Greetings from eNightfall v0.8 v0.9 v1.0!
Some of you may have seen my original attempt at computer-generated art, Posey.
Well, in January 2001, I decided to take another shot at creating a character model of Nightfall in Poser. This was what the Posey project was originally planned to be, but didn't work out.
Since then, I've learned a bit more about Poser (and even purchased a copy of my own), and this time the result is a bit closer to the target goal. She's still not perfect-- she kinda looks like an anime-style human in a Nightfall costume-- but I'm rather pleased with the design so far.
First, take a look at some of these rendered scenes. For those who are interested, further down on this page you can find some notes about how the Nightfall model was created.
But wait! "This is 'v1.0'", you say. The original was 0.8. What's with that?" Here ya go:
VERSION HISTORY
V2.0 Beta 1 : (July 2004) Starting over from scratch, using DAZ Victoria 3.0 (Vicky 3) as a base rather than the P4 Female (Posette).
v1.0 : (Dec 2001) Lots of improvements (some rather subtle, others less so) here, including:
v0.8 : (Feb 2001) First 'published' version.
Note: Image links will open in a new window.
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Here's Nightfall! Looks like she lives in the same forest as Posey... :-) [v0.8, JPEG, about 54k] |
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Hmm. Perhaps we shouldn't have gotten so close. [v0.8, JPEG, about 68k] You may also view an alternate version of this render. |
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Nightfall rides her wolf-friend. Funny how that wolf looks exactly like Posey's... [v0.8, JPEG, about 81k] |
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Nightfall sitting in a tree. Doing N-O-T-H-I-N-G. Too bad Redlance isn't there. [v0.8, JPEG, about 60k] |
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Here's an image which demonstrates the differences in height and body proportions between Nightfall, Posey, and mister generic P4 Casual Man. ['eNightfall' is scaled and proportioned more accurately as an Elfquest elf than Posey was.] You may also note that this image also serves as a depiction of a guy in a most enviable position. A beautiful elf under each arm, and Nightfall's sweet gaze... What more could you ask for? On second thought, don't answer that. [v0.8, JPEG, about 92k] |
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"Sisters". There's a reason for that. [v0.8, JPEG, about 75k] |
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"Sisters" again. Now our human female has exchanged her plain white shirt for a sporty new embroidered Mystery Elfquest Theater t-shirt (not available in the Mad*Shop). [v0.8, JPEG, about 71k] |
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My first full rendered scene with my "v0.9" Nightfall. I'm not sure if Nightfall is saying "Wow! Who fixed my hands?" or "Hey! How did my hands get all mangled like this??" You decide... [v0.9, JPEG, about 80k] |
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Here's what Nightfall rides when her wolf-friend isn't around. :-) I've had this render sitting around a while, but I just saw it again and thought it might be fun to put this little anachronism up on the site. Note that I'm not really into motorcycles, so I have no idea if I have Nightfall seated/posed accurately. As it turns out, I think Nightfall looks rather cute in this scene anyway. :-) [NOTE: No, I didn't create the Harley-Davidson motorcycle model-- see the Credits section of this page.] [v0.9, JPEG, about 94k] |
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The improvements for the '1.0' version of eNightfall were something I did in preparation for my entry for the 2002 EQ Fan Art Calendar. Here's a "close-up" of a portion of the calendar image. [v1.0, JPEG, about 164k] |
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"Art Model" Well, she's not there yet, but the likeness is gradually getting better. [v1.0, JPEG, about 86k] |
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This is one of my preliminary test renderings from when I was planning my calendar entry. At this point, I was primarily working on the scenery, not the figure models. [mostly v0.9, JPEG, about 138k] |
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Future of eNightfall Preview: Here's a test of some changes I made in July 2002. In particular, note the slanted eyes (finally!), all-new hair (!) and re-shaped belly. The face still doesn't look right, though, (in particular, the eyes look too "angry" and have aquired some odd edges) so I don't yet consider it 'finished'. This is the default ("zero") pose for this figure. [v1.1 preliminary, JPEG, about 35k] |
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Future of eNightfall Preview: Same figure as above, different camera view. [v1.1 preliminary, JPEG, about 35k] |
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Future of eNightfall Preview 2-- September 2002: After having received my copy of the long-awaited new version of poser (Poser 5) a week or so prior, I started tinkering around with some of its new features with 'eNightfall' in mind. This certainly isn't Nightfall yet, but consider it a glimpse of What Is Possible using the P5 Face Room and dynamic hair. [Textures/materials (colors) are not intended to be "Nightfall-correct" in this test.] [v2.0 ? preliminary, JPEG, about 109k] |
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Future of eNightfall Preview 2-- September 2002: An earlier version of the above. [v2.0 ? preliminary, JPEG, about 58k] |
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Future of eNightfall -- v2.0 Beta 1 -- July 2004:
Yes, it's been a while. :-) Since the "Preview 2" pictures,
I'd been tinkering around with other character ideas in Poser from
time to time (which I may present in some other fashion here later),
and learned quite a bit in the process. Recently, I decided to have
another go at Nightfall. I'm just getting started, but I'm pretty
happy with how things are looking so far. I think the eyes and
chin/jaw still need some work. Just
compare the face of
the new eNightfall 2.0 Beta 1 with version 1.0 (hair removed), though!
Don't worry, the new Nightfall model will eventually have hair. :-) [Notes for Poser wonks: This time I'm using DAZ Victoria 3 as a base rather than the P5 Judy. The facial morphs are a combination of 'standard' DAZ morphs with some help from the Sarah Spriteling deformer package. I set up my own set of magnet deformers for the ears, however, because I don't think any of the 'stock' elf-style ears look particularly Elfquest-y. Eyes are Blackhearted's nifty Blackeyes, currently using a 'stock' texture. Skin texture is based on one from one of Lisbeth's merchant resources. Textures are not intended to be final yet; I just needed something to use for now.] [v2.0, Beta 1, JPEG, about 38k] |
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Future of eNightfall -- v2.0 Beta 1 -- July 2004: Full torso. I don't think Nightfall is supposed to have such a pronounced six-pack, but, for now, let's try it on for size. Hips and waist still look a bit 'rough'. Again, texture is not finalized. No clothes yet, but I may put up a 'test' later on with some plain hair and human-style clothes just so you can see what the figure would look like with clothes and hair. [v2.0, Beta 1, JPEG, about 22k] |
Okay, before you write to complain about the accuracy of the Nightfall model, I realize that she currently has the following glaring flaws:
A lot of these flaws stem from the way I constructed the model, and turned out to be too difficult to overcome given my still-limited experience with this program. As of January 2002, I definitely know how to fix the eye-angle problem (or at least significantly improve it), but will take some work. I also have some thoughts about getting her hair to look more realistic, but that will also take time.
Speaking of which, if you're interested in knowing more about how Nightfall was made (and don't mind losing some of the "mystery" of the process), take another look at the "sisters" images above, and then continue reading. Go ahead-- I'll wait...
Back yet?
Well, there's a reason I call them "sisters." You see, when you get right down to basics, both Nightfall and the human in those renders are the exact same figure (the generic P4 Nude Woman)--and wearing the same clothes. Surprised?
"But," you say, "they don't look alike at all!"
Nightfall is shorter in height, she has different body proportions, she has pointed ears, and she has big eyes. Ah-- but they are still the same basic figure. I altered the body size and proportions, and changed the shape of the ears and eyes using Poser's deformer tools.
The human is wearing a T-shirt and slacks, while Nightfall is wearing a smaller leather top and low-cut breeches. They might look totally different from each other, but Nightfall's top is actually the same as the woman's T-shirt. I "re-cut" the shirt using a transparency map, colored it with a texture map, and added the leather 'texture' with a bump map. Likewise, Nightfall's breeches are the woman's slacks with the addition of transparency, texture, and bump maps. Nightfall's "hip-fur" is made from a built-in geometric primitive-- a simple torus-- which I attached to the breeches along with its own texture and bump maps.
What about their hair? And that baseball cap the human is wearing? Guess what-- they're the same too! [Bet that explains a lot, eh?] Actually, this was probably the most frustrating part of building this model. I tried modifying a number of other hair/cap props before settling on this particular combination, and it's still not that great. Making the transparency map for the hair was tough-- the one you see here is actually the 35th version or so that I made, not to mention the numerous size/positioning changes I went through to get the cap and hair to work together with Nightfall's head.
On the other hand, the human figure isn't wearing anything which corresponds to Nightfall's necklace and earrings. The earrings and the 'choker' part of the necklace are made from simple toruses (torii?). The feather on her necklace is currently made from a single polygon-- a two-dimensional square (with an appropriate set of transparency/texture/bump maps). Sometime in the future I'll make it a bit more complex (so it doesn't look so 'flat'), and connect it to the choker with another torus.
Elves and humans may be different, but they can share similar polygons... :-)
The tree models were found on the web, and are the creation of Nerd. (these are the same that I used with Posey)
Likewise, the sword prop was created by Holger Hinzberg. [This sword ("Princess") is actually a long sword that I rescaled to be a short sword. It was provided with texture/bump maps, but I didn't use them.] I used the same sword in the 'calendar scene', but this time added a chromium texture map which originally came with something else.
Nightfall's oversized eyes and pronounced cheekbones are (mostly) the product of a set of 'Anime Face' target morphs originally created by Gunbuster. These are great, as I'd never been able to figure out on my own how to increase the size of the eyes using Poser's built-in deformer tools without making the eyes appear to bulge out or otherwise look unnatural. The morph targets made the eyes bigger, but they didn't really look 'elfin', so I created some additional deformer magnets to angle them slightly. The effect still isn't quite right, but it's a good start I guess. The 'Anime Face' target was provided with a simple texture map. It appears to be essentially the P4 Nude Woman default map with nice big eyes and airbrushed out with a paler, 'flat' coloring, but I thought it worked out so well that I borrowed it with some minor modifications. [I re-colored and smoothed out the irises of the eyes (to make them look deeper), and added Nightfall's "permanent eye shadow".] As of version 1.0, I have replaced this texture map with a new one that I made using the actual P4 Nude Woman default map as a base.
The Harley motorcycle model was by one "DaveD" and was in turn a modification of an original 3DS Max model found on 3DCafe and created by an unidentified party.
Most of the bedroom furniture was created by JAG, except the bed itself, which is a creation of Willjen.
Some new props that I used in the 'calendar' setting include:
Grass model (High Poly Grass) by
Martin Lambert
of MEproductions
Rock models (and sandstone texture map) by jbezorg.
The basic landscape itself as seen in the 'calendar' forest setting is of my own construction (it's a lot simpler in design than it appears), and I made the ground/water texture and bump maps using some photographs I took (in a local park) just for this purpose. The texture map for the backdrop is made from a photo from a CD-ROM clip-art collection.
Everything else you see has been adapted from one of the basic figures and props that are part of the standard Poser 4 library, even though the final product may look very different indeed. [NOTE: making the necessary transparency and texture maps is more difficult than it sounds, though...]
As mentioned earlier, the 4-fingered hands are made possible through the courtesy of some morph targets created by Traveler. Granted, it's not a perfectly convincing effect-- her hands still have a sort of "amputated" look-- but at least it's a smooth transition and leaves no gaps in the figure. [By contrast, Posey's hands were altered by merely making the pinky fingers invisible.] Another problem is that Nightfall still has 5 toes on each foot, but she won't notice as long as she doesn't remove her boots. :-)
If you'd like to learn more about Poser in general, please visit the Curious Labs (its current publisher) web site. [Poser was formerly published by MetaCreations.]
