because it's the sincerest form of flattery, but because it WORKS ;)

Laurie

I used to think this to be true.. as far creating conformers to Anastasia. However if you try the dev cr2 from paganeagle for alyson 2 it is actually not that hard.  I've rigged one basic pair of pants and a jacket that were modelled around anastasia with the alyson2 dev cr2 and one pair of shorts that was modelled around antonia, converted to alyson2, cleaned up in silo and then grouped in AGE and rigged in poser.  It wasn't easy by any means and required cycling through the different maps and bends and adjusting and re-adjusting.  The pants took several hours over 2 sessions, and I still want to tweak them some.

I'm not 100% sure but I think alyson2 has some muscle flex on some of her bends (I know ryan does) and that may cause a little trouble with rigging, but it should really be tackled with a JCM rather than trying to incorporate it into the WM.

Quote - > Quote - I can't find it in myself to get excited about Tyler :(   If he's anything like Anastasia there will probably be zero clothing.   We've already seen how difficult it is even for accomplished modellers to rig conforming clothes for Anastasia and vendors keep saying male stuff does not sell so I don't see any clothing for him on the horizon.    *sigh  I sure wish SM would coordinate a character release with a set of clothing.

 

 

i think it would help if Anastasia and Tyler had 'dev' version figures to be donors for the setup room.

and if Morphing Clothes came out with a new version to make wm transfer a 'breeze'.

can't remember poser life before MC  :)

could be wrong, but i'm under the impression adding Anastasia's morphs to Alyson2's dev figure isn't enough to make conforming clothes work for Anastasia. unless it's too skimpy to cover her joints.  not that there is anything wrong with skimpy. i like skimpy.

One thing that does irk me a bit is that they didn't even take the alyson clothes that ship with poser and re-rig them for alyson2.  If I can take a pair of shorts for antonia and convert and re-rig them for alyson 2 in an afternoon, they should have been able to take/make the time to do this with the initial release.. or bundle it in a service release.  If you are including a figure that showcases your new tech it shoud 'really' showcase it... not just make use of it.  They really did miss an opportunity with the content in the poser 2012 release.  Alyson and Ryan have a lot going for them, they just needed to have shipped with a lot more polish.  They didn't need to be anastasia out of the box, but if they had prettied them up a little and included some basic content for them, they could have been off and running right away.

Quote - Well, for one, I don't think Gabe does too bad with his morphs...lol. They're top notch. I'll take any morph by him for any figure, any day, base figure or not. He does excellent work and I'm still amazed that he could make Alyson (and hopefully Tyler) look like anything other than an alien/human hybrid. I'm a little disappointed that there's not more for Anastasia as well, but given that most vendors concentrate on Vicky that's not too surprising. The vendors are still gonna concentrate on what sells rather than something that may be a wash. There are still a few dynamic clothes and I can make my own clothing so perhaps I'm not as disappointed as others because of it.

Oh, and I agree - When they bring out a figure, SM should have a bunch of clothes for it right off the bat. Mimic the other guys. Not only because it's the sincerest form of flattery, but because it WORKS ;)

Laurie

I've not tried morphing clothes on anything alyson2 to anastasia.. do you really need it to tweak the weight maps for anastasia?  Or are we talking alyson to anlyson2-anastasia?

Quote - > Quote - I can't find it in myself to get excited about Tyler :(   If he's anything like Anastasia there will probably be zero clothing.   We've already seen how difficult it is even for accomplished modellers to rig conforming clothes for Anastasia and vendors keep saying male stuff does not sell so I don't see any clothing for him on the horizon.    *sigh  I sure wish SM would coordinate a character release with a set of clothing.

 

 

i think it would help if Anastasia and Tyler had 'dev' version figures to be donors for the setup room.

and if Morphing Clothes came out with a new version to make wm transfer a 'breeze'.

can't remember poser life before MC  :)

could be wrong, but i'm under the impression adding Anastasia's morphs to Alyson2's dev figure isn't enough to make conforming clothes work for Anastasia. unless it's too skimpy to cover her joints.  not that there is anything wrong with skimpy. i like skimpy.

So, when do we get to see pics of Miki and Tyler?

~Shane

Quote - So, when do we get to see pics of Miki and Tyler?

 

~Shane

Not soon enough....

Yes, the curiousity is killing me. It's time to show.

Still waiting for some pics and info to appear. I know there have been some fiamily things going on, but it would be appreciated.

All the best.

LROG