Warriors

[Mark Skarr]

Updated version of Shadowwalker, with the smaller head and her arms moved.  I was getting some strange, legacy pokethru that moving her arms corrected.  It wasn't showing up in the virtual space, only on the picture when rendered.
E:  Also, there was some strange movement in her fingers that I had to correct.  Now, her hands are smoother.

[robkelk]

Ah, but a point could be made that all the Lovecraftian "random keyboard strokes" in the fiction was edited by someone who still had enough sanity to make "In strange eons, even death may die" into "In mollified bakeries, cultists want pie."

For the type of people that Doug and this Rose are . . . "non-Euclidian horrors from beyond space and time," and related grafitti is just a memento.  More questions will be asked, of Doug, about the pretty seventeen-year-old than the grafitti in the background.  Especially in her everyday costume (the fetish Catholic school girl).  He'll find it easier to answer questions about the non-Euclidian horrors though, than about that Rose.  I keep leaving clues about this Rose in the picture.  In fact, the artwork on her t-shirt is a dead giveaway, if you could find it (and it shouldn't be hard) and see what's concealed on the right side, covered by the flap of her jacket.  Rose, sometimes, has a twisted sense of humor.

I'm pretty sure this isn't the right reference, but the wormhole illustration and Foxboy's bit just make me want to say...

"In strange aeons, the cake is a lie."
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Mark Skarr]

It is not the right reference.  It is, however, awesome.
In strange aeons, the cake is a pie?

[Bob Schroeck]

You know, now I see what she meant about the head. She's asleep right now, otherwise I'd get her opinion immediately.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Foxboy]

Also, you may sig/quote/whatever on the "Pie" thing.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

[Mark Skarr]

Updated picture after 3k samples.

[Mark Skarr]

I gotta start somewhere, so I'm starting at the beginning and moving forward.
Wetter Hexe, first attempt, low samples:

[Bob Schroeck]

I'll let Helen know this is up. She'll prefer to comment and advise herself, rather than have me do it for her.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Mark Skarr]

As pictures go, I'm not terribly happy with it.  But, I've got to start somewhere.  She won't hurt my feelings if she says "It's Crap!  I've seen monkeys drawing with poop make higher-quality images of Hexe!"  
E:  Imagine my surprise to discover that windows decided to reboot my computer during the day.  Grr.  Oh well, at least the image got to 2k samples so I have something to show:

Still not terribly happy with it.

[Bob Schroeck]

Helen's coming over our place tonight, so if she hasn't commented by the end of the day, I'll make sure she's seen it. Comments I can't guarantee.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Bob Schroeck]

Okay, got both Helen and Peggy here commenting on their respective characters.

Peggy says about the Shadowwalker pic: "Something doesn't look right -- I'm not sure what it is, the head still doesn't look right, the feet don't look right" (she said they look a bit too big). She thinks that the body looks a bit longer and lankier than she should be (she should be more full figured), but acknowledges that this may just be an effect of the pose. "Have him get me an image without the costume so I can see and approve it, and then he can put the costume on it." One thing we both noticed for the first time tonight are the gloves -- they should match the boots -- see http://www.accessdenied-rms.net/images/sw-duty.jpg]this image. Is that possible with the resources you have? Oh, and the ears are too prominent through the cowl. Is that fixable?

Helen says about the Hexe pic: "She's too 'pretty-girl' -- the first thing about Hexe you notice is not that she's a beautiful woman, but her personality. She's got a forceful personality. She's commanding, she's forceful, she's intelligent. She doesn't suffer fools lightly. She's got a big personality and you see that first." I don't think I've said this in anything written for DW yet, but Hexe's V&V weakness is Reduced Charisma -- it's not a lack of beauty, but rather a brusque and sometimes abrasive personality. This should come across somehow. The image as rendered right now somehow (at least in Peggy's opinion) makes her look like a pixie. This is a 5'9", 155 lb. woman who can intimidate Sylia Stingray, after all. Helen has concerns about the costume -- too much cleavage, for one -- and wants me to quote the description from DW2 chapter 12:

The one on the left was lean and hard-muscled, with a short but feminine crop of auburn hair, windblown and gently waving, surmounting her black-clad form. She wore a bodysuit of some soft-looking fabric, with a high neck and cutouts that left her shoulders and most of her midriff bare save for a golden metal ring that linked top and bottom together. Low-heeled, knee-high boots and a bolero jacket, both of shining black leather and trimmed with small metallic lightning bolt accents, completed her ensemble.

She notes that as Dave Menard's http://www.accessdenied-rms.net/images/dm-hexe2.jpg]pics in the DW gallery have the right feel, costume-design-wise, and that http://www.accessdenied-rms.net/images/hexe.gif]Kiyos's drawing is what she thinks of when it comes to the usual expression she has. (She says it's closest to the ideal representation of Hexe she has at the moment, but is willing to see if you come up with the quintessential Hexe. Let add that whatever you come up with it ought to have a kind of arrogance to it. Helen wouldn't say that, but I do. ) "I deserve it, I'm a deity, dammit!"

Peggy says about both: "The faces of the Warrior women should reflect that we mean business."
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Mark Skarr]

All righty.  I'll see about throwing a render of just V4 together.  As a starting point: more or less full-figured than Silverbolt?  She's naked, so you can tell.  At the moment, I don't have good, folded-top gloves, but I'm looking for some.  I've faked it in the past, so, I'm trying to figure out how I did it years ago.  I'm trying to figure out how to fix the ear-problem myself.  I may have to alpha-out her ears and shrink the cowl.  I'll see what I can do about the head and feet, when we get a body Peggy's happy with.
Hexe:  Getting personality across in a still picture is not easy.  It takes a lot of work (and an astounding amount of luck).  But, I'll give it a try.  Reduced Charisma isn't a disadvantage -- it's a life-style choice.  ;-P  The base-line image of Hexe is just a starting place.  I had to do something to work from, to get feedback.  I would love to have Hexe's outfit, or even a modicum of talent when it comes to modeling, but I'll see what I can do--maybe Gordo can help me fake it in Photoshop.  The costume I threw her in was simply a best-guess out of what I had at the moment.
Expressions are one of the last things I work on.  Once I get the physical appearance down, expressions get worked on, because they can screw up a picture faster than a power outage.  Doug's expression was blind luck, Rose's took days of work to get right.  And that's only one, small, part of her personality (that's her "working" face).

[Bob Schroeck]

Hexe: Getting personality across in a still picture is not easy. It takes a lot of work (and an astounding amount of luck).

And here I told Helen all you'd have to do is set the "Personality" slider to 11.

Thanks for all your work. I'll ask Peg about the "SW-vs-SB" figure question when she gets home from work tonight. Oh, and the "too big" comment about Shadowwalker? Just the feet, not the head this time.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Mark Skarr]

Here's an incredibly low-sample version of Shadowwalker's body.  She's pretty much just V4.2 with a slight face modification (and shrunken head and neck).  I made her a statue so we didn't have blatant nudity on the forums.

E-E2:  Picture update didn't save.
I can alpha out her ears and shrink the cowl more to bring the ears to just nubs.  I'm still working on the gloves, but I knew they were something that needed to be fixed.  I've added the "feet for shoes" morph, to narrow her feet a bit, so, when I go back to the clothed version, I can make the feet smaller.

And here I told Helen all you'd have to do is set the "Personality" slider to 11.

I'm going to try.  No harm in trying (I don't feel that way about "trying" surgery or bomb disposal).
You're welcome for anything I've done that's helped or brightened your day.  It's fun and a pleasure to work with you.  Working on stuff like this helps me improve my skills.  Thanks for putting up with my incessant "how does this look" questions.

[Bob Schroeck]

It's not a problem at all. I think Helen annoyed Dave Menard when she micromanaged how he did Hexe... someone who doesn't mind the micromanaging is a blessing.

And speaking of Helen and micromanaging (), a quote from an email I just got from her:

Here's another thing that just occurred to me. Her skin is way too dark. In the picture, this woman is almost cocoa skinned. Hexe was born in Germany of a strong Celtic strain -- auburn hair, pale skin, green eyes. Anyway, just thought I'd mention.

And thanks for the statue. I'll show it to Peg tonight.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Mark Skarr]

It's not a problem at all. I think Helen annoyed Dave Menard when she micromanaged how he did Hexe... someone who doesn't mind the micromanaging is a blessing.
And speaking of Helen and micromanaging (), a quote from an email I just got from her:

Here's another thing that just occurred to me. Her skin is way too dark. In the picture, this woman is almost cocoa skinned. Hexe was born in Germany of a strong Celtic strain -- auburn hair, pale skin, green eyes. Anyway, just thought I'd mention. 

Fortunately, I have some skin that should work for that.  Her outfit though . . . I'm still working on.

[robkelk]

And speaking of Helen and micromanaging (), a quote from an email I just got from her:

Here's another thing that just occurred to me. Her skin is way too dark. In the picture, this woman is almost cocoa skinned. Hexe was born in Germany of a strong Celtic strain -- auburn hair, pale skin, green eyes. Anyway, just thought I'd mention.

Does that pale, Celtic skin have freckles? (Some people assume it's part of the definition, others don't... I've learned to ask.)
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Bob Schroeck]

To my knowledge, Hexe has never had freckles.

(Now watch Helen tell me that for 25 years I've just never noticed...)
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Bob Schroeck]

Helen confirms that Hexe does not have freckles.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Mark Skarr]

Well, bang goes that Pippi-Longstocking version of Hexe . . ..

[Bob Schroeck]

...and while looking for something else entirely while working with Helen on DW13-2 last night we came across the original CAD-made logo. I was misremembering it. Not badly, but enough so that there're small but significant differences between it and what I described to you. I suppose I can handwave it as an evolution of the logo over 25 years, but still...

When I get a chance I'll scan it and post it, which will be better than trying to draw a word picture.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

[Mark Skarr]

Well, I haven't heard anything in about a month . . ..  Low-sample version (only about 60 samples).
Shrunk her feet a bit, alphed-out her ears and shrunk the cowl a bit.  Added cuffs to the gloves (or, at least the glove you can see).

[Mark Skarr]

Here's the image after ~1.9k samples.

[Bob Schroeck]

Gah, I forgot to nag her about commenting on the "dummy".

I'll try to get her to take a look at the new render -- and the dummy (again) -- tonight.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.