This is in the **initial** stages of a "queen Elizabeth 1st" project I'm working on. I've modelled some of the props for her coronation, - the crown, the orb and the septher. This is the first render, - and as you can see there is still a lot more work to be done. *lol* I doubt that the queen was crowned nekkid, for one. And she was a redhead with brown eyes too. I've been studying some coronation pictures, and have tried to model the props as close as I can with the skills I have at the moment. I'm experimenting with Travelers/Dendras reflection settings/maps and have a long way to go with the "golden shine". Any tips is highly welcomed. I also need transmaps for the jewels, i guess! (and yes, - I'll have to fit the crown better when I find a proper hair for her.. I love the Alice hair, - but that's not what Elizabeth had, I think. *g*) But what really throws me is the mapping of the jewelbands around the crown and the orb. I have pasted the map for the orb on the image, so that you can see where my problems are. It seems that no matter how I map that circular band, there are some areas that don't get mapped. What is the best way to UV map these kinds of shapes? Britt Thanks in advance for all tips! :)

Attached Link: http://www.uvmapper.com

Did you create the crown using groups? (I.e. in the modelling program name the circlet, name the jewels, etc. and export it with the option to use the names?) If so, you can select each group and move it around the map. The standard practice is to select the entire map, shrink it down, then move each group around, resizing each group as necessary. (The jewels might be small since they will be solid colored, while the circlet might be fairly big to accomodate any engravings.) You can also map each group differently: the crown itself as a cylander, the jewels as boxes, etc. There are a few tutorials on UVMapper around, including at uvmapper.com.

Yes, the circlet is a group. and I have tried every possible mapping possibility (I think!) for it the map for the rest of the crown is planear, and I believe this is the box map (not sure about that... but it is different from the rest of the map) Britt

I would try " cylindric " mapping. normally it should work fine.And try different axis for the mapping.

If you plan ahead, incidently, you can do things like map one jewel, then use that jewel on the entire crown. Most of us (me too!) don't plan that far ahead, though!

Well I dug up portraits of Elizabeth at her coronation to compare. Actually, your crown is much, much nicer and more detailed than the ones in the portraits I viewed. ;) The orb is dead on, and the sceptre is very close. The advice earlier in thread sounds right (I just started doing custom textures. I am in the middle of a huge texturing project right now.) I finally discovered what Xena meant when she said some modellers map like texturers. Time and time again I have been faced with a texture map that is simply wrong, even though it technically works. For example, giant map sections for a floor and tiny map sections for walls. Most texturers would prefer more detail in a wall than a floor, since walls tend to be more visible in a rendered image. If I were to texture this, I would probably do the whole thing using reflection and bump maps if the materials were grouped properly.

Thank you guys! Yup... It all looks MUCH more correct when I start OUT in spherical view (I though I did that. lol but then it doesn't look like it.). kieraw; thank you! The orb was pretty easy to figure out from different pictures. The septer a bit more difficult, - since it shows less details.. so I had to do some guess-work!. The crown was an interesting research project! lol Since it (rather THEY) were destroyed, either by Cromwell or pawned by Charles II, they are nowhere to be seen anymore, - so I had to rely on pictures. The problem is that different pictures shows different crowns. From what I'm reading about British coronations, the monarch actually wears several during the day, - so the one I made is a guesswork, as of which one it is. :) Jim! What an excellent plan! lol Now, - if I only could get that organized, - I'm sure the files would be much smaller too?? And yes, I've read and understood (I think) the tiling procedure in UV mapper. I'll try that out when I'm done with these thingies. I'll re-map the crown, - and post the result for y'alls judgement! :) Thanks a lot! Again Britt

Attached Link: http://uvmapper.com/uvmaptut.htm

There is a way to select one group at a time. Once you shrink the entire map, (Edit: Select All, then hit the / on the keypad), go to Edit: Select by Group and choose the circlet group (or whatever you call it.) Move it so it is separate from everything else. Do this for each group on the crown. Once you have all the groups spread out so they don't touch, you can easily resize them as needed. (From the map that you show, it looks like all the items are superimposed on each other.) If some of the jewels are the same color, you can overlap the jewels so you can color one spot and have it affect all those jewels at once. (If you name your jewels properly, you can figure out which ones are pink, for example, and put them all in one spot, freeing up space for more detail on other parts of the crown.

Crescent Thats assuming the modeler assigned materials to the pieces. More often than not I've found myself grouping and mat assigning in poser. Fine for props but evil work for characters ('cause then you have to hack the cr2 to point at the geom with the new uvm info). As for overlapping jewels of similar color - as a texturer I'd rather you didn't. I'd say that separating the jewels from the metalparts would make it easier to texure. That way a bump map can be set up to make filigree effects without having to worry about the stones. Also what was suggested about using just material settings would also work well, as long as you have grouped wisely. Jewels especially work nicely with a color set, than semitransparant and high specularity. I have to say that posette does not look impressed about being crowned :) Lyrra PS tell me if you need costume info - my sister does Elizabethan costuming professionally.

This is PoserWorld/Fairy Woods' Elizabeth character for Vicki. I am not too keen on the face (looks similar to portraits I have seen, I just don't like her face much ;) but the gown is quite nice.

Oh, - I LOVE it, - looks just like one of my projects! LOL In my dreams!!! :) the gown is MORE than nice. :) I've modelled a pretty decent "Elizabethan" skirt, I'm still fighting the square cut. Of course when you look at the pictures from that time frame they had no boobies. So I think poor Posette will just have to go "invisible" on the chest part! lol The cat suit doesn't give the "right" look, - and whatever I do to try to model the chest it doesn't look "right" with boobies in them. I'll see what I come up with. But this is georgeous! Thanks! Britt

Ahha, you're welcome. All I did was load it up and render it. ;) The great people at PWFW did all the hard work. =D I love clothes and characters from that era, and I hope you post more of your work as you progress with Elizabeth. =)

The pic attached is from an event my sister helped with. She's the lady in the center. And yes - she made all three gowns. My sister does not have an ideal figure for the times - but she has amazing corsetry. :) My main quibble with Rena's otherwise magnificent character is that quite frankly she's not wearing the right corset. The Elizabethan style corset shapes the female body in a very specific way - pushing the breasts as flat as possible and visually lengthening the line of the torso in a smooth cylinder. The goal was to go in a straight line from the neckline to the groin - no boobs, no waist, no hips. The skirts were usually either very bulky cartidge pleating or hoop skirts, sloping out to the bottom. Usually the bodice and sleeves were separate from the skirt. The skirt fastens over the bottom tabs of the bodice, usually following an exaggerated v line to visually lengthen the torso. BTW I can quote you sources if you want to verify accuracy A morph target will solve the chest problem. The rest is left as an exercise for the modeler.