Well oddly enough, I can't provide a link and need to learn more about them myself. I just see them in lots of fairy renders, and notice they're quite distinctive, but since they've been around for as long as I can remember, I believe they're general to the V2/millenium girls. I guess I need to Google :) If I find a source link before you do, I'll post it here.

A day late and a dollar short as usual. I just now read this thread and 'Robby' popped into mind. But Simon works :)

FWIW, I've read a couple of disconnected things that, in my mind, explain the overall appeal of Shazam. One is the big-head-baby angle and the other explains the large hands and feet. As jval has already pointed out, neither is universally definitive, but, in general they are probably sufficient for the majority and certainly suit me.

On the big head side, I once read an interesting article in one of my college literature/critical thinking/whatever classes, documenting the periodic change and intentional redesign of Mickey Mouse to conform more to the quantifiable standards of 'cute', more formally called 'noetism'. It cited the same arguments as ratteler about the oversized heads but narrowed it more precisely to the proportion of facial features on that larger head visible in all mammmals (puppies kittens and babies, a little past newborn stage, seem like ideal examples), and evidenced to an extreme degree by many (if not all) of Thorne's morphs: relatively large forehead and eyes, smaller features in the lower half of the face. Koshini captures some of this, though, the jaw is much more square, and the anime characters exhibit these same traits without the disproportianately large head. I expect Thorne's morphs to become extremely popular with Shazaam for that reason, and won't be surprised to see Maya Doll reworked in Shazam's direction when you get the AutoLoader tutorial out.

Another feature of Thorne's morphs, and something I find appealing in real life, is pouty lips. This is something more peculiar to humans and in maybe in the same vein of Rattler's other observation about certain actions, generating an 'Awwwww' response. Here it may be that style of lip hints at the pout a baby gets when unhappy & needing attention of some sort. I never read anything I can recall about this, it's just an observation.

The appeal of Shazam's hands and feet, and incidentally the Bratz', may come from another hard-wired response and the fashion industry. Most of the base female meshes out there ( as discussed in another thread ) conform to some ideal that can best be described as some variation of 'nubile'. I once read an old edition of John T. Molloy's 'Dress for Success'. He makes an argument for a man never letting his wife/girlfriend shop for him, because she'll likely buy clothes that make him more appealing to her. He then quantifies 'sex appeal' with a list of traits that could fit either sex, and explains why bell bottoms, flared sleeves, and other things more particular to men, contribute to the illusion of a slimmer, hence healthier, hence more appealing, waist. His argument, of course, being that none of this is appropriate for business, but is useful for successful dating. Anyhow they contribute to the sense of nubility and Shazam extends this fashion concept in a cartoony way to the hands and feet themselves.

So, we have exagerated nubility and noetism in one package and BAM! she's on my wishlist. :D I don't have V2 just V3 so I'm still debating on whether to wait, or to get everything I need now, including some of Thorne's morphs because, oddly enough, I don't own any of those either.

I've been drawing and doodling ever since I can remember. No formal training though outside of elementary and middle school art classes. However, my grandmother used to run an art and framing store in the front of her house, so she taught the grandchildren to sketch with pencils, charcoal, pastels, and later, painting with acrylics and oils whenever we visited. I was never great at it but I always enjoyed it. The few things I've done worth keeping ( as an adult ) were done as gifts so I don't have any of my own work.

The only thing I've done traditionally since 1996 though are doodles in meetings. I started with POVray then and and bought Imagine for windows a couple of years later, and finally got Poser earlier this year. Still, in all of that time, most of what I do is just digital doodling. :)

Attached Link: http://mr2k.3dvf.com/tutorials/max/tutorials_joan.htm

It's in French but if you Google on "Joan of Arc tutorial" you can get a translation. It was initially written for 3DS Max but adapts well to Anim8or until you get to the head, where it's only a little less convenient, since Anim8or doesn't support edge extrusion. You'll need to get acquainted with the 'edge-at-a-time' face building technques. Beyond that you can probably get more help in the modellers forum as you get started.

"hmm..reminds me of povray a bit.. "

I thought the same thing; delayed initial release, controlled expectations, public beta (that ought to be fun), etc.. It worked out for them though so it ought to work out for DS . . eventually.

As for poser addiction, I'm definitely addicted! I've lusted after it since version 1 but only finally sprang for a cheap copy of version 3 I found on e-bay in January. Before that I spent maybe $250 since '96 on my graphics hobby. Since then it's been nothing but a fun and expensive downhill slide :) I bought P4 and PPP and joined the Platinum Club, bought V3, M3, tons of accessories around the net. I even felt compelled to upgrade my computer to handle everything.

Whoa!! I better stop thinking about it, and just enjoy LOL!

Cool. I was just playing with some of the uv 'displacement' capabilities this afternoon with my current version. Looking forward to the update.

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On a serious note, these are nice, and thank you for sharing.
^"^

I like the Primative set although I haven't played with all of it. I'm looking forward to the snappy suit as well. ^"^

This is excellent!!! Thanks.

What a coincidence! Avalonnet it was your comment I got four ebot notifications from. :) And I thank you for it.

Might this also be related to my getting four ebot notifications, in a four-minute span, about just one comment on one image? I've been getting the same message too, but my comments seem to have gone through though anyway FWIW.

This is more funny than the one I did with your buggy! ROFL!!

I thought of Paul Bunyan the other day. The hands also made me think of Shrek, but I think the rest of the body might make that one a bit tougher.