I hope I'm not to late for this contest but even if I am, I have this toon I want to show off 
Anistasis
DestineeFable's Guide to an MSTF run (fixed!)
My latest AE madness
it's a cool costume, but alas yer not only too late, you also have metallics up the wazoo... so I would not have chosen ye dahling... still it's a good design!
These are very sweet!
well seeing as I'm as usual late, the new style looks great there LJ good luck with keeping it up and going the last one was really sharp. and I know Gaderath is still drooling over hers, and should you feel punchy this weekend you can always check out Patriette or Astral Phoenix and if not no big deal I missed out and didn't sign up when I had a chance.
Keep up the great work LJ!
For All who Fight the Good Fight let our Voices be heard.
War Patriot LvL 50 AR/ Dev Blaster
And more alts then i care to mention
Virtue
I like Astral Phoenix a lot WP, alas I am swamped...
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it's a cool costume, but alas yer not only too late, you also have metallics up the wazoo... so I would not have chosen ye dahling... still it's a good design!
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Actually those are tights/shiny and leather on the main body and head. I guess the gloves and boots would still count as 'metallic,' sorry.
Are 'metallic' and 'shiny' synonymous? I don't know the verbage enough I guess. Previously she was matte black but I added the shine for a more 3D feel.
DestineeFable's Guide to an MSTF run (fixed!)
My latest AE madness
No metallic and shiny are not synonymous... shiny is fine with me, I like shiny... But pulling off metal requires a certain method that makes coloring the toon more difficult and thus takes longer overall.
Here's an example of what I mean: coloring chromes Edit: sorry click that, click tutorials, then go to the 3rd one on the list...
With this new style I was trying out, I was only asking for simple costumes, so I could test it quickly. When I do offer it publicly I will be doing metals, just not for free.
The problem with metals is, it's not just 'shine' or 'specularity' where you have highlights.
Metallic surfaces (at least polished ones) are reflective, which means they don't just need highlights. They need to be colored to look like they're reflecting the environment. This makes them rather dicey to paint/color.
"City of Heroes. April 27, 2004 - August 31, 2012. Obliterated not with a weapon of mass destruction, not by an all-powerful supervillain... but by a cold-hearted and cowardly corporate suck-up."
Exactly Soul, and I only do that effect if the character has a weapon... someone put a request in last night for the helmet from halo on their COH toon, all my brain could think was, "nightmare, no way, nuh uh..."
It's not that I couldn't do it, but in the time it takes to do that convincingly on a toon covered in metal or even semi-metallic pieces like gloves, boots, belt and helmet... I could do 2 simple non-metallic toons.
well there is a way to cheat...
1) take a screenshot or a photo or what have you, something that the character would be facing
2) perturb it using a shear tool or bend tool to make it look 'curved' or slanted.
3) adjust the lighting/hue to match the object it's being mapped to
3) horizontally flip it, and apply it to the metal area, using whatever method you like to add colors gradually. It's probably a good idea to use masks to limit what gets applied where.
Basically you take the principles of raytracing and apply them to the painting. say if you were doing a suit of armor, you'd start with the same 'reflection map' image, and then perturb it in different ways, cutting out different pieces, to conform to the parts of the armor. The CGI pros actually place a mirrored ball in the scene, and take a picture (or video) of it, and use the 180 degree reflection as the starting point for their reflection maps. It's a pretty cool concept, but still a LOT of work!
"City of Heroes. April 27, 2004 - August 31, 2012. Obliterated not with a weapon of mass destruction, not by an all-powerful supervillain... but by a cold-hearted and cowardly corporate suck-up."
Yep that's pretty much what I do, when I do try this effect... It is cool, but not my favorite thing to do.
*sulks and hides her metal pants*
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I like Astral Phoenix a lot WP, alas I am swamped...
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Hey LJ no worries, as I said, I was too late if something comes up great if not oh well... still a nice style.
For All who Fight the Good Fight let our Voices be heard.
War Patriot LvL 50 AR/ Dev Blaster
And more alts then i care to mention
Virtue
Very nice!