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Description
Apologies for the explicit nature of this but we are doing tutorial work tonight on a massive problem that older figures have. These damn painted-on shadows. Yes, I know, upgrade the figure to the new generation and forget about it, but if I didn't make an attempt to fix it I would never learn all these cool tools. The character is Miyo, from my galleries, and the character's source skin is the V4 Diamond Resource, a V4 skin base that I am quickly beginning to regret working with. The set itself has some very strong painted on shadows, and characters made with this skin base typically go from bad to worse as the painted-on shadows are painted on more to give the characters that "pre-AO Poser" shadowed look.

Back in the day, yes, this is what they did. The programs did not do a lot so the skins were more "artistic" in nature to get these looks. Where I worked this sort of thing was an automatic fail and sent back to the artist - even in this generation. You still saw this done because there were artists who liked the 'look" and frankly did not have the skill to make these things happen. Also, the software of the day could not render these types of shadows without taking forever, so people cheated (and for good reason). You want this picture done in an hour or a day? Times change.

I have a number of characters based on this resource in my cast, such as Miyo, Hunter, Renee, and a few others.

The above shot is from Miyo before I created a custom "crotch paint" OBJ file with the legs apart and imported that into the very cool BlackSmith3d v7 Pro program, and a good amount of time spent on using the clone and touch-up tools on those skidmarks while painting in 3d. The top is before, and the bottom is after - seamless and smooth. Am I losing some detail? Yes. Can I do a couple more from-behind shots now without having to cover those up and hide those skidmarks? Yes, very.

If I were doing shots like this all the time? Yes, upgrade to the new generation and get some extra bits going on down there from 3rd party vendors. Well then why do this? Why fix? Well, I know how to 3d texture paint now, and the more I do this the better my skills get. If I ever wanted to paint some damage on a vehicle or wall I know right where to go and right how to do it. There are times I want to work with older sets with problems because I want that experience in tools used to fix them, and this often translates into new things I can do in 3d.

This also lets me touch-up the older cast and get some more use out of them before they are eventually phased out. Right now I am having a lot of fun with my legacy cast and they are doing good work - and I am happy. Finding cast members to replace (or upgrade) them will take time, and I want them to be a part of the story and introduced/upgraded as a part of the continuity.

Description
Apologies for the explicit nature of this but we are doing tutorial work tonight on a massive problem that older figures have. These damn painted-on shadows. Yes, I know, upgrade the figure to the new generation and forget about it, but if I didn't make an attempt to fix it I would never learn all these cool tools. The character is Miyo, from my galleries, and the character's source skin is the V4 Diamond Resource, a V4 skin base that I am quickly beginning to regret working with. The set itself has some very strong painted on shadows, and characters made with this skin base typically go from bad to worse as the painted-on shadows are painted on more to give the characters that "pre-AO Poser" shadowed look.

Back in the day, yes, this is what they did. The programs did not do a lot so the skins were more "artistic" in nature to get these looks. Where I worked this sort of thing was an automatic fail and sent back to the artist - even in this generation. You still saw this done because there were artists who liked the 'look" and frankly did not have the skill to make these things happen. Also, the software of the day could not render these types of shadows without taking forever, so people cheated (and for good reason). You want this picture done in an hour or a day? Times change.

I have a number of characters based on this resource in my cast, such as Miyo, Hunter, Renee, and a few others.

The above shot is from Miyo before I created a custom "crotch paint" OBJ file with the legs apart and imported that into the very cool BlackSmith3d v7 Pro program, and a good amount of time spent on using the clone and touch-up tools on those skidmarks while painting in 3d. The top is before, and the bottom is after - seamless and smooth. Am I losing some detail? Yes. Can I do a couple more from-behind shots now without having to cover those up and hide those skidmarks? Yes, very.

If I were doing shots like this all the time? Yes, upgrade to the new generation and get some extra bits going on down there from 3rd party vendors. Well then why do this? Why fix? Well, I know how to 3d texture paint now, and the more I do this the better my skills get. If I ever wanted to paint some damage on a vehicle or wall I know right where to go and right how to do it. There are times I want to work with older sets with problems because I want that experience in tools used to fix them, and this often translates into new things I can do in 3d.

This also lets me touch-up the older cast and get some more use out of them before they are eventually phased out. Right now I am having a lot of fun with my legacy cast and they are doing good work - and I am happy. Finding cast members to replace (or upgrade) them will take time, and I want them to be a part of the story and introduced/upgraded as a part of the continuity.