Darkjedi

Depending on the theme of your comic, Poser might be your best bet. I say this because there are hundreds of sites dedicated to Poser and millions of models. Thousands are free. I've accumulated over 20 gigs of models so far (and always growing).

The problem with Poser is that it's evil when placed in the wrong hands. Poser models don't bend well and Poser's render engine is horrible. It's just a tool, not an artist. Make sure you're comfortable with post-work when using Poser.

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*jumps on darkjedi*... real quick before I goto bed... the only poser model I like using is " THE GIRL" ..(kinna close to my drawing style ) ... but err... do you find yourself getting a lot of the addins from daz?...


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I never used 'The Girl' because she's so stylized, so I can't answer directly about her assessories - but in general, I always try to make my own clothing with textures before I start to buy stuff. Some items are so unique that I just have to have them, but if I can make it myself with textures and transparencies, I consider that money saved.

A second approach that's worked for me is to make trades with some of the creators at DAZ/Renderosity - they give me clothing items in exchange for me making a piece that spotlights their item. That way we both gain something. I have a pretty good collection from trades.

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...wait.. dats poser? ... WOW nice job really... all my poser women come out looking like the remains of a snuff film... ..

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Yeah, it's Poser.

A key element of Poser is that the output renders were never meant to be final art, but were designed as a reference for an artist to continue creating. Too many artists stop their process once the program says the image is done, and that's not doing their work justice. If the output render doesn't look good, then change it. Tweak it. Modify it until it looks great.

Computer programs don't make art - people do.

Enough people mentioned that her hair should be redder that I changed it. I think it looks better, as well.

Dang, you guys are quick! I just get this posted and there's already responses.

Glad y'all remember me. Been a while, eh? =)

Hey all... I'm still alive and kicking and doing art. I haven't had much time to play COH (or many other online games)with the flood of work I'm trying to catch up on, but I finally got a chance to make a new piece for myself this past weekend.

This one has been in my sketchpad for almost a year, screaming to be created. I think it's my first personal piece done for myself in 6 months.

Anyway, it's not COH, but it's still superhero-themed *blush*.

POISON IVY - Poser 3D stuff

That video is AWESOME!

Must... resist... entering...

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Oh and Doug, did you get a full copy of that lightspeed from yaoumei? She doesn't have it in her gallery anymore and i wanted to make sure ya had a copy

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Wait, which one? Oh man, I must have missed it. Can you send me a link?

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Man i had to go searching for it!

Anyways i wound up finding it in my photobucket account. She didn't have it in her DA anymore so here ya go. I wanted to make sure ya had a copy




Lightspeed by Yaoumei


I almost necro'ed that thread but i don't wanna cause gata any more grief then he causes himself

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ok, yeah, I have that one on my desktop. I wasn't sure who did it, but it's marked now.

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Oh and Doug, did you get a full copy of that lightspeed from yaoumei? She doesn't have it in her gallery anymore and i wanted to make sure ya had a copy

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Wait, which one? Oh man, I must have missed it. Can you send me a link?

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...so I can bill you for the hole I rubbed in my monitor then?

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Sorry, pardner... any rubbing as a result of my art is on your own time!!

Juggy,

I fav'd and commented this piece over at DA, but I wanna repeat some thoughts here; I love this! I'm humbled as well, because it's so often assumed that artists can do their own pieces, why do they need them from others?

Your stuff is always so polished and expressive, I can't think of anyone I'd rather have a piece from! Thanks a million.

*Now where did I place that 3D model of Juggertha again...?*

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She's awesome! In fact I need to test out my printer and I think you should email me a high-rez pic so I could test it out.

One thing...and you had me rubbing my screen with cleaning solution for a good 5 minutes before I gave up and realized it wasn't a smudge on the screen. On the upper left edge, above the engine I think there MAY be an 'oops' concerning the clouds and the 'edge' of your black 'frame'. take a close look at where the distant clouds touch the edge on the upper left. I've been trying to think of some deep conceptual meaning for it and I got nuthin. Just wanted to let you know.

But seriously, awesome! And a moment of silence please for Turner.

Todd

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Good eye! Looks like I overpainted the border with the clouds. Gotta get that fixed, for sure.

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My main critique of this is that it's not framed and hanging on my wall.

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If only I were allowed to offer prints of the DC posters. I'm still getting daily hits/comments on Harley Quinn, and she's been up at my DA site for over 2 months. I had over 1,000 hits on her the first 2 days.

But I'm not willing to get on DC's bad side. They're bigger than me.

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If you have a lot of messages, you can easily 'lose' an "N" in among all the "R's" that indicate replies.
...

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That was it! There was a single 'N' hidden near the top. I thought I'd read everything, but I guess I missed one.

Thanks Soul Train!

The wierd thing is, it happens on all 3 of the computers I log into the boards from - so I don't think it's local to my machine. If the problem persists, I'll send a PM to a mod.

Mostly, I needed to confirm whether it was just me or not.

The little icon that flashes next to my LOGIN name that tells me there's an incomming message has been flashing for about a week now and won't stop. It's telling me I have 1 message, but I've read every PM in my in-box multiple times. Is this a board-wide issue, or am I the only one having this problem? I hate reading the forums while that's flashing in the corner.

Sorry to see anyone leave the community, but RL always comes first. If you're leaving, I gotta give you the classic forum sendoff... ahem...

Can I have your stuff?

*Edited because I skipped a word somehow*

Wow, Gold... thanks for the great critique.

I agree with many of your suggestions; the idea of heat ripples near the engine is a very good one. If I get back into the piece, I'll definitely play with that one.

I also kinda agree with the blue/red motion streaks. Originally, she was just kinda floating there and didn't look like she was moving at all, so I played with different amount of streaking. Maybe what's needed is some blurring at the base of her feet instead of color lines.

As far as generating backgrounds for others, that's a good idea on paper since backgrounds are so vital to a piece - but generating them for others brings up issues with lighting, angle, subject, etc. There's a lot that needs to go into a good backdrop and I doubt anything I generate could be of use to others.

For the record, I usually spend 3-4 times the amount of effort on teh background as I do the main character. The fire and smoke effects on this piece took me longer to generate than her costume... and that city was a full day's work. And yet the city is only in the piece as a third-tier element.

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...what exactly is she doing there? Getting prepared to assist the ailing jet? Just arrived on the scene and is sussing out the situation?...

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I figure she's flying to the front of the plane to grab it and assist it back to the ground. I figure she's just arrived on scene and about to take action.

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...the only thing that I really notice is that her expression seems a little... well.. plastic...

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I messed with the face a lot, and having her gritting her teeth, yelling, or anything else didn't seem to fit. The Superman/Supergirl family don't seem to express much since everything is so easy for them. I wrinkled the brow to show some determination, but possibly not enough.

Nothing is set in stone. Maybe I'll do an updated version.

This is one of my latest pieces for my DC portfolio. Trying for something a little different, and paying an homage to Michael Turner's version of the 'Girl Of Steel';

DAUGHTER OF KRYPTON - Poster of Supergirl

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...proprietary SubSurface Scattering engine...

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Did you code your own render engine? If so, that impressive.

And Jomaro is BACK!

*Applause*

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Anyone else ever fall into a really odd place where you can't seen to do anything creative? It's not that I've got a lack of ideas, it's the actual PROCESS of doing...dang near anything creative.

I know what I want/need to do but then in sitting down to do it...it's like hitting a brick wall.

Anyone else ever get this?

Todd

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All the time.

You should do what I do and make a lego image of my main, Light-speed!

Seriously, I have a list of about 14 renders to do, and I look at the list every day and just kind of sigh to myself because the volume of work is intimidating. Sometimes I think I take on too much. In fact, when I'm working from dawn til midnight every single day... and I look out the window and see my kids enjoying the last days of Summer... and I'm not out there with them - yeah, I work too much.

I need sun.

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"...and the girl behind her is missing the rest of her body...."

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I don't see any missing bodies - they're all eclipsed by each other. I can make out where they are based on what I see, and their balance/proportions seem fine. I admit the girl in the black is a bit thin in the waist, but at least her spine isn't broken like in a Liefield.

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"...What bothers me more than that, and more than all his art swiping. is the fact his female characters rarely look the same from page to page..."

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I can only judge from Sojourn because that's all I've read that he was a part of, but I had the opposite feeling - that the ladies didn't look different ENOUGH. I could often find panels that used the same photo reference as a base... but I still find the overall effect beautiful enough to let that pass. Deadlines can be brutal.