HM3: That crazy hand-jive

I've just uploaded 27 new items for the HandRight-Standard set in the HeroMachine 3 Alpha incorporating many of your suggestions. I think I hit all the high points, but just in case I am going to hold off on converting the items over to HandLeft while you all take a look.

Speaking of which, here is a quick peek at some of the new stuff:

hands-new

Let me know in the comments if there are glaring omissions you'd like to see, bugs you find, or anything else that strikes you about the new release. Once this gets squared away, I'll probably go ahead and do the Bodies. I haven't yet decided to do just one big release with everything in it, or something like MaleBodyTorsos, MaleBodyArms, MaleBodyLegs, FemaleBodyTorsos, FemaleBodyArms, FemaleBodyLegs, etc. It's that old trade-off between too many options in a menu and too many items in a set.

47 Responses to HM3: That crazy hand-jive

  1. Demented The Clown says:

    So No Arms Nor Legs?

  2. Demented The Clown says:

    Nm My Dyslexia Prevents Me From Reading The Full Post. I Skipped Threw.

  3. Demented The Clown says:

    I Feel Bad For Triple Posting But At Your Too Many Options Problem, Maybe Have A Simple And Advanced Mode? Simple Being Basic Male And Female Only.

  4. TheNate says:

    That elephant hand at the end is really neat. If only we had a piano to go with it.

  5. Jake says:

    Looking great. This will open up many possibilities for me. Can’t wait for the rest of the limbs.

    @TheNate, I’m sure we’ll end up getting a piano or two once he gets around to Musical items.

  6. Tim says:

    The hands look great Jeff! Two thumbs up πŸ˜‰

  7. PsyckoSama says:

    Awesome.

  8. NEON_N64 says:

    Pretty nice work Jeff.

    These items will add a lot of personality to many characters.

  9. DAHstra says:

    Is there a spot on the forum we can leave suggestions and talk about what we’ve tried with your new tool?

  10. Darth_Neko says:

    I was abit dissapointed with no Elastic hands man, I really needed them…. But the giant ‘meatcleavers’ of hands that I can use for my character ‘Hourglass’ kicked ass man! Thanks Jeff!!

  11. The Imp says:

    They’re awesome!

    Hey Jeff, didn’t you say at one point you were going to convert the plated fist over into other other hand positions?

    This, I mean: http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk178/Diamond197207/hmhands.jpg

  12. The Imp says:

    I also noticed what may be a bug/glitch: When placing the Hands/Right/-contest winner robot hand-, as soon as that hand is placed, I was unable to select any other object on the screen; it was locked onto that hand. I had to delete that hand, finish everything else on the character, then re-place the hand.

  13. darkvatican says:

    Ooooh, the new hands look great, Jeff! Thanks for the recent explosion of updates!

  14. Solander says:

    Looks great, excellent job Jeff! Can’t wait for legs.

  15. Ace says:

    They all look Great. Can’t wait t see the other stuff you have planned

  16. Jeff Hebert says:

    Thanks Imp, that bug should be fixed now.

  17. Jeff Hebert says:

    Darth Neko, stretchy limbs will be in the Body (or Arms or Legs or however I do it) sets. There’s no point to putting them in Hands, with the hands attached, it’s much more useful to have the limbs stretched out so you can stick any hand you want onto the end. If you want the hand to look stretchy too, so it looks bigger or squashed or whatever, use Transform for that.

  18. Jeff Hebert says:

    Thanks for the reminder Imp, I’ve added those banded-metal hands to the end of the HandRightStandard set, it’s there now.

  19. Niall Mor says:

    Please, please, pretty please, with whipped cream and a cherry on top: regular, properly proportioned hands for female characters.

  20. Jeff Hebert says:

    Niall, there’s no point to doing those until I get the standard set nailed down. I hate trying to keep track of multiple variations. Once the HandRightStandard is nailed, I’ll have to flip all those over to HandLeft, then I’ll have to redraw all of the items for the female, both left and right. In other words, it’s going to take a while, and I probably won’t start it in the next couple of weeks.

  21. Mr.Vampire says:

    They look great, I’m sure they will all come in handy.

    Sorry, couldn’t help myself.

  22. The Imp says:

    You are the man, Mr. Hebert.

  23. J says:

    What you have is pretty awesome. If you are looking for more to add how bout more weapon types. And while I’m here i would like to ask if you have plans to add any rifles or other firearms besides pistol and tech?

  24. J says:

    sorry for the double post but i would just like to add a bug I just experienced. i was messing around with the guns, looking at them.I had one in place where i wanted it. I clicked on another one that was put right on top of the old one. It froze. i can’t delete it or move it. I managed to delete the one i had originally but the tooltip is still on the preview like i have one there still even though it says 0. Now I can’t add anymore.

  25. Morak says:

    It’s my first comment in this blog! For first i want to thanks you for your great work!

    About the limbs (human or not) i notice that there is some problem with the weapons! In the 2.5 if i put a weapon in the hand teh character “held” it, instead now the weapon are “upper” or “lower” creating a strange effect.

    I hope that i explained decently, i’m not native! πŸ™

    Keep up the good work!

  26. HomicidalClown says:

    That’s a pretty cool set, but still no elemental hands? I mean this is HEROMachine, and it’d be nice to have a Human Torch looking hand or something like that. Something cool to create cryo-, pyro-, or hyrokinetics.

  27. Marx says:

    Hey Jeff, how about a standard human hand that looks like it is holding something bigger than a sword or pistol grip. A hand that could hold something like a book or cell phone or soda can. Actually, can you make it two? Both a front view and a back view?

  28. Jeff Hebert says:

    @Morak (27): In HM3 you use the “Mask” feature (the icon looks like a super-hero domino mask).

    1. First add the hand you want your character to have.
    2. Add the item you want the character to hold.
    3. Click on the item so it’s “current”.
    4. Click on the Mask icon. You’ll notice that the cursor changes from the usual arrow to look like the mask, and that the item selection previews are grayed out with a dialog box over them.
    5. Click on the HAND. The mask icon goes away, and the item should now look like it’s being held in the hand.

    In HM2, the items were drawn with the handles missing, or the trigger guards missing, or some part of it that was to be in the hand erased. Because in HM3 you can move items around and use different-sized hands, that’s not possible. Although this Masking method is less intuitive and takes more steps, it increases the flexibility of the items exponentially.

    Hope that makes sense!

  29. Jeff Hebert says:

    @Marx (29): I have one already like that, the flat hand is masked so that when you put an item in it, the thumb gets hidden. It’s specifically for holding books and other large flat items that you couldn’t grip with your fingers curled around.

  30. Jeff Hebert says:

    @HomicidalClown (28): Use Auras, patterns, and ItemRight/Left-Energy for those kinds of effects.

  31. Jeff Hebert says:

    @J (25 & 26): Yes, rifles and other large firearms are definitely on the to-do list. The bug you described is one of the biggies that need to be addressed, it is aggravating and I apologize for the frustration.

  32. Jeff Hebert says:

    @Imp (24): Nick Furry?! That’s hysterical πŸ™‚

  33. Marx says:

    @Jeff (31) Can you post an example? I can’t get it to work. Perhaps I’m trying to use the wrong “flat hand”.

  34. Jeff Hebert says:

    Grrr, it’s not working. This is why I hate hands. Give me a bit, I have to go in and redraw the mask on that one going only COUNTERCLOCKWISE while I draw it. So annoying. At least I think I finally got the knack down with this latest set, now it’s just going to be fixing all the old ones.

    See, if I’d already converted all this over to the Left Hand and the females, I’d have FOUR things to redo! Laziness RULES!

  35. Demented The Clown says:

    Hurray For Laziness

  36. Demented The Clown says:

    @Jeff I Messaged Your Bug Submission Place Awhile ago But Two Slight Issues Were Never Fixed.

    #1 In Tops > Male Standard > 2nd row down, 2nd item across. It doesn’t seem to be trimmed right and has an area that I usually need to cover with a background piece.

    Pictured here http://i49.tinypic.com/2a6uouo.jpg

    #2 In HandRight > Standard > 3rd row down, 1st item across. The hand appears to be the 1st normal plain hand, when it shouldn’t be, and the coloring doesn’t show on it. But when you mouse over it you can see threw it how it should look, and be colored. Kinda like there is one hand on top of the other.

    Pictured here http://i48.tinypic.com/16iy3nl.jpg

    Pictured here (Moused Over) http://i48.tinypic.com/izq1s3.jpg

    Ty For Your Time -Clown

  37. Jeff Hebert says:

    OK, try those two flat hands now, they should work properly. The palm-down one (second page, second to last item) should mask out the thumb. The palm-out one (second page, last item) should leave the thumb.

  38. Demented The Clown says:

    Sorry The 1st One Is Male Spandex, And Is On The 2nd Page.

  39. Demented The Clown says:

    Just Tested It For U, Works Great Jeff

  40. Jeff Hebert says:

    Thanks for pointing those out, DTC, the pictures showing the exact problems were AWESOME and made for a super-easy fix.

    I’ve corrected that hand in HandRight-Standard and that Top in TopsMaleSpandex, they should be working properly now.

  41. Demented The Clown says:

    Thanx Jeff The Hand Works But The Top Still Looks The Same, Maybe It’ll Take A Sec To Show Up.

  42. Frankie says:

    Stupid question time: About these fifteen hands posted here….Is the first one in the bottom row a bullet fist?

  43. Jeff Hebert says:

    No, it’s a cup like would go on the end of a pirate’s arm in place of an amputated hand. It’s for putting hooks and stuff on.

  44. Worf says:

    Hey Jeff, while you’re in a fixin’ mood, how about those missing female clavicles on the pieced out body?

  45. Jeff Hebert says:

    Sorry Worf, you lost me — what missing clavicles?