Poser City

Illustration by Les Garner

I've began working in earnest on an animated film featuring Creech, our lovable green monsters from the CPPartners folder of your Poser install. I'm working with Poser-mation whiz kid, Dave Watson from Davlin studios. Actually, if you'd like to hear Dave and I chat about the film be sure to check out episode 26 of Brento's Budget Film Making podcast.

In a nuthshell here are the particulars. The story picks up immediately after the events seen in the 3d comic, “New Likes” featuring Creech, available right here on YURDigital.com. Creech has disposed of his soul sucking harpy of a wife, Ms Creech and is eager to rebuild his ships avatar, S.A.R.A. And get off to another adventure in the Poserverse. As usual things don't go exactly as expected and he's not as free of commitment as he thought he was. Sexy Space Glambots, inter-galatic pizzeria's, Deep Space Salvage crews, cannibal tribesmen and pirates, yes PIRATES all make an appearance in this hilarious adventure.

The story is co-created by Dave and myself and I'm writing the script and lending a hand in designing characters. Dave will handle the animation and we'll both contribute to final editing and sound design. I'd like to see this one ready to go out the door by October of 2015, but if that doesn't happen the Poserverse will not explode.

Thus far it's really been a lot of fun giving this cool free character some much needed attention. Oh, lest I fail to mention it, Les Garner at Sixus 1 Media has built me this sweet Pirate costume for Creech that is almost ready for prime time. It will be featured in the film once the final files reach me. I'ts always exciting when new content supporting Creech comes out.

Lastly, be sure to check out the Creech fan page on Facebook.

If it seems like a long time since I've posted anything at all to Poser City, that's because indeed it has been a while. I have actually been rendering regularly, but when it comes to taking the time to create an article here to share, I've found other things to occupy my time, such as the iTunes release of my first bonefide, professionally created album. Do check that out if you haven't. Apart from that I'm still toiling away on the C For Chaos web series. You remember C For Chaos right? It spawned these Chaos Warriors original poser figures. Check them out here and here and here. C For Chaos is an intriguing project. If you don't know it's incredible history from a being a 10 year in the making “lost/unfinishable” film to a new life as a web series, I'd encourage you to read up on that here and here. It's actually a pretty cool time capsule of a horror movie and with Halloween coming up, might make an interesting watch for you.

Poser World's Creech Clothing

I was very pleased when Poser World released this clothing item for Creech. It made me feel a whole lot better about my previous issues with their fund raising emails. Hopefully things are back on track for those guys now. They really do fill a niche and I wish them success. I recently contacted their commissioned work arm, AWE3D about a character Genesis but it fell outside of their skill set. If I ever need a peice of custom clothing for one of the figures they will support I will try to throw some work their way to be sure. Being that we put so much into Creech, Vik, Chris, Wayne and I, it's nice to see it get a fair shake. It's a great figure to get for free and I've seen some very excellent Creech renders out there in the Poser-verse.

I really had things going with Daz Studio a few weeks back but as always seems to happen after a few months of happy rendering, I filled up my C drive entirely. So began the unhappy process of installing Daz Studio in an alternate location. This time things worked out with relatively little pain but now my smart content no longer shows anything...at all. I've basically given up on so called SMART content these days anyways as DAZ3d seems to barely support it with new products. It was a great idea and I wish they'd stuck to it. Alas, I guess they figured it didn't help their bottom line and they are in business to make money so I get it.

I had a small commission work a few weeks ago to create a Sci Fi cryochamer image for Heroes of The North. You'll probably be seeing some of my work behind their characters as a photo op for the fans in coming months. When that happens I'll be sure to share the image here.

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A Promotional Flyer for Take That

Due to a somewhat failed effort to make the film version of an epic story I've created called, “Mother of Vampires,” I've decided to take a few years of my render hobby time to create a graphic novel version telling the story in greater detail than I'd ever be able to afford were it a live action film. To be fair the film version was not a failure. It was a small chapter of the larger story and was titled, "Take That." The failure came in when I tried to use the same cast and crew to transition straight into a feature film version of the story. The cast & crew did an fantastic job and I'm very happy with the short film. I'm not the only one who thought it was a quality piece of work either. Nevermore film festival accepted us in 2013 where we were competing with films made for budgets over $50,000 and we also screened at Mad Monster Party that same year. The response was overwhelmingly positive, but I knew I had a bigger story to tell.

I made the film for $800 with the help of just a few people, so few in fact I can list them here. Todd A. Britt, Michael Ruff, Morgan Monig, Jeremy Mullis, Julian Safrit, Alan Tilsby, Eric Isbanioli, Felicity Winkler, Tim Ross, Tommy Allen Taylor & Robert Filion. I mean to say that it was a very small crew with just enough resources to get it done. Additional locations were provided by Eddie Snugs and Keg & Cue bar.

The actors really gave the characters heart. Todd's special effects ultimately all worked on screen and Robert shot everything beautifully. The trouble came in when we shot the supplemental scenes that would move the short film segment into the larger story and flesh things out. It wound up looking great as well and Michael absolute killed his additional scenes. We had an epic, and I do mean EPIC special effect at the end of the supplemental scenes . However, it was during this time that I discovered that there was simply no way I could have any sort of compromise with someone else trying to direct the film out from under me. I'm just too passive when it comes to getting along with people and the story was bound to suffer. That's as nice a way to put as I know.  My hope was to really collaborate with a more experienced film maker to move beyond my own capabilities, but when one person has all the humility and the other has none to speak of, it just won't work. I'll use this analogy, I don't want to buy someone a nice pizza diner and hear them say that they really wanted Chinese food. THAT is why the film did not go forward as originally planned. In a way, it's a good thing because the script I wrote would have been served poorly by the budget I'd put together to film it with.

The graphic novel has no such limitations. I'll be using a combination of Poser 2014 and Daz Studio Pro. I've been collecting assets for many years, so I already own pretty much all the clothing accessories and sets to create the images. I plan to share my progress here, along with preview art and the occasional finished art panel. If the finished product meets my expectations I'll sell the novel on LuLu for a few bucks. I anticipate at least 50 pages of full color art when all is said and done.

If it never sells a copy I will have told the story on my own terms in my way without any actor drama or petty jealousy from peers on the crew. If you've ever been involved with making any sort of film, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.

To kick things off, I'll be using Daz Studio and it's amazing Genesis figure to create the characters for the stories first scenes. I'll start with the beautiful Algonquin woman, Angeni. Here's I've dressed the figure in period Indian clothing. In fact items are from the “Cheyenne for V4 ” set from Ravenhair, available at DAZ3D.com. My character is not in fact from the Cheyenne nation, but seriously, could any of you geeks tell that from looking. The outfit reads native and that's close enough for Rock-N-Roll. The skin texture and shape of the face however, read caucasian. Let's deal with that using the shaping tools included in Daz Studio.

Greybro is definitely in the middle of a full blown zombie kick right at this moment. It occurs to this reporter that with the release of Luthbel's, "Long Time Dead" at Daz 3D and the previously offered, "Zombie for Genesis and M4," there are some truly epic options out there for creating an army of the undead.

It takes a lot to keep a pimp down. Jason Fagan of, "Respawner" fame is reincarnated to Poser City to bring you all the community news fit to print. He was a real scum bag in life but perhaps in his afterlife here in the Poser-verse, he can be of use, if only the admins can keep him in line.

We do realize that such a thing might be a lot easier said than done. Hopefully he won't offend anyone with his brutally direct take on hows things are shaping up around the 3D community. We hope everyone can keep it all in perspective and take his broadcasts as they are intended, to be taken lightly. It's all in good fun. Read more...

If there's a theme I never get tired of, it's Science Fiction. The slickness of it. The imagination of it. It's just inspiring. One of my favorite things is to mix a bit of classic horror in with my science fiction. I'd have to say that things like werewolves and final girls in a Sy Fy senario is probably my favorite. Hey, it beats naked Vicky in a temple right?

I often wonder to myself, why after so long I am drawn to create these images, to dabble in this or that software to actualize scenes from the fantasy world that lives only in my mind. For me, I think it's like the most immersive video game you could imagine. For a frame in time you step outside of the real universe to a world where you the true one god supreme and control all the parameters. You make real, that which was once unrealizable, thanks for programs like Poser and Daz Studio. Of course all the wonderful vendors who create the amazing content have their part in how your universe works, but only you call the shots. Read more...

After waiting out a non compete clause, former marketing manager of Renderosity & wife launch YURdigital.com. It has an air of independence and has become a regular stop in my Poser surfing journeys. Read more...

The upstart boutique, RuntimeDNA became a part of my own Poser-verse many years ago. Launching on the same software as Renderosity (Bondware) via special agreement, RDNA seemed instantly familiar with regards to site functionality. I honestly, thought as soon as they saw any kind of success that Bondware would drop the hammer on them to avoid essentially providing a back end for a new competitor. Over the years I've become so glad that did not happen. RDNA has really grown into something of a niche filler. While it's really hard to describe precisely what the niche is, I still feel like they have certain types of products I cannot seem to find anywhere else. For instance, they have excellent historical clothing if that's something you're looking for. Loads of toon content if that is your thing and a mega amount of lighting related products. Lots and lots of creepy gothic content as well.

One area where RDNA really became nicely set is the acquisition of certain highly sought after vendors such as Alphaseed. Sixus 1 is there now along with many others who've been around the community seemingly forever. For RDNA sticks out as that one site I can go to when looking for something reasonably priced that I haven't seen which will spark my creativity.

I do occasionally stop by their forums and one in while post in their galleries. I was recently delighted when an image I posted up was selected as their image of the week. That was especially cool because it came with a very nice free product coupon. Did I mention they have lots of cool stuff?

Editor's Note: RDNA was aquired by Daz in February of 2016. The contents were merged into everyone's Daz3d.com accounts and presented on that site and the RDNA was shuttered.

Well, in fact there is a new DAWN breaking on the Poser world. The brilliant marketers over at Hivewire3D have succeeded in making a big enough splash to give their Victoria contender, Dawn a real chance at sustained success. Let's forget the fact that she's not all that attractive and even if you don't care that all her toes can be posed (I certainly do not), DAWN is important. Here's why. For the first time a few of the folks involved in the first millennium figures have said, via their breaking away and starting their own thing, DAZ3D has gotten off track. I truly believe that success has gone to DAZ's head figuratively speaking. At last some of the chosen few insiders have said, "Enough. There is a better way," and put pedal to medal proving they knew better.

I think the break was as much about the way vendors were treated as the ideology of constantly reselling the same crap, just for a slightly updated figure. At least I hope that's what it was about. They've managed to take a chunk of the mainstay vendors from DAZ with them to Hivewire3D and that's huge. Now DAWN, homely as she is, has started to see some major product support. To boot, the HiveWire site is really excellent. Their store, at least in my view is a marked improvement over DAZ's with regards to usability. Their bundle concept has already spread back to DAZ who's apparently trying to play catch up.  I do think DAZ will catch up, mind you and I also think eventually they will return to their one mesh solution with Genesis 3 or whatever. Will Hirewire beat them to the punch and base all their figures off of DAWN? That would be the smart way to go, but lets see if they have the vision to go back and right the wrong when DAZ abandoned the first Genesis figure.

The bottom line is, when quality brokerages compete, the vendors and the users win. It's cut and dry. I am really thankful for Hivewire3D and wish them continued success.