Attached Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raphael

Message edited on: 03/03/2006 14:30

Don't know of any grey textures available for the ponytail. What I usually do is copy the original hair texture.jpg, open the copy in a paint program and either change it to greyscale or turn the color saturation way down low. Then I might add some very muted yellow or blue coloring to give it a bit more of the silvery look of an elderly person's hair. It's a fairly quick process. Usually works best with blonde textures, however pretty good results with darker ones also.(Make sure you use a COPY of the original to do this)

I might also add that quite a few old people do color their hair and neither of your renders look unusual with dark hair.

Those are great, thanks.
For those who can't use dynamic hair - what I generally do is open the texture map for a chosen hair figure in a paint program (Kos' Updue is great for an elderly woman) and simply turn down the color to greyscale. Voila! - 'mature' hair in any style you have in your runtime library.

Some very nice looking textures there ... thanks!

Then I'd like to thank you personally ... great job on it!

artistheat: Was that in the Xmas free downloads? I know I have that texture as a freebie from somewhere.

Message edited on: 02/08/2006 11:11

Everything wolf359 said, but with a ! thrown on the end.

If all Poser markets closed down this second, I already have enough usable content and software (which comparatively probably isn't a lot) to continue creating art for the rest of my life. And ... probably much more time to strive for a masterpiece or two.

As already stated above - GET A LAWYER - before you do anything. Everyone here is trying to be helpful, but the only legal advise to safely follow is the one from the attorney you hire (or is provided pro bono, if you qualify). Hope this all works out well for you. To those not in the U.S.: It all balances out doesn't it? You either pay for it up front or pay for it through heavy taxes. In general (very general) the cost of living is less here also.

To outline, I believe you have three possible options:

1. Poser The software includes four figures that can be modified (child and adult male and female figures). You can alter body shape, size etc. It takes some practice, but matching the basic body shape of an actual person is not very difficult. The program also includes a face room where you can theoretically import images of an actual person and then have facial features matched to one of the Poser figures. Theoretically because most Poser users deem this technique impossible. I would have to agree based on what Ive seen of the attempts. Facial features can also be adjusted through morphing and magnets. I have had success achieving good likenesses with this technique, but Ive been doing this for a while and prior to that had formal training in portraiture so I know how to get what Im looking for. You would also most likely need to separately purchase skin textures and hair props that match your subjects. Be aware that this isnt a program you will have a working knowledge of overnight or even after a week or two. The manual that comes with Poser is more confusing then helpful. I can usually pick up the gist of software very quickly, but with Poser almost all the knowledge I have of the program comes from hanging around these forums (and searching the net) month after month. You can easily export jpg images out of Poser into a presentation package like PowerPoint.

2. DAZ Studio Basically, very similar to Poser (but no face room). Free, but it doesnt come with figures. However, DAZ does offer a good selection of free basic figures. You would need to purchase morph and texture packages to make them usable for your purposes so the overall cost is probably around the same as Poser. I believe the learning curve would be the same as Poser, and again you can export images to a presentation program.

3. FaceGen - This is a very expensive program and results Ive seen are no better then what Ive seen done with Poser. Unless you want to continue doing this after this one project it really isnt a viable alternative.

So, bottom line Poser or DAZ Studio will probably work for your project. But any way you decide its going to take an investment of a considerable amount of time to learn how to do this properly for you purposes. I agree that you should probably download the Poser demo or a copy of DAZ Studio to see what these programs really are. You might also want to consider soliciting volunteers or paid workers from this community to help you put this together. Good luck.

Some think review sites should advertise not criticize products. As someone who has been a critic for some 30 years in print, on TV and the internet - no one, except the seller, wants to read puff pieces. And no one will respect your opinion if you do. Speak your mind and let your readers decide what to spend their hard earned money on. Yeah, I want low prices on everything I buy. If merchants don't think what they are doing is profitable enough, indeed maybe they should find a more lucrative field. There's a lot of good hearts in this community and very generous people, but it seems to me that thinking of merchants solely as our starving artist brothers-in-arms is naive. Good luck with your site, it looks promising.

Do a search for "poser horse" in the "Free Stuff" section on this site - several textures available.

I sometimes think they could release Poser7 in March, P8 in June, P9 in September and then ring in the holidays with P10 and each time people would scramble to buy so they could remain on the cutting edge of technology. Many corporate entities already keep their shareholders happy (and their consumers duped) with just this kind of "gotta-have-it" strategy. Sorry, but I'll wait until "significant" improvements are introduced before I upgrade software, regardless of cost. I'd rather spend my time CREATING (which is the reason most of us do this) then READING unreadable manuals to learn new ways of doing the same old thing. I've seen great images created in all versions of Poser, which is kinda the goal behind even using this software. Just my opinion.

This all sounds interesting and I have a couple custom characters in mind that might work well. How do we get started?

"Is it correct then that we can't render a pic of the new baby being bathed?"

"you can... so long as you only see the baby from the waist up. you can't show them from any other angle. I mean god forbid. it's NAKED!!!"

Not so - see TOS:

No images in which characters under the age of 18 give

the APPEARANCE of having no clothes.

It's not so much how those lips look ... it is what they do they makes them ever popular with some.