So I took an hour this morning to draw up an "animated style" male body template for the HM3 Alpha, and wanted to get your feedback. Here's a sample character made with the new body:
Clearly there are problems with the hands, I'd need to introduce at least one pair of regular looking ones that would match the body. Ditto with the feet.
To get to the new body, go to Body - MaleToon. You have to move the hands into place and scale them, and the same with the other items, since the proportions are so different. And not all the items really fit, particularly the Tops and the Legwear.
Given all those limits, is this sort of alternate body worth doing? It takes about a day to put together the whole set of stuff that has to go with it, from all the pieces in the actual item set "MaleToon" to the special hands and feet, etc.
Also, I only did the first, full body, the rest of the items in that set are still the old Standard ones, so just ignore them.
This is a cool idea, Jeff. I would like the added option of creating “animated” style characters, as opposed to just the comic style.
Is the hassle of rearranging the bits and having a bunch of items that don’t fit worth it, DV?
Note that down the road you’ll have the option to load a pre-arranged and pre-loaded set of slots depending on what you want to do. So you could pick a standard body that’s proportioned and positioned like the old Brick, and the program would load it up as if it were a saved character. So the hands would already be in the right spot, the torso would be scaled horizontally, etc.
Gotta say, I’m not a fan of this idea.
The beauty of HM is that everything works (or should) together in a mix-and-match kind of way. Intentionally adding items that do not work with every other item seems counter to the very concept.
If you want an alternate look, create a mini and copy over the HM3 items that work with the new look.
It’s a very creative idea, Jeff. Although he seems a little too jacked lol. I’d recommend that if everyone is on-board with this than it should wait until at least all of the male items are completed.
Btw did you get a chance to read my case to add the Smith and Wesson magnum?
I did read that Tim, and I’m still considering it. I’ll probably do another big sweep of all the sets in a while and add in the ones that people feel strongly about. At 88+ items, the pistol set is already pretty close to max, I’m super reluctant to add more until I get a better feel for how it’s all shaking out.
Though I think it looks good as a mock-up, I feel it would be better served as a program unto itself as oppose to being part of the HM3 world. With that said I’d like to suggest more female oriented items,clothing and body parts.
Eric, please read the FAQ regarding female bodies and items. Thanks.
This is just a sample, I wanted to take a quick break from items to see how flexible I could make the program with just a basic body.
I like it myself, kinda looks like a mix between the Athlete body style and the old Brick body style from HM2
Alright that sounds good to me. There’s quite a few guns that I feel strongly about, but I wouldn’t want to cut out the ideas of everyone else.
Do I sense a “Pistols2” category like with blades? 😉
Very cool can’t wait to try it out tonight
I like the idea of additional body styles, a matching female body would be nice.
Keep up the great work
Pistols2 is certainly a possibility, sure. I just got tired of drawing guns 🙂 And once you get over 70 items, the authoring environment really starts to drag. Over 80 and it’s painful. Over 90 and I almost can’t work at all. I believe InsigniaStandard has the most items currently and that’s pretty much the absolute limit of what I can do. Besides app speed, I run out of space on the drawing board for the previews.
A very similar program exist. I don’t know if the overall style could cause any legal troubles for you, here’s the link. Round Flag at top center of screen changes program to english
http://fabricadeherois.blogspot.com/
Yep, I go way back with the Fabrica De Herois guy. The body’s very very similar, I grant, but there are only so many ways to do a DCAU style guy, you know?
I love it Jeff, this allows us to do more styles of characters. An Manga style would be great down the line also(I’m not a big fan of it but a lot of people are).I believe the whole idea to HM3 is to be able to make the characters that you want, and you are allowing use to do this with the other styles. People with kids should love this because it is the style that kids today are use to. So people can get their kids involved with them. You are doing a great job and I believe everyone totally enjoys the work that you put into hero machine, and the windows of possibilities that are open to the true lovers of comics. I for one say”the more body types the better.”
Yes Sir, just wanted to give you a heads-up, just incase, cause even though I hadn’t been on there for awhile, after seeing the cartoon body layout FDH instantly came to mind. I did notice that now you can move and scale stuff on FDH aswell, but I still think HM does it light years better. Concerning the toon Personally, I prefer the more realistic type characters, I actually like the marvel, was that one yours?, creator style (some shaded costumes would be awsome), it’s main fault’s the lack of options. With that said, I have noticed some manga/cartoony style characters created in some of the character contests. So I guess I would suggest to do what your doing, and find out your fanbase for it. I personally could live without it.
Good size for hands are x-130 y=130 and for the feet x=105 and y=130. If anyone was wanting to know. Jeff I can have some fun with this. All new recipes come to mind.
I’m not a fan of that style, in fact, I was hoping that eventually you’ll add a slim and not so muscular body, not every character spends 6 daily hours at the gym 🙂
More than focusing on this specific style or drawing, what I am wondering is if it works to have ANY body that doesn’t fit the Standard one. If moving sub-items to the right location and scaling them and having some items (like tops) that don’t exactly fit is worth it. So if you don’t like this particular illustration, try to think past that and imagine it was a non-Standard body you DID like.
If I liked it, I wouldn’t use a body where I had to adjust everything as much, but I would still use it.
I remember following HM back when Marvel had done some legal bullying and CoH was also getting the treatment. Before that with the old Yahoo Group.
I’m real impressed with what’s going on with HM nowadays. It’s been vital for our games.
I like this cartoony body too. It can really be used to get the point across about someone being built like a 1920’s new york thug, or even as a body replacer for lighter hearted games.
Ok, I’ve been playing a little with the new body, the sleeves are a pain.
If I liked this style, I would definitely want to have sleeves (What’s the point in having a new body if most of the Tops won’t work with it?).
So, I think that if you are going to add the new body you should also redraw most of the Tops (and maybe some legwear).
Is it worth the effort? Well, even if I don’t like this particular style, I think that variety is good.
But at the end of the day you are the guy doing all the work. So… Do YOU want to do it Jeff?
I sure as heck don’t want to redraw all the tops and legs, so no, if that’s the requirement I wouldn’t do it. The whole idea of 3.0 was supposed to be that you could scale your items to make your own body types without me having to draw separate supporting items for each and every possible permutation.
I don’t like this cartoonish style. Imagine how much better the Justice League cartoons would have been if the artists had gone for the traditional comic book style of art.
Could a modification of the ‘standard’ body and using ‘transformation’ make this same affect? It would give more options without having to do things from scratch.
Good challenge Cavalier, go for it! I bet you could get darn close. The tricky bit would be the waist, the torso wouldn’t match up with the hips. You’d have to cover that with a belt or something.
Here is my first try with the new body. Other items do work with it.
http://forums.ugo.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=62018&d=1252631255
Well, Jeff, the majority doesn’t seem to agree with me on this being a good idea, with only a few exceptions. While I like the ability to make other styles of characters, after reading the criticism the idea of adding this to the standard HM3 has received, maybe it isn’t such a good idea, at this time. Perhaps somewhere down the line there could be a “toon version” of the program with all the same options/tools that HM3 utilizes, only with a different style of art. *Shrug* Just a thought.
That having been said, I would ask that you keep the toon body itself in the program, for those who do like it. Maybe you won’t include it in the final version, but I know I will play around with it while it’s available, at the very least.
I agree with Dark about leaving the toon body for the ones that do want it. BUT I believe that it works wonderful with HM3.
My HM3 Alpha Toon Body Character
http://www.flickr.com/photos/42375382@N03/3908357927/
Please leave the toon body in HM3
Thanks…Reid
honestly i prefer the “normal” style. But i agree with the rest. You can keep for the people who like it the new style.
btw, just a question, somedayy do u will put a third color for the items? i know that is a lot of work. For that i say “someday”.:)
Interesting, but I can’t say it is my cup ot tea.
You know not everybody is going to be happy with everything that is in HM3. But what Jeff is trying to do is to make it where everyone can have something that they like and enjoy in it. I thing its a great idea to add other body styles, I don’t mind putting out a little more effort to make something work, I love the challenge. To be honest I don’t think we need more hand gun, and other accessories that some people ask for, I think that more body types and more ways to pose them are going to make for a better program in the long run. Not ever hero is 6ft tall and 175lbs..
And thanks Dark , Reid, and the others for supporting the toon body.
If you keep the toon body, which do I like btw, why not add a few toon style hands since those are the hardest body parts to match up using the standard hands?
@redvector for the hands use x=130 y=130 they look good.
I really like this one. It brings out a whole new range of possibilities. I know some people say they don’t like it, and that’s fine, but as HK said, it’s good to have it for the people that DO like it. We all like different styles. And we’ve all seen what can be done with hm3. If we can make a bike out of body parts, we can give a human some clothing. Remember to use the masking tool, it can help.
I am a strong supporter of this idea, bravo Jeff.
I don’t think I’ll be using the toon one, but I’m glad the option is there. I’m really hoping that we can have more option as far as body type. It would be awesome if I could make someone that isn’t muscular. While I love the size adjustment tool, it doesn’t work too well in regards to arms. I would also like to be able to make people that are a bit fatter too. Not everyone is the ideal. It would be SO much better to have differing styles of body than to have 80 more guns.
I could do without it. I’d rather see more items to go with the bodies already on HM3. As someone said earlier, I think a cartoon HM would do better as its own program.
I personally wouldn’t use the animated style. I think you’re better off sticking with the comic book style.
I definitely like it. it really suits those heroes who are “powerful” and cool, yet not as muscle-ey as others. I think its also a good base for younger heroes.
I can see that it would have its uses, and I’d probably use it quite a bit, since it’s a pain right now to try to do a character with slim/normal legs/hips and a large upper body – as you said Jeff, it’s hard to line up the lower and upper halves correctly unless you hide the join with a belt.
One thing that would be nice if you’re going this direction would be to have at least some basic spandex tops/bottoms in the same style.
Alternatively, what about this: have some spandex ‘layouts’, kind of like flat designs, that you could mask onto the body?