I guess for starters. Apologies to all for my disappearing act. Real life issues came up that made drawing both difficult and depressing so I avoided the topic altogether for awhile. To keep things short and not to get into many things. Last year on my way home from work I was in a car accident caused by a stupid kid texting and it left me with some nerve damage to my right hand. I couldn't hold a stylus and could barely use a mouse. In the last couple months though I've rehabbed enough to be able to skope/cut and paste/whatever so I've been slowly coming back to the community and have been doing what I can to contribute to the board.
With that out the way. For those with long memories you might remember before my sabbatical I had a lot of skopes and skins that I had done by kitting Courts unreleased base and was in the process of reskinning some of them so they could be released. Luckily I still have the PSD's for nearly everything I've done so I'm able to swap new bases in and then they just need to have the colores rebalanced and that's something that can be done with little dexterity with mouse.
So-
(http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w245/Area34/Untitled-1-85.jpg)
Booster Gold skope that was kitt'd and can't be released, now becomes-
(http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w245/Area34/Untitled-1-86.jpg)
Booster Gold skope built out of Mur's base.
I still need to do the face's and hair which might be a problem but I'll probably use faces from other skins I've done until I think my freehand ability looks right again. As for the skope, that's Ren's Invincible combined with Vert's Booster. I redid the UV maping on the gauntlets so each gauntlet can be unique like in the comics. I never got around to Skeets though.
My plan for right now is to release some of my old skopes/all in ones and fix the skins as best I can. So again. apologies to everyone for dropping off.
Good to have you back.
I hope you have a speed recovery. I know how health issues can be depressing, but keep the mind occupied with fun things (like this forum and FF in general) always helped me. I'm sure it'll help you too.
Once again, welcome back!
Glad to hear that you've recovered (more or less) from your unfortunate accident. I hope you heal back to 100% (or better) soon :)
Also, lovely skopes you have there. They are defenitely some of the best around.
Welcome back! Look forward to your new material.
Good to have you back Area, :thumbup: glad to hear your doing better
dude, didnt know about the accident. glad your getting better and glad your back! ;)
Sorry to hear about your car accident. That really sucks, but it is good to know you made it through ok. And don't worry about being behind on skins... I've made meshes for skinners who weren't in car crashes that still have yet to be done *looks sideways at TUE, AA, Pod, and Murs* so I think we can live with a bit of a wait.
As to the skins, I do have a few suggestions if/when you feel up to it. On the yellow, instead of using the bright yellow, try going for a muted yellow... I've found that, especially with metals, it's better to go for a desaturated color and then let the reflect bring that color out. I'd also try and balance the yellow a bit more... It's probably just the base, but the strong highlights on the pecs don't match the legs at all.
Yikes! That's terrible. Good to see you are coming through it.
As to the skins, I actually think the bright yellow works very well for Booster. At least for earlier versions. I also think the new skins are actually much better than the old ones.
I will agree the legs look like they need stronger highlights, but a lot of that also seems to be on the refl file. The blue highlights are a bit white for my tastes, but that's my style. I like it when colours punch you in the eyeballs.
Quote from: UnkoMan on February 10, 2011, 01:20:25 AM
Yikes! That's terrible. Good to see you are coming through it.
As to the skins, I actually think the bright yellow works very well for Booster. At least for earlier versions. I also think the new skins are actually much better than the old ones.
I will agree the legs look like they need stronger highlights, but a lot of that also seems to be on the refl file. The blue highlights are a bit white for my tastes, but that's my style. I like it when colours punch you in the eyeballs.
You misunderstood my intent... I'm not saying to take the bright color out, I'm saying put that strong color in the refl rather than on the basic skin... I've found the contrast of desaturated skin and bright refl makes that yellow refl pop MORE than if it was just in the skin itself.
Area, I'm glad to see you posting again, and that you're feeling well enough to attempt the skinning/skoping again. There's no need to even write an apology.. even though I've been waiting for The Hand for about a year. (I'm kidding! Just a joke.)
The updated Booster Gold is looking great.
I'm glad that you're okay and that you're recovering. These Booster Gold skins look really sharp.
Great to hear you are doing alright! Im glad you are doing alright my best wishes to a speedy recovery! And these booster golds look wonderful!!! :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:
Quote from: Tomato on February 10, 2011, 01:41:15 AM
You misunderstood my intent... I'm not saying to take the bright color out, I'm saying put that strong color in the refl rather than on the basic skin... I've found the contrast of desaturated skin and bright refl makes that yellow refl pop MORE than if it was just in the skin itself.
Ohhhh... Really? Hmm... I had never fooled around with that too much, but I will take your word. Disregard what I said then!
Glad to hear you're doing better, that really sucks about the accident. The Boosters look really great. It's really cool seeing all the costumes together like that.
Quote from: Tomato on February 10, 2011, 12:53:16 AM
I've made meshes for skinners who weren't in car crashes that still have yet to be done *looks sideways at TUE, AA, Pod, and Murs* so I think we can live with a bit of a wait.
Hey I could've been in a car crash! I wasn't though. I'll definitely finish all your meshes by 2020 or something like that.
Sorry to hear about the accident man. Glad to hear you're getting better and I'm really glad you're back.
Are these an all-in-one skope? They look great.
Great to have you back A34
Great to have you back among us, A34.. *salutes with cup*
You were always a big help to me when I was messing around with skopes and looking forward to what you have planned to reveal.
- CQ
Area, good heavens man! I'm pretty sure you don't need to apologize to ANYBODY because you were in a car accident! I'm really glad to hear that you are recovering. The fact that you've been working on this stuff as you recover is really cool. I can understand the desire to reclaim this part of your life. You are absolutely welcome back, and I hope you continue to recover more and more quickly.
As for your Boosters, they are excellent. I love the bright colors of your skins, and those skopes are nice. :D
Area...it's good to have you back. I know you don't know me, but I have used several of your skins. Booster Gold looks fantastic! I hope you have a quick recovery...and thank your for your great contributions to the FF community!
That bites to be in that situation of rehabing. The only thing I can recommend is practice and practice some more. I hope that you'll be at your best soon.
I really like those skins. Your metallic effect is top of the line.
Like everyone said man. No apology necessary. Just glad you're okay. And Booster looks great!
Thanks for the kind words. The apologies are more for all the people I left hanging. It wasn't very cool of me. I'm probably about half of what I was before but I've been pushing myself a lot more lately and am finally feeling more comfortable with how things look. I've done a bunch of kitt's just to get back into the process. I've had to learn some new techniques. Free handing edges is a lot harder now so I've been experimenting with stroking paths so they still have the brushed look. I wish I could just stroke an entire layer that way but I haven't figured out how to keep the brush effect. But I soldier on.
-
I agree with the group. I think the gold effect needs more tweeking. I'm going to play more with the highs and low levels on the base. I'll post the update after I try doing the face. My original PSD has all the shading and edges to the costume already done and on a separate set of layers so it's just a matter of doing the actual face. It shouldn't take to long.
-
I was playing with a certain Lantern I need to finish and somehow started this.
(http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w245/Area34/Untitled-1-87.jpg)
Yeah it was only in- I don't know- Three issues? But it's a green Spider-Man. It's a Spider-man that hasn't been done and it's green. I just have do it for my return. I've not done anything with the base yet. I plugged in the black one so I could see how the details look using the path tools. Other than the feet I think it works.
That's really cool! I love the glow especially.
Spoiler
I can't wait for the Hammer Agents/Soldiers as well as Holocaust personally, but I'll be more than willing to wait for those :)
Luv the spiderman. And as someone who has downloaded many of you skins from Champions, I want to say Thanks. Best wishes....
Wow! That looks great! But i think we all secretly want to see some of these: http://marvel.com/news/story/14404/marvel_unveils_tron_variant_covers
:D hahaha! Great work!
Welcome Back Area!! Heres to a steady and full recovery!
I don't think I'll be doing any tron skins. This was just a one off to play around with different line tools. See what kind of tweaks I can do to my unfinished skins. I have so many things on the backlog to add more to it would probably kill me :P. Hammer agents need the glider to be fixed, the Power Packer girls need to be reskoped, the Hand need faces, I need to find Damian's psd, finish up Checkmate, finish up GL, finish BL, finish charlie27... ect... I should be able to finish most of those this week and then see what up.
-
Spidey- I went ahead and did the other colors the costume changed to depending on the mode it was in.
(http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w245/Area34/Untitled-1-88.jpg)
and
Spoiler
(http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w245/Area34/Untitled-1-89.jpg)
:banghead: I just noticed as I uploaded the pics that is has the wrong base under it. :banghead:
Sweet stealth suit Spidey. It looks great too.
Nice Area. What do the different modes do?
Wow that's cool. What base skin did you use?
Quote from: murs47 on February 13, 2011, 12:17:35 AM
Nice Area. What do the different modes do?
The green makes him invisible. The red blocks all sound in or out of the suit, he used it to counter Hobgoblin's sonic scream.
The base that the pics has is a kittbash base I use sometimes. It's a Courtnall skin (I think I made it out of ultraman and avalanche way back) I'm pretty sure it's at least two or three generations from what he uses now. It's not a "legal" base it's just something I was using as a placeholder. I have a psd that use that has all the different bases I've acquired in one layer group for easy swapping and it was
one that was already set up for dark costumes so I was using it while in the wip stage. The finished one uses a different base.
Spidey is looking very cool. I didn't even realize he had different color modes.. and as you pointed out, nothing says stealth like a glowing neon emblem.
Errrr.. I never got around to releasing most of my wips. Hopefully I can fix that.
So to begin with- I sat down this weekend to listen to Wait, What and finish up Booster. Since I had almost the entire thing done already I went ahead and did a fifth skin for him. I really don't like the outfit and I prefer Boosters previous version but I went ahead and did his DCNU suit. Even though this one doesn't have the same amount of seams as the JLA ones do it still shares the proplem of being to busy. I think this one, like most of the DCNU revamps takes a simple design and overly complicates it. Good luck to all the DC artists with drawing all these suits on model (the sad thing is even in it's first and only appearance so far it Booster wasn't drawn consistently).
anyways-
Spoiler
(http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w245/Area34/Untitled-1-91.jpg)
I haven't settled on which base or the hair* to go with. The pic above uses c6's/Tomato base but I might move it back to Murs' more muscular base- and the hair could go both ways based off the comic so I'll let you guys decide what way to go.
*The Booster skoped hair is Courts at the moment
Nice work A34, glad to see you back. In regards to the base skins, the C6/Tomato base works very well for slimmer characters such as Booster, whereas, as much as I like Murs's base, I think it works best with characters who are a little more buff, like Superman, Captain America, etc.
The goggles on the Booster skope look really good.
My base works well with everything CB. Everything! Especially women!
Now, first things first: Area, I have missed you, where the heck have you been?
Second: The latest booster skin looks good. The design reminds me of Nova's most recent look for some reason. More of a sky blue but it has those golden plate things, you know?
I'm glad you're back. ^_^
Good to see you again, Area. I'd been wondering about you lately.
Nice Booster. I'd go with the non-spikey hair myself.
Welcome back, Area!
Nice colors and highlights on Mr. Gold.
Glad to see you back Area.
I'm still working on a final version of the base template. Trying to smooth out the colors but still have high contrast between the highs and lows...
Spoiler
(http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w245/Area34/Untitled-1-92.jpg)
Per Pods suggestion I dropped the spikey hair but I haven't had a chance to do the other hair. Once that's finished all five versions will be done.
AND...
I skoped this many boards ago. I believe TUE was wanting to do him at one point.
Spoiler
(http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w245/Area34/Untitled-1-93.jpg)
I also went ahead and added the revamped outfit that March had in the last arc. I might do the DCNU outfit (depending on the book tomorrow) but I don't think I'm going to do the original outfit. Syn's version can be dropped on to the skope and it's as good as I could ever do. Oh, and if you have Mur's Ultimate Hood skin that isn't on his site anymore, that works with this too.
I used many a skope fu on the mesh. I went through and edited a thousand or so triangles out so the head is gone and almost no clipping with the jacket. I think he came out pretty solid. (I know the phallic helmet is a little short in length. It's the best I could do with my non blender self.)
*And before it's mentioned. I haven't been able to track down the PSD's to my Damian skope so my template of the cape is missing right now. Just for purposes of this pic- Hood is using Courts cape skin from Robin.
good work on the whites and the logo is crisp, but the jacket is far to bright and the wrinkles are way over done. darken them down and use a black tone around 50 -60% opacity to add depth to the coat
Those Red Hood skins are pretty sweet.
These are excellent! All around awesome, Area!
Good to see you back Area. Lovin' those Red Hoods, man. :thumbup:
Awesome! Welcome back Area, it's great to see you on the boards again. I have to agree with what the others have already said, those Boosters are fantastic! I think Pod was right, the non-spikey hair looks best with that costume. The Red Hoods are nice too, and I'll agree with TUE, the logos look really sharp and clean.
the red hoods look great.
Spoiler
(http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w245/Area34/Untitled-1-95.jpg)
I think the logo should be bigger but when I I do that his chest/sash gets crowded. The hand bandages haven't been started and I've already decided to do some skoping to the belt. At first I I didn't think it was a big deal but the design really looks better with the knot in the front- so unless Gren has new Iron Fist I don't know of, I'm going to hunt for some parts.
Edited to update the pic - Mur's helped me out with getting all the bandages lined up. See he's not so bad. :lol:
i know that theres a iron fist in grenadeirs section at the champions website, murs has one as well.
Yeah, that's what the above skin on now but the sash is tied differently now-a-days. I have a Murs Iron Fist (from Crisis mod or something)) that has some ties in the front that I'm working with but I floated it out here to see if there was something more apropos.
Looks really good and Ren's Luke Cage V5 (maybe?) has a knotted sash for the head scarf.
I giggled at this thread title, which tells me one thing: I've been around Murs too long, and it frightens the heck out of me. As for the skin, I'm liking the direction of it. I was hoping someone would skin the white costume!
Quote from: Previsionary on October 03, 2011, 05:31:52 PM
I giggled at this thread title, which tells me one thing: I've been around Murs too long, and it frightens the heck out of me. As for the skin, I'm liking the direction of it. I was hoping someone would skin the white costume!
Glad I wasn't the only one.
Also glad to see you skinning again A34.
Looking good!
Your hands may not be 100% but you still have the eye and skills for making top notch skins. Glad to hear you're healing. The more master skinners the better. Now what do you want for iron fist v2? It's your call. Consider it a welcome back present. :) Give me a pm for what details you want.
And NO!!! I'm not taking requests from anyone. This is my present for someone whose creative talents I respect. Everyone else's present is on Halloween. (some of you got previews already) The question is how much I can make by then.
Mesh, mesh, mesh like the wind!
Respectfully,
Quote from: Previsionary on October 03, 2011, 05:31:52 PM
I giggled at this thread title, which tells me one thing: I've been around Murs too long, and it frightens the heck out of me. As for the skin, I'm liking the direction of it. I was hoping someone would skin the white costume!
Being around me is not a bad thing! Ugh!
Area, skin am good. *claps*
Pm sent!
Since Gren's going to bless me with a custom mesh for Iron Fist I'm going to leave him as is for the time being but I already had planned to skin today so... I've gone ahead and started on Danny's hetero life-mate. His new look hasn't been done yet so I've gone through and skoped arm parts and things onto Ren's mesh for his current look nowadays.
Spoiler
(http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w245/Area34/Untitled-1-94.jpg)
See what I did there. I know at least someone thought I was referring to Luke Cages thunderbolt look(I do have a skope of him but I figure between AA's and C6 he's pretty covered at the moment.) I still need to flip the chain obj in Nifskope (Kenn taught me how but it takes awhile) and I haven't decided on the the seams yet. Artists have yet to give him a consistent look so I'm just playing around with em.
I like how Iron Fist is shaping up, but I'm particularly enjoying Power Man. I really liked this interpretation of the character. Nice work on it, Area.
Ah sweet the new Power Man. Good start I'm looking forward to the rest.
I've updated the Power Man pic. Skoped some more parts and finished up the gauntlets... Now a question. Which seam to go with? I'm partial to the updated pic but that could just be because that's the style I usually use with seams.
It's been a while since I've read anything from Marvel, so I'm not familiar with the character.
My only critique would be the hair, it seems a bit lopsided, but everything else looks great.
The hair is lumpy- it just looks lopsided because of the angle. He's on Ren's Captain Marvel Jr. mesh. I needed a younger mesh and his hair works like a fro-ish.
Pic was updated again - I did one of the chains and finished the kneepads. The other chain is being difficult. I've flipped the obj but the placement is all jacked up and me being anal I want the placement to be exactly/symmetrically placed. Any one know how to fix it easy or want to. Let me know.
speaking as someone who faced a similar problem, you might want to check out my Male_Teen_TM mesh or, worst case, the Kid Rocket mesh (which works on Ren's teen keys).
Yeah, the non standard age characters make skoping hard. I never finished Power Pack because I could never get the girls to work. I probably should have started with your teen mesh but I thought Cap Jr was perfect - size, animations, and I thought the hair would look fro-ish*. It's a little late now though to change up the mesh. The teen mesh distorts with the Ren's mesh's bones and I've already skoped all the parts to line up with that set of Bips. I'd hate to have to redo all that... I don't have the Kid Rocket Mesh (could someone supply a link) but I'll try that too.
*as I've nearly finished the skin, the hair definitely looks better.
Hey Area, check out Tomato's Influx section at NPI for that Kid Rocket
yeah, KR's a better bet then... I set him up with Ren's teen biped in mind. He might be a bit anime-ish for your taste, but lacks the fro.
Bonjourno! Any chance of releasing your Big Time Spiderman skin?
wow !! amazing skins! i love that boosters and red hoods!! :thumbup: :thumbup:
Sorry, not been around. My job decided the best way to save money was to fire everyone in my department and replace them with temps so now I spend my time constantly teaching them things (then they disappear and I start all over with a new one) or just doing the job for them.
Ghaz - Yeah, Spidey has been done for a while. Whenever I get to releasing he's ready to go.
Man Area, that sounds terribly frustrating. Sorry to hear that man.