daz island: dragon falls

Working in collaboration with MAB, I’ve sculpted a dragon and waterfall for Dragon Falls at DAZ Island.  The head is one sculpted prim, the jaw another and the third is the waterfall.  Each of these maxes at the prim size of 10 meters.  

The shot here is what the dragon looks like in Luxology’s Modo.  The rock cropping can now be designed to work with the dragon.  I am looking to sculpt some of the claws.  I will also sculpt some of the spray and water roiling at the bottom, adding some particle spray there and hopefully at the mouth where the water is spouting outward.  This was truly fun to do and my next assignment involves sculpting a skull, so I’m really getting some good practice in with the sculpting which has become one of my favorite arts in SL.

~elfa and namaste

Bamboo-zled in the store

This is one of my favorite designs because of the asymmetric opening and the sculpted collar.  The pattern ground is bamboo and comes in four earthy pastels: Sap green, seafoam, cinnamon and straw.  It really looks great as a pantsuit and comes with long and short pants as does the skirt; the short skirt is cute on the long pants.  Many of these asian pieces can be mixed and matched as skirts with tops.  The asian hat is sculpted to take advantage of projection painting in my 3D program, Modo, and minimize the distortion you would get if you simply tiled the pattern on a prim.

~elfa and namaste 

dragon empress in the store!

It sometimes amazes me how long a product can take what with uploading and reuploading to check things on an actual moving avatar, and SL glitching with not wanting to upload, not letting me edit, asset servers down, things disappearing from inventory, computers going on the fritz, taking promos, composting, designing, uploading, packaging (and checking everything over and over), getting them into the servers, updating the servers, checking the vendors….whew!  It’s a wonder we get any product in for any possible sales.  Ah, but when it’s in the store, oh, the sigh of relief and held breath of anticipation! Well, the Dragon Empress got in with its color variants of Silver, Gold, a combo of those two, the Cinnabar, Jade, and Silver Lilac with separate gold and silver trims.  The sculpted mandarin collar worked well and the velvet came out very nice (ah, for handmade noise brushes in Photoshop) and the pattern worked very well with all the variants.  I sculpted flowers set in silver on gold ribbons for a bonus pair of hairstick and you have $490L for the sets with $350L for the single colors of gold and silver. 

Next up, I think is Serenity.   Just made the jade earrings and bangle bracelet.

~elfa and namaste 

dragon empress: the final piece for the show

The outfits still need some fine tuning…something that always happens once you bring in your graphics in SL and put them on a morphed and moving avatar.  There is always give and take, but when they end up looking nice, it’s very satisfying.  These pieces, except for the kimono, are very subtle and sophisticated.  The kimono is not completely adherent to the traditional kimono, but more an interpretation of one with the modern-day fantasy elements found in some of the Japanese art of today.  I will shorten the sleeves on this outfit, now that i see it on the avatar.  Also, lines that look straight, tend to jag in SL.  All in all, I think the outfits are all very different and pretty.  It will be a good show.

 

~elfa and namaste

kimono in motion: a work in progress

I love Japanese art and many of the artists today do these wonderful floating fabrics which is what inspired me to do this kimono….the collar, butterfly obi, and sleeves are sculpted.  Sometimes the hardest thing to do, in SL, is to blend between avatar clothing and prim clothing as there is a saturation difference that is not always the same.  Also, the ratio for patterns can be maddening.  I am still working out the fabrics on the kimono, itself, and some of the panel work may change, but I am happy with the pattern on the prim clothing.  I had wanted to do a prim skirt as I hate the SL skirt, but may go with the skirt for this. The hair I am wearing is the new Rechereché from It’s a Mab, Mab Universe, a delightful, elegant updo.  

~elfa and namaste

one more done, two to go

I have a little more work to do on the collar….deciding if I will do a two-tone collar as well.  No matter how you work things out in a modeling program, there is no accounting for the ways that things will work till you get them inworld and then it’s touch this up, change that till you get it right.  It’s sweet when things come together easily.  All in all, the ability to model things gets them closer the first time around.

~elfa and namaste

asia minor delay: the show will go on: bamboozled

 

I had to opt for the April Posé show due to a variety of reasons, but now the outfits are getting closer.  This assymetrical variation on the cheongsam is called Bamboozled and will be available in a few colors including this vernal green offering, topped with a sculpted collar.  Form hugging, the SL skirt is thrown off in favor of pants and a close-paneled skirt.

~elfa and namaste 

elven warrior: another close to checking off to do list

This is an outfit that I started so long ago.  I was finally getting close to finishing and then…wham!…my mirror scripts weren’t working.  They were so hit or miss that I was missing much more than hitting.  I finally put it aside in frustration even though I had a male customer clamoring for this; I just couldn’t do it.  Making the pieces, with cuts and rotations, by hand, was more than I could start to think about.  Finally, about a week ago, my good friend, Pandora Wrigglesworth, a very good scripter, took a look at the scripts and said something that changed everything.  Everything, including the scripts, had to show me as the creator and owner.  That worked.  I finished the armor for my client and have gone on to size it to the female form (skirting is on waist on the male, hips on the female).  Working with my friend, Venovara Ivory (of It’s a Mab, Mab Universe), she made the stacked heel boot foot (which I love in real life) and I sculpted the boot body.  The image shows holder-textures till I texture the boot.  I am also creating the arm bracers, a helmet and an alternate collar.  The outfit contains a full chain maille suit, chest and arm decroated armor and skirting as shown.  The hair I’m wearing is the wonderful Jolie, also by It’s a Mab, Mab Universe.

~elfa and namaste

Texturing continued

The little tiger is just about done as far as textures are concerned.  I am going to try and minimize the texture pinch on the arms.  Back in Modo, I’m trying to create the eye textures that will animate to open and close the eyes and in Second Life, I’m beginning to record the animations.

 

~elfa and namaste 

project underway: altered egos shoulder pet

When I made Fox and my shoulder pet foxes, I knew I would want to make more pets.  We had been dressing up our foxes for a variety of events and it seemed like the perfect way to give these little shoulder pets editorial ability.  There will not only be a variety of animals available, but in different guises to accentuate a personality or an event or say something without the need for words from its owner.The first one I am finishing up is a little tiger.  I’m making this one with my friend, Alex Mensing, in mind, as she is often a Tyghress in SL.  The modeling and textures were both done in Luxology’s Modo.  The jaw was modeled separately so that it can move in the planned animations.  The first part of this was the modeling, but it was the textures I was looking forward to doing as I feel they can impart so much to a model.  To demonstrate, this is the untextured head.

The animations will really be fun.

~elfa and namaste