Hi folks!

I need a break from my
Big Bad Project and I need to learn Blender. So I thought a little free stuff project or two, modeled, mapped and possibly textured within Blender might be just the right kind of educational fun. I was thinking some not-too-complicated props or fairly simple stand-alone figures like toys or cartoonish characters.

But what? Any ideas, requests, suggestions? My main constraint here would be that setting it up for Poser or fitting it to existing content shouldn't be too large a percentage of the work involved. So things like conforming hair and clothes are pretty much out, but I might consider dynamic clothing and other clothy items.

So come on, let your imagination run wild. :biggrin:

Cheers, O.

Question: "What should I model?"

Answer: Human sex organs.
DPH
PS: You asked, I answered.

Humans have sex organs? Who knew?

Quote - Humans have sex organs? Who knew?

Hmmmm, good question.  The last time I looked down, my pot belly hid mine from view, so it's iffy whether it's still there or not.
DPH

Quote - But what? Any ideas, requests, suggestions? My main constraint here would be that setting it up for Poser or fitting it to existing content shouldn't be too large a percentage of the work involved. So things like conforming hair and clothes are pretty much out, but I might consider dynamic clothing and other clothy items.  So come on, let your imagination run wild. :biggrin: Cheers, O.

Watch the "Freebie Request" posts in various forums.  I started doing that to get ideas for "learning projects."  It's usually stuff I wouldn't think about modeling and I'm not heavily swayed to stay in one genre (organic vs architectural) because I'm looking to those requests for ideas.

With "Autogroup Editor" and "QuickConform" (3DUtils by markdc) grouping and conforming models takes about 5 minutes.  After that, it's usually ready to go "As Is" without tweaks.  (Especially for a freebie.)  But, a few extra minutes spent on Joint Parameters ends up yielding extremely good results.  Seriously, 5-10 minutes and that's it.  Best money I ever spent on a utility package for Poser.  Load, click, instant conforming whatever... It's effortless and my dog could do it.. If I had a dog... 

Hey, there's an idea.  What about a dog?  A big, sloppy-grinned, lovable canine companion, toon-style or not, whatever you prefer!

I would like somebody to do an homer simpson model with teeth and working fingers.

Thanks for the tips, Morkonan! QuickConform looks particularly useful. Do I understand correctly that it will take any existing .cr2 as a donor? Because if the conforming turns out to be that easy, I might just decide to be selfish and make a few garments for my own figure. :biggrin:

I happen to prefer cats over dogs. Also, whenever I try to draw a realistic animal, it comes out very wrong. So I'd definitely have to go with a cartoon version unless I wanted to commit myself to a new project for another couple of years.

Miss Nancy: Splendid idea, although I assume one would have to be careful not to be punched in the face for copyright violation and such.

yeah, yer right.  I called fox/videogame/licensing and they said to get permission
first, free models or not.  there were two $100 simpsons at the 'squid, so apparently
we're talking real money here.

Quote - Thanks for the tips, Morkonan! QuickConform looks particularly useful. Do I understand correctly that it will take any existing .cr2 as a donor? Because if the conforming turns out to be that easy, I might just decide to be selfish and make a few garments for my own figure. :biggrin:

It will take ANY .cr2 as a donor.  So, figures, clothing, whatever.. it DOES NOT MATTER! :)  It's an excellent little utility.

Basically, if you don't already have a good piece of conformed clothing that matches your new creation and is already boned/conformed really well, you can always just choose the original figure as the donor.  There's a checkbox to tell the utility you're using the original figure instead of something someone else has already tweaked.

I am completely serious when I say it only takes a couple of minutes to conform something once it is grouped.  It's just a matter of a few clicks, that's it.   Most grouping is fairly flawless, only needed a couple of minutes on some things adjusting joint parameters to make sure the cloth conforms in all poses really well.

What's more, get the Autogroup Editor as well.  If you're like me, you want to save time and there is no reason why some utility can't be picking faces and assigning groups for you if that is possible.  You can also group from ANY object with that.  So, if you have a specially morphed character and you really want to the groups more fine-tuned with that, it's easy - Just export your character as an object, preserving the morphs,  and select it with the Autogroup Editor as the "figure" object instead of a .cr2 ojbect.  Bing, bang, boom, you're done.  And, if necessary, you can tweak by hand after it does it's thing if you want to really fine-tune it or do necessary things like group the hip section into one hip group for a skirt, etc.

Quote - I happen to prefer cats over dogs. Also, whenever I try to draw a realistic animal, it comes out very wrong. So I'd definitely have to go with a cartoon version unless I wanted to commit myself to a new project for another couple of years.

Cats?  CATS?  BAH!  Dogs are far superior to cats.  You should switch!  Dogs will eventually triumph over Cats and the World will rejoice!  (Seriously though, whatever pleases you the most.  It was just a suggestion.  I love all animals but have a special fondness for the wonderful, intelligent, loyal and brave canine companions known as "DogZ" :)**
**

Quote - yeah, yer right.  I called fox/videogame/licensing and they said to get permission
first, free models or not.  there were two $100 simpsons at the 'squid, so apparently
we're talking real money here.

I think "fan art" isn't a problem but, large distribution of some fan art may raise some alarms.  Still, a studio is going to always say "Talk to the lawyers" first.  I generally agree with them too.

There was a Homer Simpson look-alike 3D character on a website but, I can't find it atm.  I did find a few dead links to one so that may be the one I was thinking of.

I think as "fan art" a homer-simpson looking character isn't, necessarily, a deadly proposition.  However, the use of the name might be.