I just posted a handful of new armors to the HeroMachine 3 Tops-Male-Fantasy-Armor set. The two things in particular I'd like your feedback on are the shading and patterning on this one (uses the 30% shadow integrated into the object, pattern doesn't go on the metal borders or skulls):
And the chainmail effect on this one (chain links are color2), namely, does it work and look good like this or should I do the links throughout the entire shirt:
Thanks! As usual, if you don't see the new items, clear your cache in your browser.
The patterning on the first pic looks good, altho it does still show up on SOME of the grey areas, like the inexplicable nipple rings.
On the chain mail, I’d add the pattern over the entire garment. It’s possible that someone could add a belt or bandoleer or shoulder pieces and end up covering up most of the pattern to the point that it would unrecognizable as chain mail. By putting the pattern over the whole garment, you can layer anything else on top of it and know that the chain mail pattern will still show.
What, you don’t have nipple rings on all your shirts? Weirdo. It’s good that you chose to ignore that ring at the bottom. Even I don’t wanna know what that’s all about …
Good point on the chain shirt. I was sort of using Captain America and Prince Hal as my guides on that, those are usually only showing the links on the shaded side. But the point about them maybe being covered up or whatnot is very persuasive.
pattern on the first looks good to me too. partial patterns in general are a good idea . would be even better if you could assign a pattern to each color (1 and/or 2) – but I guess u know that… 😉
chainmail pattern (yeah,chainmail!) on the second should be throughout in my opinion.
btw the “nipple rings” are even somewhat historical correct (up to a point at least): rings and chains to fasten weapons and/or shields to the armour of a fighter – so they couldn’t be lost in battle – were not uncommon on medieval armour.
@Jeff – Incidentally, could the armor in the first pic be done WITHOUT skulls? Maybe make the skulls an insignia item or something that can be layered on by the user? I could totally see using a breastplate like that on a Paladin character if it didn’t have the “death motif”.
I agree with having the entire pattern on the chain mail.
Personally I think the nipple rings add character. 🙂 It might be good to make them optional though for those of us who are a little less flamboyant.
I think the first one is fine the way it is. I would do chain mail pattern over the entire second one.
I agree with Marx on the skulls. If not insignia, maybe as pieces alone. A good idea would be to have more the just the skulls as options, any number of animal heads, dragon heads and what not would be very cool. Have them like neckwear so they can be applied to any of the armor.
The new skull with chains across the chest is great!
I like Marx’s idea about making the skulls on the first breastplate an insignia as well. It would make that breastplate incredibly flexible.
You can use any of the items in any of the Head sets — which includes a huge variety of animals — on any armor you like. Or anything else. That’s the beauty of Multiples, moving, and scaling 🙂
But yes, I can do a version of that without the skulls and nipple rings, the basic breastplate with the shoulder pads attached I think would be a popular item.
I say the links should go throughout the whole piece. It’s helpful to have a basic chainmail shirt without needing to use Patterns.
I like what you have for the first one, but I agree that none of the gray should have the pattern applied to it. That looks awkward.
Chain mail pattern throughout, please. That was always something that bugged me about the chain mail in HM2.5. It didn’t look realistic simply because of that detail.
I’m loving the stuff you are adding. I especially like the breast plate that is in the shape of a corrupted skull. Great job.
After looking at all of the rest of the armor, I think you should try to do what you did to the one at the top of the page to all of the similar armor. They would look a lot better that way.
All righty, just posted another mini-update with two (count ’em TWO!) different full-shirt chain mail treatments, one that’s in a more realistic, interlocked ring pattern and one that’s the more modern accepted iconography of the scooped-out flat “c” type shapes.
Also included the nipple-ring-less, no-skull breastplate per request.
I went back through looking at the other armors and trying them out on a basic body, and I think Mark’s observation is basically correct — making these match all the other stuff already in there is going to be tough if I do too much shading. I think it looks great, but overdone it’s going to ruin the overall effectiveness of the program. So I’ll continue using it, but judiciously, and only where it makes sense, rather than as a general “in every case” thing.
I Like both chain mail shirts, now hopeful further updates will include long sleeved versions of them 😀
@Kaldath – Or better yet, separate sleeve pieces that can positioned individually like the coat sleeves.
Nice, I like the new items 🙂
The partial pattering in the first example looks great, and I also like the shading (but I also agree that the shading wouldn’t work on EVERY item).
I prefer the chain mail with the c shaped pattern, the other pattern looks too symmetrical and straight in the thorax area (and that makes it look less realistic).
I keep equivocating on the whole “separate the sleeves” issue. It’s a lot of extra work, and it intimidates all but the hard-core users, and frankly limits the number of full items I can put in there. I’m considering just making a “Sleeves” set or something.
@Jeff – a sleeves set would be PERFECT… as long as there are enough sleeveless tops to use them with 😉 Honestly, you can probably get by with about a half dozen different sleeve styles that could be mix/matched with any sleeveless top.
A “Sleeves” set sounds great to me.
In general, I just love to have items separated into smaller parts, but I have to admit that the added complexity can be inconvenient for beginners.
Lots of good stuff from the Hebster!
@Jeff: Sleeves section would be awesome. A few days ago I was looking all over for the sleeves because I knew they were there but, it took me a long time to find and there were no female sleeves. One project at a time though. Would love seeing a sleeve section.
Jeff,
Here’s an idea. Could you make some armor exclusive to the arms? Cause we have some great breastplates, we have gloves, which can cover forearms, but nothing for covering up elbows and arms separately. Unless we use the breastplates which already come with these parts. What do you think? Same goes for thighs.
Dazed_and_Confused idea of greaves and vambraces is kind of cool. You can make some if you’re creative but I’d never say no to more options. 😉
I agree with Kaldath but I was thinking more along the lines of chainmail sleeve parts like the sleeve parts you did with the coats. Many suits of armor have chainmail where it was to expensive to put plate.
God may bless the mask-option. It makes the MaleFantasyArmor fitting to the female bodies:
http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=gxmAYWJ
http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=aVFr79J
Speaking of patterns, how about adding a generic chain mail pattern?
Finarfin (#26): Nice job on those, excellent proof of concept!
Recently I’ve seen that not all pictures from the zombie-edition were inserted into the HM3. Especially clothes, items an body-parts are missing.
I just want to remember these elements …
http://www.postimage.org/image.php?v=Pq30j60
I have to second Finarfin’s request here…
As PsycoSama suggested perhpas a chainmail pattern would be handy. You don’t have to use it on the armor directly but use some of the backgound shapes and layer them on top of the armor. This way you can have the hint of mail in the right spot. If your belt is covering it up,..move the mail spot.
Which does bring me to a point, it would be nice to be able to have a little more control over some shapes, than just xy and skew. or just adjust the 3 points of the triangle, 4 of a circle. ect. What about a Bezier shape tool, no.. I am asking too much 🙂
Any plans to add female jackets?
Eventually there will be female versions of everything where it’s appropriate, yes. That includes Coats.