I wanted to quickly highlight the "portrait view" feature of HM3. I thought it might be handy to be able to get a closer-up view of the head and shoulders of the character, like you'd see on most RPG sheets. So here's a quickie I threw together just to illustrate what that looks like:
At another suggestion from Kaldath, I have separate arm items turned so you can see the inside of the arm instead of the outside. This is to resolve the problem where some of the new hand positions just wouldn't be anatomically possible with the arm in the default pose.
Anyway, there you have it. I'll also still work on a "fullscreen" type of mode where all the controls get removed and you just have the character filling the whole area, so you can see those bits that might be chopped off by the edge of the screen.
Are abs and chest two different categories, cause that might help with body shaping?
Also I have some images saved on my computer is there any way to post them or do I have to sign up for imageshack or something which I don’t really want to do?
Good, the “new arm” is a great addition.
Mhhh… one question, there’s going to be 2 options to save right (as image and as string)?
I agree the new arm is great. Looks short compared to the other picture.
Also can there be an added category for like shoulder muscles. Cause there is that one muscle that goes from the shoulder to the back of the neck that maybe could get buffer. I believe it’s called the trapezius muscle.
Ballin Boy@, Go to http://www.ugo.com sign up for an account with the forums, and you can post your pictures on the Heromachine forum in the Hero Archive section. That is where all my stuff currently resides. I’d give you a link to look at it, but everytime I post a link to the UGO forums here on the blog it causes my entire post to just vanish .. what I can do is post an edited version of the link and if jeff is feeling kind he can repair it to make it clickable like he has done for me in the past!
http://forums.ugo.com/showthread.php?t=34967
Great stuff Jeff
The full screen option (no bits chopped off!) is what I am most stoked about!!!!
This is coming along brilliantly!!
also its great to hear in your last blog that you will be copying over the 2.5 items, perfect for re creating all our previous characters with the new HM3!
I’ll start looking around for any other items which could do with the Jeff treatment for HM3.
Scorp
@Ballin’Boy (1): That’s not a bad idea. Hmmm …
@Neon: There will be both a Save as JPG version of saving, and a Save to Disk version, but I don’t know if the latter will be in the form of a string like 2.x or just saved locally in Flash.
@Ballin’ boy (4): Probably not a whole separate category for individual muscles.
@Scorp: Probably some of the taller items will still be nipped, but if so and it’s important to you to see the whole thing, you’ll be able to scale the entire illustration down so it all fits.
I have the strings for all my Hero Machine designs stored on a couple of .txt files on my hard drive, so I can open and edit them any time. I hope I can do the same on HM3.
And sometimes is fun to edit your characters from the note pad lol 🙂
3 things…
1] My wife points out that the female form you have in 2 is slightly off–the chest-base of the breast should fall at roughly the halfway point between the shoulder and elbow. After viewing several [clothed!] pictures, I have to conclude that she’s right. [Princess Leia in the 1977 Star Wars poster was one such.] So, in the interest of anatomical correctness, my wife pressured me into writing this post. [I also understand that you're a comics guy and might be using comics-related artistic license.]
2] It was commented this morning as I messed with the female hair that there should be 4-5 hair sections [if you feel like taking it that far.] They would be top of the head, bangs, back of the head, in front of the ears like in Beard 2.5 [whatever they’re called], and down the back. If you’re interested, anyway.
3] After I saw the Modern Day Warrior program, I have to admit I was really impressed. I don’t usually mess with the online variations now that I have 2.5, but by putting together Modern Day Warrior with the notes you leave here about what will be different…well, let’s just say that I am excited. [I would use a more descriptive term, but you'd just make fun of me.] I’ve been using Photoshop [until my old computer crashed] to stretch the limits of what even 2.5 could do. But with 3, I may never need to do that again. I heartily await the unveiling, but do want to ask……About when might it be coming out, roughly, and how much will it cost, approximately? [Just so I know if I need to save $300 or so lol]
Thanks for the feedback, Damien. I’m the first to admit that drawing women is not my strong suit (to say the least) so I appreciate the comments there.
HM3 will be free, supported by ads like 2.5 is now. So don’t worry about that 🙂
I don’t have a super-firm schedule, but I’d like to have a (very) early test beta with limited functionality and item availability up in the next week or so.
Hey Jeff, I was thinking that perhapes you can add Tiger stripes to the textures section.
Hey that turtle vest that almost got into the Modern Warrior is gonna make a comeback right? I really liked that thing, even though I think you made the right move replacing it in the minis, would like to see it make it in HM3 it’d be retro.
@Kaldath: I was thinking that last night, while looking through the 2.5 “skins”. Tiger stripes, leopard spots, water drops, stylized flames, fur, all of those would probably make more sense as textures rather than as dedicated skins.
@Ballin’Boy: Oof, I don’t think I saved that. I could redraw it I reckon, assuming I can find the JPG of it.
you don’t have to redraw it, you have it posted somewhere, I’ll look for it then you can cut it out of the picture and presto bango bingo. You got a turtle. Haha I love my mind sometimes
http://www.heromachine.com/2008/10/22/warrior-mini-first-figure/
here’s the link, unless you weren’t happy with it or anything then you could redraw it.
Re: Turtle Shell vest – Well considering you posted it to the blog in one of the early Modern Warrior update the Jeg should be on this blog somewhere.
Thanks Ballin’!
Also a couple hand items I’d personally appreciate.
1. Boxing gloves
2. Hands that can be put together to look like they are praying
3. More tightley wrapped hands and wrists like this, except to fit into the pose(I like the shorts too).
http://www.sfgalleries.net/art/cvs2/capcom/sagat.jpg
4. Hands that form guns with fingers
http://bp2.blogger.com/_oUd0eKSUIR8/R8A6HRu7ihI/AAAAAAAABUw/TKNYuq3ztZM/s1600-h/cgjn.jpg
5. Lobster like claws
http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/rebelsquad/lineup_chryssalids.jpg
Do you mind if I just send stuff to you? I always feel guilty when I dirty up posts like this.
In response to ad sponsors, I meant when can I download it?
Oh, sorry Damien. I haven’t had a serious conversation with UGO about that yet but I would bet they’re not going to want to offer a download. Their whole revenue stream is built on getting users to their sites, I doubt they’re going to want to give that up for spending time offline. But like I said, that’s just supposition on my part, we haven’t actually discussed it.
Well, let me try again. You sold HeroMachine 2 for $20, then allowed a free DL of HM 2.5. I’d pay almost through the nose to get HM 3.
I’ll pass that along when the time comes, Damien.
I agree with Damien. $20 or so would be, in my opinion, a very reasonable price to pay to have a downloadable version of HM3 on my laptop.
My sense is with UGO that they’re just not set up for payments. They don’t have a user-tracking mechanism or a way to keep track of that stuff. What I will suggest, though, is that we basically keep doing it like I did it before, where I keep track of all the money end of things and user account downloads and whatnot, and they just do the online stuff. It’s a bit odd now in that I am a contractor for them instead of being completely independent so I don’t know if they’ll go for it or not, but I’ll bring it up.
Well, we wantsss it, preciousss. We wantsss it badly. [besides, I get tons better resolution with the DL versions. I keep my monitor on 16×12 just for HM projects]
Hey Jeff I made a post a little while ago, it had some links in it, not sure where it went. Anyway trying to hold myself back in terms of throwing things at ya. I know you got enough on your plate. Anyway just wondering.
I think if there are too many links, Akimset (which I use for spam filtering) flags it as spam and deletes it. There’s not a kill file I can check to see if it’s in there unfortunately, if it got eaten, it’s sadly gonna stay eaten.
Of course as soon as I posted that I had a brain-flash and found the kill file. I un-spammed the message, it ought to be up now.
Timespike, I’d pay $100 or more for a program that lets me do more than what I can already do with HM 2.5 and photoshop