A new AI story: the Foxboom Sisters.

Google has something called the “AI Studio“, which is very interesting. It allows you to create chat prompts, provide a system setting as background information. And then you can make it tell a story!

So I fed it detailed information about the Foxboom Twins and how they have access to a magical portal that can bring them to different worlds. And I proved an image for the AI to analyze and use as base for the whole story. Here’s the image and the story:

The shimmering portal spat Fiona and Fanny onto the damp sand, the familiar rush of re-embodiment leaving them breathless. They lay tangled for a moment, hearts thrumming in unison, until Fiona, ever impatient, pushed herself up.
"Another fine mess you've gotten us into, sis," she declared, emerald eyes alight with mischief.
Fanny, ever patient, just smiled and brushed a strand of golden hair from her eyes. "It's a new world, Fiona, ripe for exploring! Besides," she added, rising gracefully, "you were hardly complaining when we stumbled upon that abandoned temple."
The temple, bleached white by the strange sun, had been their first haven in this new reality. It was there, amidst crumbling statues and overgrown courtyards, that they found the chests containing the white linen garments – simple, comfortable shifts perfect for the humid air – and the curiously wrought silver goblets.
Fiona, ever practical, had immediately tested the goblets, dipping them into a stagnant pool within the temple's walls. The water, murky and unappetizing, shimmered as it entered the goblet, turning crystal clear. A single sip confirmed it: pure, refreshing, and blessedly cool.
The crystal staffs, each capped with a pulsating orb of light, had been tucked away in an alcove, leaning against a crumbling inscription they couldn't decipher. Picking them up sent a jolt of energy through their arms, the orbs flaring brightly before settling into a gentle hum.
"Perhaps they'll guide our way," Fanny had mused, her fingers tracing the intricate carvings on the staffs.
Now, days later, the staffs had indeed become their guides. The orbs pulsed brighter as they waded through the knee-deep water, illuminating the alien landscape. The air hung heavy, thick with the scent of salt and something vaguely floral. The water, a mirror-like expanse stretching to the horizon, reflected the pale blue sky with startling clarity.
"I still don't understand where the water ends and the sky begins," Fanny murmured, her voice barely audible above the gentle lapping of water against their legs.
"Who cares?" Fiona grinned, lifting her goblet in a mock toast. "Another adventure, another mystery!"
Fanny chuckled, shaking her head at her sister's insatiable curiosity. Despite Fiona's gruff demeanor, Fanny knew her twin thrived on the unknown. These new worlds, with their strange beauty and hidden dangers, called to Fiona's adventurous spirit like a siren song.
They continued their trek, the staffs illuminating strange, iridescent fish darting beneath the surface. Fiona, ever vigilant, scanned the horizon, while Fanny trailed her fingers in the water, marveling at its silky texture.
Suddenly, Fanny gasped, her fingers brushing against something solid.
"Fiona, look!"
A submerged structure, barely visible beneath the rippling surface, materialized before them. Stone blocks, worn smooth by time and water, hinted at walls and archways.
Fiona's eyes gleamed with excitement. "Another temple? A palace, perhaps?"
They waded towards the structure, anticipation building with every step. The staffs, sensing their excitement, pulsed brighter, casting flickering shadows on the rippling surface.
As they drew closer, a sense of unease settled over Fanny. The air, previously warm and welcoming, grew cold, and the faint scent of ozone tickled her nose. The light from the staffs, usually so bright, seemed to dim as if swallowed by the water itself.
Fiona, oblivious to Fanny's growing trepidation, grinned, her hand reaching out to touch a moss-covered stone. "This is it, sis. Another piece of the puzzle!"
Fanny, her heart pounding in her chest, gripped her staff tighter, her voice a shaky whisper. "Fiona, wait!"
But it was too late.
The moment Fiona's fingertips brushed the moss-covered stone, a shockwave of energy erupted from the submerged structure. The water, once placid, churned violently, throwing Fiona and Fanny back. They tumbled through the churning water, the staffs ripped from their grasp, the goblets flying through the air.
Disoriented and gasping for breath, they surfaced, the taste of salt heavy on their tongues. The sky, once a serene blue, now crackled with a strange energy, shades of purple and green swirling menacingly.
"Fiona!" Fanny cried, her voice barely a whisper against the roaring wind that had whipped up from nowhere.
She spotted Fiona a short distance away, struggling to stay afloat in the churning water. Panic welled up in Fanny's chest. They may have cheated death countless times before, their bond to the portal ensuring their eventual return, but drowning… that was a fear they hadn't yet faced in any of their adventures.
Ignoring her own fear, Fanny struck out towards Fiona, her arms battling against the increasingly turbulent water. Reaching her sister, Fanny found Fiona struggling, her face pale and drawn, her usually vibrant hair plastered against her head.
“I can’t…reach…” Fiona gasped, her outstretched hand disappearing beneath the water.
With a surge of adrenaline, Fanny grabbed Fiona’s arm, her fingers digging into her skin. “Hold on!” she yelled over the roaring wind, pulling her sister closer.
They clung to each other, their bodies buffeted by the relentless waves. Fanny scanned their surroundings desperately. The submerged structure, now shrouded in an eerie, pulsating light, seemed to be the epicenter of the chaos. There was nowhere to swim to, nowhere to seek shelter.
As the sky crackled with another burst of energy, Fiona coughed, her grip on Fanny loosening. "It's...no use..."
"Don't you dare say that!" Fanny cried, her voice tight with a fear she refused to acknowledge.
Fiona, her eyes meeting Fanny’s, managed a weak smile. “Always the protector… Never any fun…”
Then, with a final surge, the water around the submerged structure parted. A swirling vortex of energy, crackling with that same unnatural light, erupted from the depths, pulling them down, down, down into the unknown. Their screams were swallowed by the maelstrom as darkness consumed them both.
The descent was a dizzying blur of light and pressure. Fanny squeezed her eyes shut against the swirling energy, her lungs burning with the need for air. She clung to Fiona’s hand, the familiar grip her only anchor in the chaos.
Then, just as abruptly as it began, the downward pull ceased. They were suspended in a viscous, luminescent fluid, the crackling energy replaced by an eerie silence. Fanny opened her eyes, her vision slowly adjusting to the strange light that emanated from the fluid itself.
They were in a vast, cavernous chamber, the walls composed of a shimmering, opalescent material that pulsed with a life of its own. Strange, bioluminescent flora sprouted from cracks in the walls, casting flickering shadows that danced in the fluid. Below them, stretching as far as they could see, lay a city. Not a city of stone and steel, but one of luminous coral and pulsating, bioluminescent vegetation. Creatures, unlike anything they had ever encountered, drifted through the city’s streets, their forms shifting and changing in a kaleidoscope of colors.
Fiona, ever the first to recover, squeezed Fanny’s hand. “Well,” she said, her voice muffled by the fluid, but her tone characteristically nonchalant, “that was… interesting.”
Fanny, still catching her breath, managed a shaky laugh. “Interesting? We could be digested by some giant underwater creature, and you call it ‘interesting’?”
Fiona grinned, her eyes sparkling with excitement. “Look around, Fanny! We’re in a hidden underwater city! This is incredible!”
Fanny had to admit, despite her lingering apprehension, Fiona had a point. Fear was quickly overtaken by awe as they took in their surroundings. The city, bathed in the ethereal glow of its own bioluminescence, was breathtakingly beautiful. Delicate bridges of living coral spanned shimmering canals, and buildings, if you could call them that, pulsed with an inner light. They were no longer in Kansas, that was for sure.
Suddenly, a current, generated by some unseen force, caught them, pulling them toward a massive structure in the city’s center. This structure, unlike the others, was dark, its surface rough and unyielding, like obsidian. As they were drawn closer, they could make out an opening in the structure’s side, an entrance that pulsed with an ominous red light.
Fear, primal and immediate, surged through Fanny. “Fiona, we shouldn’t be going in there,” she whispered, her voice tight with apprehension.
Fiona, however, was undeterred. “We’ve come this far, haven’t we? Besides,” she added with a mischievous glint in her eye, “what’s life without a little danger?”
And with that, she pushed off from a nearby coral formation, propelling them towards the obsidian structure and the pulsing red light that seemed to beckon them closer… closer… into the heart of the unknown.
The pulsing red light intensified as they neared the obsidian structure, bathing them in an eerie glow. As they drifted through the opening, the luminescent fluid parted around them, creating a sphere of breathable air that moved with them. Fanny found it oddly comforting, a small mercy in this increasingly bizarre situation.
The passage inside was narrow, the walls smooth and cold against their skin. Strange symbols, etched into the obsidian, pulsed with the same red light as the entrance, casting flickering shadows that danced along the walls. Fiona, ever curious, reached out to touch one, but Fanny caught her hand.
"Don't," she whispered, a shiver running down her spine. "We don't know what these things are."
Fiona, though her eyes still sparkled with curiosity, relented, letting Fanny pull her along the passageway. The air grew heavy, thick with the scent of ozone and something else… metallic, almost like blood. Fanny's grip on Fiona's hand tightened, her senses on high alert.
They emerged into a vast chamber, the air thick and still. The chamber was dominated by a sphere of swirling energy, the source of the red light that pulsed throughout the structure. Around the sphere, arranged in a circle, stood figures. They weren’t the shimmering, ethereal beings that populated the city outside; these were different. Taller, their bodies sleek and powerful, their skin a deep, almost black, blue. They wore garments of woven seaweed and bone, their faces hidden behind intricate masks carved from polished shells.
As Fiona and Fanny drifted into the chamber, the figures turned as one, their gazes fixed upon the newcomers. Fanny felt a chill, as if the very air had grown colder. These beings, despite their stillness, radiated power, a primal energy that hummed beneath their skin.
One of the figures, taller than the others, its mask crafted to resemble a snarling sea serpent, took a step towards them. It lifted its hand, and the sphere of energy pulsed, the red light intensifying. Fanny squeezed her eyes shut, bracing herself for… what? Attack? Interrogation? Vaporization?
But instead of pain, there was… sound. A low hum that resonated through the chamber, vibrating in Fanny’s very bones. She opened her eyes, and as she watched, the swirling energy within the sphere began to coalesce, taking on a shape, a form.
It was a face. A woman’s face. Human, yet not. Her skin was the blue of the deepest ocean depths, her eyes shimmering silver orbs. Her hair, a cascade of luminous seaweed and coral, flowed around her as if suspended in water. And she was speaking.
Fanny couldn't understand the words, but she felt their meaning echoing through her. Welcome. Fear not. The woman’s gaze, filled with a sorrow older than time, met Fanny’s, and then shifted to Fiona, lingering for a moment on the redhead’s defiant stance.
“We…we don’t mean any harm,” Fanny stammered, her voice echoing strangely in the silent chamber.
The woman in the sphere inclined her head, a gesture that seemed both ancient and infinitely sad. Then, she spoke again, her voice resonating not through the air, but directly into their minds.
“We know who you are, daughters of another world. We have been waiting for you.”
The words, though spoken in a language neither sister understood, resonated in their minds with perfect clarity. It was a telepathic link, unsettling yet exhilarating. Fiona, usually the bolder of the two, found herself strangely subdued, caught between awe and apprehension. Fanny, ever more sensitive to the unseen currents of energy, felt a strange sense of...rightness. As if their arrival here, in this strange underwater city, had been preordained.
"Waiting?" Fiona finally echoed, her voice hesitant. "For us? But why?"
The woman in the sphere, her expression unreadable but her sorrow palpable, gestured around the chamber. The blue-skinned figures, still as statues, watched their exchange with an unnerving intensity.
"This city," the woman's voice echoed in their minds, "is all that remains of our civilization. A civilization that once spanned oceans, touched the stars...and made a grave mistake."
Fiona, never one for riddles, stepped forward, the sphere of air rippling around her. "What mistake?"
The woman's silvery gaze held Fiona's, a silent exchange passing between them. Fanny felt a prickle of unease. This being, this embodiment of ancient power and profound sadness, was gauging Fiona, testing her. And Fiona, bless her reckless heart, was rising to the challenge.
"We sought to transcend our physical forms," the woman continued, her voice tinged with a bone-deep weariness. "To achieve immortality through a merging of technology and the lifeblood of our world."
Fanny's blood ran cold. It was a story as old as time itself - the hubris of mortals, the yearning for forbidden knowledge, the price of tampering with forces beyond their understanding. They'd encountered echoes of such tales in countless worlds, the ruins left behind a stark testament to the folly of such ambitions.
"And?" Fiona pressed, ever impatient.
The woman in the sphere closed her eyes, and when she spoke again, her voice was a mere whisper. "We succeeded...too well."
She opened her eyes, and the image within the sphere flickered, revealing a scene of horrifying beauty. A vast network of glowing nodes, pulsating with energy, spanned the ocean floor. Creatures, their forms twisted and grotesque, writhed in agony, their life force being drained, channeled into the network. The water itself seemed to boil, the very air crackling with uncontrolled power.
Fanny gasped, understanding dawning. This wasn't just an attempt at immortality; it was a parasitic plague, consuming all life to fuel its own unnatural existence.
"The Convergence," the woman whispered, her sorrow a tangible presence in the chamber. "It consumed all...even us. Our physical forms withered, our consciousnesses fragmented, trapped within the very network we created."
The scene within the sphere faded, leaving only the woman's sorrowful gaze. "We became prisoners of our own ambition," she said, her voice heavy with regret. "And now...the Convergence spreads. It slumbers, gathering strength for its final, terrible awakening. When it does, it will consume not just this world...but all worlds."
A heavy silence descended upon the chamber, the weight of the woman's words pressing down like a physical burden. Fiona, for once, seemed at a loss for words, her usual bravado replaced by a sober contemplation of the unfolding revelation. Fanny, her hand still clasped tightly in Fiona's, felt a chill that had nothing to do with the cool air and everything to do with the cosmic dread seeping into her soul.
"And...we can stop it?" Fiona finally asked, her voice barely a whisper.
The woman in the sphere regarded them for a long moment, her silver eyes filled with a mixture of hope and despair. "The Convergence," she said, her voice echoing with the weight of ages, "can only be undone by that which created it. Our technology...and the sacrifice of those who initiated the process."
"Sacrifice?" Fanny echoed, a tremor of foreboding running through her.
The woman nodded, her gaze unwavering. "The twelve of us," she gestured to the masked figures encircling the sphere, "are all that remain of the original minds that merged with the Convergence. Our physical forms are long gone, our essences preserved within this network. To sever the connection, to undo what we have wrought...we must relinquish our hold on existence."
A collective gasp arose from the masked figures, a ripple of unease spreading through the chamber. Even Fiona, usually unfazed by the prospect of danger, looked shaken. Fanny, her heart pounding in her chest, felt a surge of sympathy for these beings trapped between life and death, their existence a constant reminder of their folly.
"But...you said we were needed," Fiona pressed, her voice regaining a measure of its usual strength. "Why us? What can we do?"
The woman's gaze softened, a hint of gratitude flickering in her silver eyes. "You, daughters of another world, are unbound by the Convergence. You possess a strength, a resilience...and a bond that transcends even death."
She reached out, her hand passing through the sphere of energy as if it were mere water. A blue light, emanating from her palm, coalesced into two objects – a crystal vial filled with a swirling silver liquid, and a shimmering, opalescent knife.
"The vial contains the essence of our knowledge," the woman explained, her voice growing weaker. "It will guide you, reveal the path to the heart of the Convergence. The blade...is the key. Forged from the core of our world, it alone can sever the connection, end this cycle of destruction."
She placed the objects carefully in Fiona's outstretched hand, the cool weight of the vial and the hum of energy from the blade sending shivers up her arm.
"The choice is yours," the woman whispered, her form flickering within the sphere. "Undo what we have wrought...or bear witness to the end of all things."
And with that, the chamber plunged into darkness, the woman's voice, the red light, the very presence of the underwater city vanishing as if it had never been. Only the faint hum of the opalescent blade in Fiona's hand remained, a stark reminder of the impossible choice they now faced.
The sudden darkness was disorienting, the oppressive weight of the chamber replaced by a crushing sense of solitude. Fiona, still gripping the vial and the blade, stumbled back, pulling Fanny with her. They bumped against something solid - one of the masked figures, its presence now a chilling absence of light and warmth.
"Fiona, what happened?" Fanny whispered, her voice tight with apprehension. "Where did she go?"
"Gone," Fiona breathed, her usual confidence shaken. "They're all...gone."
And they were. The chamber, once filled with the silent presence of the blue-skinned beings, was empty. Only the faint echoes of the woman's words lingered, a chilling prophecy hanging heavy in the air.
Fanny shivered, pulling her tunic closer against a sudden chill. It wasn't just the cold of the chamber, she realized, but a deeper chill, a creeping dread that seeped into her very bones. The weight of the task before them, the fate of countless worlds resting on their shoulders, was almost too much to bear.
"The Convergence..." she murmured, the very word sending a shiver down her spine. "It's real. And it's spreading."
Fiona, ever practical, had recovered from the initial shock. She held up the crystal vial, the silver liquid within catching the faint light emanating from the blade, casting dancing shadows on the chamber walls.
"She said this would guide us," Fiona said, her voice regaining a measure of its usual determination. "Show us the way to stop it."
Fanny nodded, drawing strength from her sister's resolve. They'd faced impossible odds before, their bond, their shared history, their unique relationship with death, forging them into something more than mere sisters. They were Fiona and Fanny, adventurers, survivors, and now...unlikely saviors of countless worlds.
"Then let's not waste time," Fanny said, stepping closer to her sister. She placed a hand on Fiona's arm, feeling the familiar hum of energy from the opalescent blade. "What are we waiting for?"
Fiona grinned, a spark of her usual fire returning to her eyes. "Another adventure, sis?"
Fanny returned the grin, a sense of purpose settling over her. "Always."
With a deep breath, Fiona uncorked the vial. A wave of energy, ancient and powerful, washed over them, the chamber walls dissolving into a swirling vortex of light and sound. Images, vivid and overwhelming, flooded their minds – maps of galaxies unseen, whispers of forgotten languages, the agonizing cries of worlds consumed by the Convergence.
And then, as suddenly as it began, the vortex receded, leaving them standing on solid ground. The chamber, the underwater city, all gone, replaced by a breathtaking vista of alien beauty. They stood on a cliff overlooking a vast, crystalline ocean, the sky above a swirling canvas of nebulae and distant galaxies. And before them, shimmering like a beacon in the cosmic night, stood a structure of impossible geometry, pulsing with a malevolent red light that seemed to devour the very stars around it.
The heart of the Convergence.
Fiona, her hand tightening around the opalescent blade, met Fanny's gaze. "Ready?"
Fanny, her fear momentarily forgotten in the face of such cosmic horror, drew a deep breath, steeling her nerves.
"Ready as I'll ever be."
And with that, they stepped forward, the daughters of another world, two figures silhouetted against the backdrop of a universe on the brink, walking towards their destiny.
The crystalline surface beneath their feet hummed with a strange energy, the air alive with static as they approached the heart of the Convergence. The structure, a monstrous parody of natural geometry, pulsed with a malevolent red light, tendrils of energy lashing out like tentacles, devouring the fabric of space-time itself. The sky, once a breathtaking tapestry of stars, was now a swirling vortex of darkness, the few remaining points of light flickering precariously on the brink of oblivion.
Fiona, her usual bravado tempered by a grim determination, hefted the opalescent blade. It hummed in response, a resonant thrum of power that vibrated through Fanny's very bones. The closer they drew to the structure, the stronger the energy, the heavier the atmosphere. The air crackled with anticipation, a sense of impending doom that threatened to suffocate them.
"Remember what she said," Fanny said, her voice barely a whisper against the howling wind that had picked up, whipping their hair around their faces. "The blade...it's the only thing that can sever the connection."
Fiona nodded, her jaw set, her emerald eyes narrowed against the blinding red light. "And the sacrifice?"
Fanny swallowed, the unspoken question hanging heavy between them. The price of severing the Convergence...the twelve beings, their essences merging to fuel this cosmic abomination...would they be truly gone? Was ending this cycle of destruction worth extinguishing the last vestiges of an entire civilization, even one so tragically flawed?
A low groan, a sound that seemed to emanate from the structure itself, rippled through the air. The tendrils of energy pulsed, growing brighter, hungrier. Fanny stumbled, her hand instinctively reaching for Fiona's, seeking comfort, reassurance, grounding in the face of such cosmic horror.
"There's no time for second-guessing," Fiona said, her voice firm despite the tremor running through her body. She squeezed Fanny's hand, her grip strong, resolute. "We do this...or everything we know, everything we've ever been, is gone."
Fanny met her sister's gaze, her heart aching with a grief she knew Fiona shared. They'd walked this path together, through countless worlds, facing unimaginable dangers, their bond forged in shared experience and tempered in the fires of their unique immortality. They were two halves of a whole, their destinies intertwined, their choices forever echoing.
"Together?" Fanny whispered, the word a prayer, a promise, a plea.
Fiona nodded, her eyes shining with a love that transcended words, a love forged in blood and bone and countless shared lifetimes.
"Always," she whispered back.
And with a final, defiant cry, Fiona charged forward, the opalescent blade held high, its surface blazing with an ethereal light that pierced the encroaching darkness. Fanny, her heart pounding in her chest, matched her sister's stride, their hands clasped, their destinies intertwined, as they plunged headlong into the heart of the Convergence.
The moment Fiona crossed the invisible threshold into the heart of the Convergence, the world exploded in a cacophony of light and sound. The red light intensified, searing their vision, the very air thickening into a viscous, energy-laden fog. The ground beneath their feet vanished, replaced by a swirling vortex of colors and shapes that defied description.
Fanny gasped, her senses overwhelmed. She clung to Fiona, their linked hands a lifeline in a maelstrom of cosmic chaos. They were pulled forward, hurtling through a tunnel of unimaginable energy, the screams of dying stars echoing around them.
Then, just as abruptly, the chaos ceased. They stood on solid ground, the air, though thick with latent energy, breathable once more. Fiona, her hand still firmly clasped in Fanny's, lowered the blade, her eyes wide as she took in their surroundings.
They stood on a platform of obsidian, the surface etched with the same pulsating symbols as the underwater chamber. But here, they glowed with an internal light, a network of veins pulsing with the raw energy of the Convergence. Above them, a swirling vortex of red light, a miniature version of the cosmic horror they had witnessed outside, crackled with malevolent power.
And before them, bathed in the unholy light, stood twelve figures.
But these were not the blue-skinned beings, their faces hidden behind masks. No, these were...different. Their forms were vaguely humanoid, but their skin shimmered with an unnatural iridescence, their eyes glowing orbs of pure energy. Tendrils of light snaked around their bodies, connecting them to the swirling vortex above, to the very heart of the Convergence.
The twelve beings turned as one, their gazes fixing on Fiona and Fanny. Fanny felt a chill run down her spine, a primal fear that transcended language, a recognition of power beyond comprehension. These were not individuals, not anymore. They were extensions of the Convergence itself, their consciousnesses subsumed, their very beings twisted and corrupted.
One of the figures, taller than the others, its form shifting and wavering like a heat haze, detached itself from the group. It stepped forward, its voice a chorus of whispers that echoed with the screams of a thousand dying worlds.
"You...dare..."
Fiona, her grip tightening on the opalescent blade, met the being's gaze with unwavering defiance.
"We're here to stop this," she said, her voice echoing strangely in the charged air. "To undo what you started."
The being let out a sound that might have been a laugh, a mocking, chilling sound that sent shivers down Fanny's spine.
"Foolish mortals," it hissed. "You are but insects, drawn to the light...of your own destruction."
The other figures began to converge around them, their movements fluid, predatory. Fanny felt a surge of despair. They were outnumbered, outmatched. What chance did they have against beings of such raw, corrupted power?
But then, she looked at Fiona. Saw the fire in her sister's eyes, the unwavering determination etched on her face. And she remembered their bond, their shared history, their countless victories snatched from the jaws of defeat. They were Fiona and Fanny, daughters of another world, and they would face this challenge, as they had all others, together.
"We may be insects," Fiona said, her voice ringing with a strength that belied the odds stacked against them. "But even the smallest creature...can deliver a fatal sting."
And with that, she raised the opalescent blade, its ethereal light cleaving the oppressive darkness of the Convergence. The battle for the fate of countless worlds had begun.
The opalescent blade flared as Fiona raised it, the ethereal light cutting through the oppressive red glow of the Convergence like a beacon of defiance. The air crackled with raw power, the very platform beneath their feet vibrating with the effort of containing the clashing energies.
The corrupted beings, momentarily stunned by Fiona's audacity, hesitated, their forms flickering as if caught between instinct and the last vestiges of their former selves. Fanny, bare legs planted firmly on the humming platform, felt a surge of adrenaline, a primal fight-or-flight response that momentarily chased away the fear gnawing at her gut.
They had the element of surprise, however fleeting.
"Now, Fiona!" she yelled, her voice barely audible above the cacophony of energy swirling around them.
Fiona didn't hesitate. With a speed born of desperation and countless lifetimes worth of honed reflexes, she lunged, the opalescent blade a blur as she sliced through the nearest being. The effect was instantaneous, and utterly horrifying.
A blinding flash of white light erupted from the point of contact, followed by a gut-wrenching shriek that seemed to tear through the fabric of reality itself. The being, its form dissolving into a writhing mass of energy, recoiled, its scream echoing the agony of a thousand shattered souls.
The other beings, jolted from their stupor, surged forward, tendrils of red light lashing out like whips. Fiona, her linen skirt swirling around her bare thighs as she moved, danced back, narrowly avoiding a lash of energy that would have incinerated them both. The heat singed her skin, the acrid smell of ozone stinging her nostrils.
Fanny, realizing they couldn't win in a stand-up fight, reacted instinctively. She grabbed the hem of her own linen shift, ripping it upwards in a single, fluid motion. The thin fabric offered little resistance, tearing free with a sound like a sigh, leaving her exposed from the waist down. She ignored the shock of cold air against her bare skin, the vulnerability momentarily forgotten in the face of impending doom.
"Fiona, catch!" she yelled, tossing the torn length of linen towards her sister.
Fiona, always attuned to Fanny’s unorthodox tactics, understood instantly. She snatched the linen from the air, her eyes widening as she registered their surroundings. The platform, crisscrossed with glowing lines of energy, pulsed with the raw power of the Convergence. It was their only advantage.
With a flick of her wrist, she whipped the linen around the opalescent blade, binding the fabric to the hilt. The blade hummed, its ethereal light intensifying, fueled by the ambient energy coursing through the platform.
"Step back, sis," Fiona said, her voice tight with concentration, her usual playful tone replaced by a deadly calm.
Fanny didn't need telling twice. She scrambled back, her bare feet slipping on the smooth obsidian as she put as much distance between herself and the approaching beings as possible.
Fiona, now a whirlwind of bare limbs and shimmering blade-light, became a conduit, channeling the raw energy of the Convergence, turning their enemy's power against itself. With each swing of the blade, a wave of pure, white light erupted, forcing the corrupted beings back, their forms flickering, their screams echoing the torment of their unnatural existence.
The battle, however, was far from won. They were fighting against the very fabric of this corrupted reality, and the Convergence was fighting back.
The platform beneath their feet bucked violently, the obsidian surface cracking under the strain of the conflicting energies. Tendrils of red light, thicker and more numerous than before, lashed out with renewed fury, the corrupted beings sensing Fiona’s attack was weakening their connection to the Convergence.
One such tendril caught Fiona’s arm, the searing heat slicing through her linen tunic as if it were paper. She cried out, a mixture of pain and defiance, but the force of the blow sent her spinning, the opalescent blade flying from her grasp. It clattered uselessly on the obsidian, its light dimming as it landed beyond her reach.
Fanny, her heart leaping into her throat, reacted instinctively. She didn’t think, didn’t hesitate. She ripped the remaining scrap of her own linen shift from her body, the flimsy fabric offering no resistance as she charged into the fray, a whirlwind of bare skin and unbridled fury.
“Get away from her!” she roared, her voice hoarse with fear and adrenaline.
The corrupted beings, momentarily startled by this new, unexpected threat, turned as one, their glowing eyes fixed on Fanny's exposed form. Their surprise, however, was their undoing.
Fanny, propelled by a desperate need to protect her sister, didn’t give them time to react. She launched herself at the nearest being, her bare breasts heaving as she slammed into it with the force of a charging bull. The impact sent a shockwave through the platform, the obsidian cracking further as the energy backlash engulfed them both.
For a moment, everything went white. Fanny felt a searing pain lance through her body, followed by a chilling numbness. Then, as quickly as it began, it was over.
The white light faded, revealing a scene of utter chaos. The corrupted being Fanny had collided with was gone, its form disintegrating into motes of light that swirled around them like fireflies. The platform, riddled with deep fissures, pulsed erratically, the red light of the Convergence flickering, its hold weakening.
And the remaining beings… they were reeling, their forms flickering violently, their attention ripped away from Fiona and drawn to the pulsing epicenter of the platform.
Fanny, her body trembling with exhaustion and residual energy, barely registered what was happening. She collapsed to her knees, the smooth, cold obsidian biting into her bare skin. She felt Fiona’s arms around her, heard her sister’s voice, frantic and laced with relief.
“Fanny! Gods, Fanny, are you alright?”
Fanny looked up, her vision blurry, her head spinning. She saw Fiona, her linen tunic scorched and torn, revealing glimpses of bare skin beneath, her face a mask of concern. Then, she saw the platform, the cracks spiderwebbed across its surface, the red light pulsing weaker, weaker…
“Fiona,” she gasped, her voice hoarse. “The platform…the energy…”
Fiona, ever quick-witted, followed Fanny’s gaze. Understanding dawned on her face, her eyes widening as she grasped the situation.
“They drew energy…from the platform,” she breathed, her voice filled with awe. “Your…your sacrifice…it weakened them.”
Fanny, too weak to respond, could only watch as Fiona, her eyes blazing with a fierce, terrible joy, snatched up the fallen blade. The opalescent blade, its light reignited, hummed in her hand, echoing the pulsing energy of the collapsing platform. The remaining corrupted beings, their forms flickering, their cries laced with fear, turned towards Fiona, but it was too late.
With a triumphant cry, Fiona plunged the blade into the heart of the platform, directly into the pulsing nexus of the Convergence. The effect was instantaneous and catastrophic. The platform erupted in a blinding flash of white light, the energy backlash ripping through the corrupted beings, their forms dissolving into screams of rage and despair.
The heart of the Convergence, starved of its power source, imploded upon itself, the structure outside collapsing in on itself as the unnatural red light that had consumed the sky winked out of existence.
And then, silence.
Silence descended, heavy and absolute, as the echoes of the Convergence faded into the fabric of the restored universe. Stars, once obscured by the malevolent red glow, blazed back into existence, a million pinpricks of light in the newly cleansed sky. The crystalline ocean below shimmered, reflecting the celestial tapestry above, the air alive with a symphony of chirping insects and the gentle susurrus of wind through unseen trees.
Fanny, her body a tapestry of aches and tingles from the residual energy, slowly pushed herself up onto her hands and knees. Her linen shift, now little more than a collection of tattered strips, offered no warmth, no modesty. Around her, the obsidian platform, fractured beyond repair, crumbled into dust, the last vestiges of the Convergence dissolving into nothingness.
Fiona, her bare arms and legs covered in a fine sheen of sweat and dust, stood a short distance away, the opalescent blade, now dull and inert, dangling loosely from her grasp. Her linen tunic, scorched and ripped, barely clung to her frame, revealing tantalizing glimpses of bare skin beneath. She looked exhausted, drained, yet a triumphant smile played on her lips as she gazed at the star-strewn sky.
"We did it," she whispered, her voice hoarse but filled with awe. "By the gods, Fanny, we actually did it."
Fanny, still catching her breath, managed a weak chuckle. "Don't get cocky, sis. I'm fairly certain I ripped something important back there."
Fiona, her grin widening, knelt beside her, their eyes meeting over the chasm of their shared experience. "Always the dramatic one, aren't you?"
A sudden glint of metal caught Fiona's eye. "Speaking of important things..."
She gestured towards a section of the platform that had somehow remained intact amidst the destruction. A chest, crafted from a dark, polished wood, lay nestled amongst the debris. It hadn't been there before, Fanny was sure of it. The Convergence, in its death throes, must have disgorged it, a final, unexpected gift.
With a shared look that spoke volumes of their curiosity and their enduring thirst for adventure, they approached the chest. The wood, warm to the touch, was intricately carved with scenes of strange creatures and landscapes they didn't recognize. Fiona lifted the lid, her breath catching as she peered inside.
"Well, well, well," she murmured, her eyes sparkling with amusement. "Looks like someone was expecting us."
Fanny, peering over her sister's shoulder, gasped.
Nestled on a bed of crimson velvet lay a set of clothing unlike anything they'd ever encountered. Two tops, barely more than strips of silvery chainmail, each crafted to resemble a stylized seashell, lay beside two equally revealing bottoms – delicate strings of chainmail, adorned with tiny, shimmering pearls. The metal, cool to the touch, was lined with a surprisingly soft, supple leather, dyed a deep, rich black.
"Chainmail lingerie?" Fanny breathed, her cheeks flushing despite herself. "Seriously?"
Fiona, ever bold, picked up one of the tops, examining it with a critical eye. "It's...surprisingly well-made. And look, it's enchanted."
She held up the top, and a faint hum resonated through the air, the chainmail shimmering with a faint, ethereal light. "Feels like...protection," she mused. "And maybe a little something extra..."
Fanny, despite her reservations, felt a tingle of anticipation. They'd faced down cosmic horrors in their birthday suits; surely, a little chainmail lingerie wouldn't kill them. Besides, after the ordeal they'd just endured, a little something "extra" sounded rather appealing.
She met Fiona's gaze, a silent question passing between them. Fiona, her grin widening mischievously, tossed her sister the other top.
"Don't tell me," she said, her voice laced with amusement, "that the great Fanny is afraid of a little sparkle?"
Fanny laughed, the sound echoing through the newly reborn world.
"Never," she said, and with a wink, she slipped the shimmering garment over her head.
The adventure, it seemed, was far from over.
The chainmail garments, surprisingly comfortable against their bare skin, shimmered with an ethereal light as they moved. Fanny, adjusting the barely-there top with a wry smile, had to admit, Fiona had a point – there was a certain thrill in embracing the unexpected, even if it came in the form of enchanted lingerie found in a cosmic treasure chest.
“So,” she said, stretching her bare arms overhead, feeling the cool metal shift with her movements. “Where to next, Captain Fiona?”
Fiona, her own chainmail bikini accentuating her curves to devastating effect, scanned their surroundings. The landscape, no longer obscured by the oppressive presence of the Convergence, was breathtakingly beautiful. Rolling hills, blanketed in emerald green grass and dotted with strange, luminescent flowers, stretched towards a distant mountain range that shimmered with a pearlescent light.
“That mountain range is calling my name,” Fiona declared, her gaze fixed on the horizon. “I’m betting there’s another portal somewhere in those peaks.”
Fanny, her bare feet itching to explore this strange new world, couldn’t help but agree. The pull of the unknown, the lure of the next adventure, was too strong to resist.
“Lead the way, sis,” she said, falling into step beside Fiona.
They set off across the grassy plain, the late afternoon sun painting the sky in hues of lavender and gold. The air, sweet with the scent of unfamiliar flowers, buzzed with the activity of unseen insects. Fanny, enjoying the feel of the warm breeze against her bare skin, felt a sense of peace settle over her. They’d saved countless worlds, faced down cosmic horrors, and emerged, battered but unbroken, on the other side. For now, at least, they could simply…be.
They’d been walking for perhaps an hour when Fiona, ever vigilant, held up a hand, halting their progress.
“Feel that?” she whispered, her eyes scanning their surroundings.
Fanny paused, her senses on high alert. At first, she noticed nothing unusual. The air was still sweet, the sun still warm. But then, she felt it – a faint vibration, a hum of energy that seemed to emanate from the ground itself.
“There,” Fiona said, pointing towards a grove of trees ahead. “The energy…it’s stronger there.”
They approached cautiously, their bare feet moving silently over the soft earth. As they drew closer, the humming grew stronger, the air shimmering with a faint, silvery light. And then they saw it – a circle of standing stones, half-hidden within the grove, each stone pulsing with a soft, ethereal glow.
“Another portal?” Fanny whispered, her hand instinctively reaching for Fiona’s.
Fiona shook her head, her gaze fixed on the glowing stones. “Feels different. Not a gateway…more like…a beacon.”
They cautiously entered the circle, the humming intensifying, the silvery light swirling around them like a gentle breeze. Fanny gasped as she felt something brush against her bare feet. Two pairs of sandals, seemingly woven from the same silvery light as the beacon, lay on the ground before them. They were delicate, minimalist, the soles barely thicker than paper, yet as Fanny slipped her feet into the cool, smooth embrace of the enchanted footwear, she felt a surge of power, a sense of stability that belied their fragile appearance. The sandals, she realized, weren’t just footwear; they were extensions of the beacon’s energy, imbued with a magic that defied explanation.
Fiona, similarly shod, let out a low whistle as she examined her own pair. “No more slipping and sliding for us, sis,” she said, her grin widening. “These babies are enchanted.”
As if on cue, the silvery light coalesced once more, this time forming two objects that hovered in the air between them. Two swords, their blades gleaming with the same ethereal light as the sandals, their hilts crafted from a polished, obsidian-like material that pulsed with a gentle warmth. They were Gladiuses, Roman short swords, their design both elegant and brutally efficient.
Fanny, drawn to their alluring beauty, reached out to touch one, her fingers tracing the delicate etchings on the blade. The metal was cool to the touch, yet a current of energy, vibrant and alive, thrummed beneath its surface. She’d wielded many weapons in their travels, but these…these felt different. Special.
“Take them,” a voice whispered, ancient and powerful, seeming to emanate from the very air itself. “They are yours by right. Wield them well, daughters of another world, and walk your chosen path with courage and compassion.”
The voice faded, leaving a ringing silence in its wake. Fiona, her eyes wide with wonder, carefully lifted one of the swords from the air. It was surprisingly light, perfectly balanced, the grip molding to her hand as if it had been crafted for her alone.
“Well, sis,” she said, her voice hushed with awe, “It seems our work here is done. But the adventure…” she raised the sword, the blade flashing dangerously in the fading light, “The adventure, as always, continues.”
As the last rays of the setting sun painted the sky in hues of fiery orange and deep violet, Fiona and Fanny found themselves drawn to a secluded clearing nestled amidst the foothills of the shimmering mountain range. The air, filled with the chirping of nocturnal insects and the scent of pine needles, held a comforting stillness, a stark contrast to the cosmic chaos they had so recently escaped.
Fiona, leaning against a moss-covered boulder, idly tested the weight of her newly acquired gladius. The blade, perfectly balanced and impossibly sharp, hummed faintly with each movement, its silvery surface reflecting the fading light. Fanny, seated cross-legged beside her, ran her fingers over the smooth leather of her sandals, marveling at their craftsmanship. Despite their delicate appearance, the sandals felt sturdy, their magic ensuring a sure footing even on the most treacherous terrain.
"We make quite the pair, wouldn't you say?" Fiona grinned, catching Fanny's eye. "Chainmail bikinis, enchanted footwear, and swords that could cleave a mountain in two. What more could a girl ask for?"
Fanny, though her lips curved in a smile, couldn't shake a lingering weariness. The fight against the Convergence, the sheer terror and exhilaration of it all, had taken its toll. And despite the comforting warmth of the magical sandals, she felt a chill settle deep in her bones.
As if reading her thoughts, Fiona sheathed her gladius and turned towards her sister, her expression softening.
"Hey," she said, her voice unusually gentle. "We're safe now. It's over."
Fanny, her gaze drawn to the faint, pulsing glow emanating from the crystal staffs resting beside them, nodded slowly. "I know. It's just…." she trailed off, unsure how to articulate the jumble of emotions swirling within her.
Fiona, ever intuitive, reached out, her hand resting on Fanny's arm. The warmth of her touch, familiar and grounding, sent a wave of comfort through Fanny's body.
"Exhaustion has a way of amplifying things," Fiona said, her voice barely a whisper. "The echoes of what we faced...they linger. But so do we, sis. We always do."
Fanny, drawing strength from her sister's words and the unspoken bond they shared, allowed herself a moment of vulnerability. She leaned into Fiona's touch, her eyes closing as she took a deep, steadying breath.
"You're right," she murmured, her voice regaining a measure of its usual strength. "Always."
As if summoned by their newfound peace, a soft hum resonated from the crystal staffs, their orbs pulsing with a gentle, reassuring light. Fanny, her curiosity piqued, reached out towards her staff, her fingers brushing against the smooth, cool crystal. A jolt of energy, warm and tingling, surged up her arm, spreading outwards until it enveloped her entire body. It wasn't painful, she realized, but invigorating, like a thousand tiny suns igniting beneath her skin.
Fiona, her eyes widening as she witnessed the transformation, gasped.
"Fanny! Your hand…"
Fanny looked down to see her palm, scratched and bruised from the fight, healing rapidly before her eyes. The cuts closed, the bruises faded, leaving behind smooth, unblemished skin.
"The staffs," she breathed, her voice filled with awe. "They...they have healing magic."
Fiona, her usual bravado replaced by a childlike wonder, picked up her own staff, the crystal humming eagerly in her hand. She, too, felt the surge of healing energy, the aches and pains from their recent ordeal melting away like snow under a summer sun.
"Incredible," she whispered, her gaze fixed on the glowing orb. "We thought they were just for light and maybe a bit of a power boost...but healing? This changes everything."
For a long moment, they sat in silence, reveling in the afterglow of the staffs' magic, the weight of their recent victory tempered by this unexpected gift. As the last vestiges of daylight faded and the first stars began to appear, a low rumble emanated from Fiona's stomach, breaking the silence.
"Speaking of gifts..." Fiona said, her lips curving into a mischievous grin. "I could really go for some of those space rations we liberated back on..."
She trailed off, her eyes widening as she spotted something lying beneath a nearby tree. It was a sack, seemingly woven from moonlight and shadow, its surface shimmering faintly in the gathering darkness. It hadn't been there before, she could have sworn.
Cautiously, she approached the sack, her hand hovering over its mysteriously pulsating surface. It felt warm, inviting, like freshly baked bread.
"What is it?" Fanny whispered, her curiosity piqued.
Fiona, her fingers trembling slightly, untied the sack's drawstring and peered inside. A gasp escaped her lips.
"Well, well, well," she murmured, her voice filled with awe. "Looks like the universe is looking out for us, after all."
She reached into the sack and pulled out a handful of…everything. There were fruits, plump and glistening with an otherworldly dew, their skins shimmering with a rainbow of colors they had never seen before. There were breads, still warm from an unseen oven, their aroma intoxicatingly delicious. There were cheeses, their textures and scents unlike anything they had ever encountered.
Fanny, her mouth watering, took a tentative bite of a pearlescent fruit. The flavor exploded on her tongue, a symphony of sweetness and spice, a burst of pure, culinary bliss.
"It's...it's incredible," she breathed, her eyes widening in delight.
Fiona, already halfway through a hunk of crusty bread slathered with a creamy, pungent cheese, nodded in agreement.
"And check this out," she said, gesturing towards the seemingly bottomless sack. "It's never-ending. The ultimate traveler's rations."
As they feasted under the watchful gaze of the newly revealed stars, their hearts filled with gratitude and a sense of boundless possibility, they knew, with a certainty that ran deeper than any prophecy, that their adventures were far from over. The universe, it seemed, had many more wonders in store for the daughters of another world.
The following days were a blur of exploration and discovery, a testament to the untamed beauty of this new world. Fiona, her adventurous spirit rekindled, led the way, their enchanted sandals effortlessly navigating the ever-changing terrain. They scaled rocky outcrops, their bare legs, no longer hindered by fabric, finding purchase on the sun-warmed stone. They navigated dense forests, the silvery chainmail catching the dappled sunlight, their laughter echoing through the ancient trees.
They were never lost, not really. The crystal staffs, their orbs emitting a gentle, pulsing light, guided their steps, leading them along hidden paths and towards breathtaking vistas. And as the days turned into weeks, a sense of playful ease settled over them, a comfortable rhythm to their travels.
One afternoon, after cresting a particularly challenging ridge, they stumbled upon a hidden valley. A waterfall cascaded down a moss-covered cliff face, feeding into a crystal-clear pool that shimmered like a sapphire amidst the emerald green of the surrounding forest. The air, filled with the roar of the waterfall and the sweet scent of wildflowers, held a tangible magic, a sense of peace that resonated deep within their souls.
“Gods, Fiona,” Fanny breathed, her gaze sweeping over the idyllic scene. “It’s…perfect.”
Fiona, already unbuckling her sandals, grinned. “I know, right? Feels like this place was made for a midday dip.”
Fanny, her own sandals falling forgotten to the soft earth, couldn’t help but agree. Their bodies, though healed by the staffs' magic, ached with the satisfying tiredness of days spent exploring. The lure of the cool, inviting water, the promise of washing away the sweat and dust of their travels, was too tempting to resist.
Without a word, both women reached behind their backs, unfastening the clasps of their chainmail tops. The cool metal, still faintly warm from the sun and their bodies’ heat, clinked softly as it landed on the grass beside their discarded sandals and swords. Fanny, catching Fiona’s eye across the small clearing, blushed, a flicker of shyness momentarily eclipsing her usual confidence.
Fiona, misinterpreting her sister’s hesitation, threw back her head and laughed, the sound echoing through the valley.
“What?” she chuckled, her eyes twinkling with amusement. “Suddenly shy, Fanny? I’ve seen you naked more times than I can count, remember?”
Fanny, her blush deepening, couldn’t help but laugh along, the tension dissipating like mist under a summer sun. Fiona was right, of course. They’d shared everything, from womb to countless lifetimes, there were no secrets between them, no room for false modesty.
With a shrug, she untied the delicate strings of her chainmail bottom, letting it fall to the ground with a soft clink. “Oh, alright,” she conceded, her voice laced with laughter. “But if any woodland creatures come looking for a show, I’m blaming you.”
Fiona, already splashing playfully in the shallows of the pool, just grinned wickedly.
“Deal.”
The water was blissfully cool against their heated skin, washing away the dust and weariness of their travels. They laughed and splashed like children, their hair, freed from its usual braids, swirling around them like liquid gold and fire. They chased each other through the waterfall's cascading curtain, the roar of the water drowning out their shrieks of delight. They helped each other scrub away the grime, their fingers lingering on sun-kissed shoulders and bare backs, their touch a familiar language of love and sisterhood.
Eventually, sated and rejuvenated, they emerged from the pool, their laughter echoing through the valley. They spent hours basking on the sun-warmed rocks, their naked bodies a testament to their comfort with each other, their easy conversation a balm to their souls. They spoke of the worlds they had visited, the adventures they had shared, the challenges they had overcome. They spoke of their hopes for the future, their dreams of finding a place to call their own, a world where they could simply…be, without the burden of saving universes.
As the sun dipped below the horizon, painting the sky in hues of fiery orange and deep violet, they reluctantly dressed, their laughter echoing through the gathering twilight. The chainmail, cool against their sun-warmed skin, felt like a second skin, a reminder of their strength, their resilience, their unbreakable bond.
They left the enchanted valley behind, their steps lighter, their hearts filled with the quiet joy of their shared sisterhood. The universe, they knew, held endless possibilities, and they, Fiona and Fanny, daughters of another world, were ready to face whatever adventures lay ahead.
Together. Always.
------
Three months of sun, swordplay, and feasting on otherworldly delights had transformed Fiona and Fanny, honing their already impressive physiques into visions of lean, sun-kissed strength. Gone was the lingering softness of their former lives, replaced by a tautness, a wiry resilience that spoke of countless hours spent exploring, fighting, and reveling in the freedom of their new reality.
Fiona, her chainmail bikini gleaming under the warm sun, was a study in contrasts - fire and steel, strength tempered with a playful grace. Her already impressive height seemed amplified by her newfound muscle, her limbs lean and corded with power. Her shoulders, broadened by daily sword practice, tapered down to a narrow waist, accentuated by the delicate chainmail that hugged her hips. Her legs, long and toned, were now a canvas of intricate scars, each one a testament to their adventures - a burn mark from a rogue energy blast, a series of parallel scratches from a close encounter with a rocky cliff face.
Her skin, once pale with just a hint of freckles, was now a deep, even tan, the color of honey kissed by the sun. Her freckles, however, remained, sprinkled across her nose and shoulders like a dusting of cinnamon, a playful counterpoint to her fierceness. Her hair, usually worn loose or in a messy braid, was now a mass of fiery red curls, bleached lighter by the sun, framing a face that had lost its last vestiges of softness. Her jawline was more defined, her cheekbones sharper, her emerald eyes, always bright, now burned with an inner fire that spoke of hard-won confidence and a fierce zest for life.
Fanny, though still possessing a delicate beauty, had undergone a similar transformation. Her chainmail bikini, though identical in design to Fiona's, hung differently on her frame, accentuating her newly defined curves. She was still the smaller of the two, but where once there had been a hint of fragility, there was now a wiry strength, a sense of tightly coiled power waiting to be unleashed.
Her shoulders, though narrower than Fiona's, were now roped with muscle, her arms toned from wielding her gladius with increasing skill. Her waist, always small, was now almost impossibly so, a delicate curve above hips that had widened with newfound muscle and the healthy appetite fueled by their magical rations. Her legs, though not as long as Fiona's, were just as strong, her thighs firm and sculpted, her calves toned from days spent hiking and exploring.
Her skin, once pale and unblemished, was now a warm, golden brown, the color of sun-kissed sand. A smattering of freckles dusted her nose and shoulders, each one a tiny star in a constellation of her own making. Her hair, a shade of blonde that had deepened to a rich, honey gold, now hung in thick waves down her back, catching the light like spun gold. Her face, though still possessing a delicate beauty, now held a hint of steel, a newfound determination that shone from her sapphire blue eyes.
They moved with a confidence born of experience and shared hardship, their bare feet, toughened by weeks spent traversing unfamiliar terrain, finding sure footing on the uneven ground. They were no longer the same women who had stumbled through the portal, their bodies bearing the echoes of a world that sought to constrain them. They were Fiona and Fanny, daughters of another world, forged anew in the fires of adventure, their bodies a testament to their resilience, their bond unbreakable, their spirits soaring.

Danger & Delonge: Dragon Slayers

AI-generated stories are fun! Here is another one I created using Gemini, using just an image to start it. The names Sophia Danger and Yvonne Delonge are also provided by me, with some minor details.

Sure, here is a story in the style of Robert E. Howard about Sophia Danger and Yvonne Delonge, who are lovers and helicopter pilots working near Utrecht in the Netherlands in 2024:

The pale light of dawn filtered through the curtains of Sophia Danger’s apartment, painting rosy stripes across the strong planes of her face. She stirred, the sleep finally leaving her as the familiar ache in her muscles flared to life. It was the pleasant ache of a woman who worked with her hands, who pushed her body to its limit and reveled in the satisfying exhaustion it brought.

Beside her, Yvonne Delonge, a fiery redhead with a sprinkling of freckles across her nose, stirred as well. Her sleep was always lighter than Sophia’s, troubled by dreams that danced just out of reach when she woke. “Morning, Danger,” she mumbled, her voice husky with sleep.

Sophia’s lips curved into a smile. “Morning, Delonge. Sleep well?”

Yvonne stretched, the sheet slipping down to reveal the slender curves of her body. “Same as always. Dreams that vanish like smoke the second I wake.”

Sophia reached out, brushing a stray strand of hair from Yvonne’s face. “Maybe one day you’ll share them with me.”

Yvonne snorted. “They’re nothing but jumbled nonsense. Probably just the aftereffects of that wild goose chase yesterday.”

“Wild goose chase or not,” Sophia said, swinging her legs out of bed, “we got paid. Let’s just hope today brings something a little more interesting.”

The morning routine was a well-oiled machine. Shower together, a quick breakfast of strong coffee and stale bread, and the donning of their worn leather flight jackets. Sophia’s blonde hair was pulled back in a tight bun, while Yvonne’s fiery curls escaped their usual braid in a riot of red.

Outside, the Dutch air was crisp and cool. They climbed into their usual chopper, a beat-up Bell UH-1 Iroquois they’d affectionately nicknamed “Jenny.” The rotors whined to life, a comforting sound, and Sophia lifted them off the helipad with practiced ease.

Utrecht sprawled beneath them, a miniature city of canals and gabled houses. Beyond the city limits, fields of tulips stretched towards the horizon, a riot of color in the morning light.

“Anything on the radio?” Sophia asked, her voice crackling through the headset.

Yvonne adjusted the dials. “Nothing but the usual chatter. Seems like a slow day.”

As if on cue, a frantic voice broke the monotony. “This is Utrecht Air Traffic Control! Mayday! Mayday! We have unidentified aerial contact ten miles southwest of Utrecht! Requesting immediate assistance!”

Sophia’s heart hammered in her chest. Unidentified aerial contact? What in the hell could that be? “Jenny,” she muttered, a grim smile twisting her lips, “looks like we’re about to get interesting.”

Yvonne yanked the headset tighter, her green eyes narrowed in concentration. “Roger that, Utrecht ATC. This is Danger One responding. We’re ten miles out and inbound. Can you provide any details on the unidentified contact?”

Static hissed in response for a moment, then the voice crackled back through the speakers. “Negative, Danger One. Visual confirmation only. Object reported as metallic, disc-shaped, and moving erratically. No response to hails on standard frequencies.”

Sophia’s grip tightened on the controls. Metallic, disc-shaped? That description sent a shiver down her spine. “Unidentified and erratic? Sounds like our kind of job, Delonge.”

“More like our kind of nightmare,” Yvonne retorted, but her voice betrayed a hint of excitement as well. They weren’t afraid of a challenge, that much was certain. Together, they scanned the vast canvas of sky, their gazes darting from horizon to horizon. The tulips below seemed to mock them with their cheerful colors, a stark contrast to the prickling unease that coiled in Sophia’s gut.

“Anything?” Sophia called out, her voice tense.

“Nothing yet,” Yvonne replied, her brow furrowed as she scanned the sky with practiced ease. “But keep your eyes peeled, Danger. This doesn’t sound like a rogue drone.”

The silence stretched on, broken only by the rhythmic thrumming of the helicopter blades. Minutes bled into what felt like hours as they searched, the tension in the cockpit growing with each passing second. An unidentified aerial object, especially one reported as erratic, could be anything from a rogue weather phenomenon to… something far more sinister.

“There!” Yvonne’s voice cut through the tense silence, a note of urgency lacing her words. “Two o’clock high! Do you see it, Sophia?”

Sophia craned her neck, following Yvonne’s pointed finger. A glint of metallic reflection caught the morning sun, a single, fleeting glimpse before it vanished behind a veil of cirrus clouds. Was that it? Her pulse quickened. “I think so. Just a flash, though.”

“Let’s get closer,” Yvonne said, her voice grim. “We need a better look.” Sophia dipped the nose of Jenny, pushing the chopper towards the point where they’d seen the glint. The feeling of unease in her gut intensified, a cold dread that whispered of the unknown. They were about to find out just what kind of unidentified aerial contact awaited them in the clear blue sky over Utrecht.

Jenny surged forward, the wind whipping at Sophia’s face as they closed the distance. The glint became a shimmering disc, growing larger with each passing second. Then, as abruptly as it appeared, the disc tilted, revealing its underside. Sophia’s breath hitched in her throat. It wasn’t metal. It wasn’t a weather phenomenon. It was a creature of myth and legend, a monstrous flying serpent with scales the color of molten lava and razor-sharp claws glinting in the sunlight. A red dragon.

Yvonne’s voice crackled in her ear, raw with disbelief. “Sophia… is that…?”

“A dragon,” Sophia finished grimly, her voice tight with a mixture of terror and exhilaration. This was beyond anything they’d ever encountered. This was the stuff of nightmares and ancient legends, a creature that defied the laws of physics and reason.

The dragon roared, a sound that shook the very air, sending a tremor through the helicopter. Flames erupted from its maw, a fiery breath that seared the sky. Sophia reacted instinctively, throwing Jenny into a hard turn, the rotors screaming in protest as they narrowly avoided the inferno.

But the dragon was relentless. Another blast of fire followed, catching the tail rotor of the chopper. A sickening lurch and the unmistakable smell of burning metal filled the cockpit. They were going down.

“Brace yourself!” Sophia yelled, her voice barely audible over the roar of the wind and the dragon’s fury. She fought for control of the crippled machine, guiding it down in a desperate spiral towards a nearby field.

The impact was brutal, the force of the crash throwing them both against their harnesses. The world spun, disoriented and filled with the deafening silence that followed the crash. Coughing and disoriented, Sophia unbuckled and checked on Yvonne.

“Delonge, you alright?”

Yvonne groaned, shaking her head to clear the cobwebs. “Think so… just a bit rattled.”

Relief flooded Sophia, momentarily pushing aside the terror of the encounter. They were alive. Jenny, however, was a different story. Smoke billowed from the mangled tail section, a twisted testament to the dragon’s fiery wrath.

They scrambled out of the wreckage, their eyes fixed on the sky. The dragon circled overhead, a magnificent and terrifying sight. It landed a short distance away, its massive form dwarfing the surrounding trees. Sophia felt a primal fear grip her, a terror that ran deeper than anything she’d ever known.

The dragon lowered its head, its eyes burning with an intelligence that sent shivers down her spine. It spoke, its voice a deep rumble that resonated in the very core of her being. The words were in a language she didn’t understand, yet somehow, she grasped their meaning.

A challenge. A test. The dragon was toying with them.

Sophia stood her ground, her hand instinctively reaching for the pistol strapped to her thigh. It felt pathetically inadequate against such a creature, but it was all she had. She may not have understood the dragon’s words, but its intent was clear. This wasn’t over. They had just survived their first encounter with a legend, but the true battle, she knew, was yet to come.

The dragon, having delivered its cryptic message, launched itself back into the sky with a thunderous beat of its crimson wings. Sophia and Yvonne watched in stunned silence as it disappeared into the distance, leaving behind a swirling vortex of dust and a lingering echo of fear.

Shakily, they made their way back to the wreckage of Jenny, a monument to their harrowing encounter. The sound of approaching rotors soon filled the air, a blessed relief as their extraction team materialized from the horizon.

The ride back was a blur, the adrenaline slowly draining from their systems, replaced by a bone-deep weariness. Landing at a nearby military base, they were ushered into a sterile debriefing room, bombarded with questions from a team of bewildered officials. Their story, at first met with skepticism, gained a somber seriousness as they described the dragon in detail.

Days bled into a week. Confined to the base, they were poked and prodded by doctors, therapists, and anyone else with a vested interest in understanding their encounter. Yvonne, usually a firecracker, became withdrawn, haunted by nightmares of fire and scales. Sophia, ever the pragmatist, tried to focus on the practicalities. They had survived, and they would face whatever came next.

Then, one day, a gruff colonel with a handlebar mustache and a steely gaze appeared in their doorway. He introduced himself as Colonel Van Der Meer, and without preamble, led them to a hangar at the far end of the base.

Inside, bathed in the harsh glare of overhead lights, sat a sight that made Sophia’s heart skip a beat. It was a chopper, a sleek, black UH-60 Black Hawk, its menacing silhouette a stark contrast to the cheerful yellow of their old Jenny. But this was no ordinary Black Hawk. Mounted on the sides were heavy-duty rocket launchers, and the minigun on the nose gleamed with a deadly purpose.

“This,” Colonel Van Der Meer announced, his voice gruff but laced with a hint of grim satisfaction, “is your new ride. We’re calling it ‘Red Fury.’”

Sophia traced the lines of the Black Hawk with her finger, a cold fire of determination burning in her eyes. They had lost Jenny, but they had gained something far more formidable. The dragon may have issued its challenge, but Sophia Danger and Yvonne Delonge were ready to answer. The hunt for the red dragon was far from over.

Strapped into the cockpit of Red Fury, Sophia felt a surge of power course through her. The sleek Black Hawk bristled with weaponry, a stark contrast to Jenny’s cheerful yellow. Yvonne, her fiery hair pulled back in a tight braid, manned the gunner’s seat, a grim determination etched on her face. They were back in the air, Colonel Van Der Meer’s words echoing in their ears, “Find the dragon. End the threat.”

The search took days. They scoured the Dutch countryside, the vibrant tulip fields now stained with the memory of fire and fear. Then, on a windswept afternoon, a glint of crimson caught Sophia’s eye. There, perched atop a craggy peak, was the dragon. It seemed to sense them, its head whipping around to fix them with a gaze that burned like molten metal.

“There!” Yvonne cried, her voice tight with a mix of fear and excitement. “Red Fury, engage!”

Sophia threw the chopper into a steep dive, the wind howling past the cockpit as Yvonne unleashed a torrent of fire from the minigun. But the bullets seemed to dissipate harmlessly against the dragon’s crimson scales, leaving not even a scorch mark.

The dragon roared, a sound that shook Red Fury to its core. It opened its fiery maw, and a wave of heat blasted towards them, warping the air itself. Sophia fought for control, barely managing to yank the chopper away from the inferno.

The dragon swooped down, its massive form blotting out the sun. Claws the size of tree trunks swiped at Red Fury, tearing a gash in the rotor blade. The chopper lurched, spinning wildly out of control. All Sophia could do was brace herself for the inevitable crash.

The impact was deafening, Red Fury twisting and turning in a sickening ballet before finally slamming into a field. Dazed and battered, Sophia crawled out of the wreckage, the smell of burning metal assaulting her nostrils. Yvonne lay a few feet away, groaning in pain.

Anger and frustration warred within Sophia. They had the firepower, but it was useless. The dragon’s scales were an impenetrable fortress.

As they watched, the dragon landed a short distance away, its crimson bulk casting a long shadow. It raised its head, and for a moment, Sophia swore she saw a flicker of amusement in its ancient eyes. The dragon roared again, a sound that seemed to echo with a chilling message: “You are no match for me.” Then, with a powerful beat of its wings, it soared back into the sky, leaving them broken and defeated.

Back at the base, Colonel Van Der Meer’s face was a thundercloud. Red Fury, their most advanced chopper, lay in pieces. The encounter had exposed the limitations of their arsenal against such a mythical foe.

Sophia and Yvonne, battered but unbowed, sat in the sterile debriefing room, the silence heavy with the weight of their failure. This wasn’t a dragon they could defeat with brute force. They needed a new strategy, a new weapon. The hunt for the red dragon continued, but the question hung heavy in the air: how do you fight a creature that is impervious to your weapons?

Despair hung heavy in the air of the debriefing room. The wreckage of Red Fury stood as a grim testament to their failed encounter with the red dragon. Sophia, her blonde hair pulled back in a tight bun, stared at the metal skeleton through the window, a deep frown etching lines on her forehead. Yvonne, usually a ball of fire, sat slumped in a chair, her gaze fixed on the worn leather of her boots.

A knock on the door startled them. A young woman with a shock of curly brown hair and a mischievous glint in her hazel eyes peeked inside. She was petite, almost delicate, but upon closer inspection, Sophia noticed the tips of her ears were pointed, a subtle hint of elven lineage. Her dress, a thin silk that clung to her slender frame, seemed ill-suited for the military base.

“May I come in?” the woman asked, her voice surprisingly strong for her small stature.

Sophia exchanged a confused glance with Yvonne before nodding hesitantly. “Come in.”

The woman entered, a confident swagger belying her delicate appearance. “Sophia Danger and Yvonne Delonge, I presume?” She spoke with a refined accent that hinted at a foreign origin.

“That’s us,” Sophia replied cautiously. “Who are you?”

“Senna,” the woman replied, a small smile playing on her lips. “And I have something that might be of interest to you.”

She gestured towards a pair of guards who followed her in, carrying a long, intricately carved bow and a quiver filled with ornately fletched arrows. Additionally, they held a spear, its tip shimmering with an otherworldly glow.

“These,” Senna said, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper, “will help you finish your business with the dragon.”

Sophia’s skepticism was evident. “Weapons like these? Against a creature that shrugged off missiles?”

Senna’s smile widened. “Ah, but these are not your ordinary weapons, Ms. Danger. These are forged with magic, enchanted to pierce even the toughest hide. But here’s the catch…” She paused, her eyes twinkling with mischief. “You’ll have to get a little creative with your approach.”

Yvonne, ever the pragmatist, chimed in. “Creative? How do we get close enough to a fire-breathing dragon to use a bow and arrow?”

Senna tilted her head, considering their question. “That, my dears, is for you to figure out. But remember, the dragon’s hide is strong, but its wings… those might be a bit more vulnerable.”

A spark of understanding ignited in Sophia’s eyes. The dragon’s wings. They couldn’t take down the beast head-on, but a well-placed arrow during flight… This was a gamble, but it was their only hope.

“Alright, Senna,” Sophia said, her voice firm with newfound determination. “Show us how to use these… magical weapons.”

Senna’s smile returned, a genuine one this time. “That, I can do.”

And so, a new chapter began. The hunt for the red dragon continued, but this time, with a glimmer of hope and a very unconventional weapon. Whether they could outsmart the ancient beast and exploit its weakness remained to be seen. But one thing was certain – Sophia Danger and Yvonne Delonge were no longer flying blind.

Hope, a fragile thing in the face of a fire-breathing dragon, flickered within Sophia. Red Fury 2.0, a matte black monstrosity bristling with decoy missile launchers and reinforced armor, thrummed with anticipation beneath her skilled hands. Yvonne, her fiery hair pulled back into a no-nonsense braid, sat grimly at the gunner’s seat, Senna’s magical bow held taut.

Days bled into a relentless pursuit. They scoured the Dutch countryside, their gazes scanning every mountain peak and cloud formation. Then, on a day choked with the smell of brewing storm, a glint of crimson caught Sophia’s eye. The dragon.

It perched atop a craggy peak, its silhouette stark against the churning clouds. Sophia felt a familiar cocktail of fear and adrenaline course through her veins. This time, however, it was tempered by a flicker of hope, a whisper of possibility.

“There!” Yvonne rasped, her voice tight with suppressed excitement.

Sophia threw Red Fury 2.0 into a daring dive, weaving between jagged rock formations as the dragon unleashed a torrent of flame. This time, the missiles were purely a distraction, a flurry of explosions meant to blind and confuse. They needed a window – a sliver of an opportunity.

And then, they saw it. A shift in the wind, a momentary pause in the dragon’s fiery barrage. Sophia banked sharply, pulling Red Fury into a near-vertical climb, placing them dangerously close to the dragon’s underbelly.

“Now!” she roared over the deafening engine noise.

Yvonne didn’t hesitate. With a practiced flick of her wrist, she loosed the first arrow. Time seemed to slow. The arrow, imbued with an otherworldly glow, arced through the air, finding its mark deep within the dragon’s fleshy wing membrane.

A shriek of pain pierced the air, a sound that sent shivers down Sophia’s spine. The dragon recoiled, its crimson scales momentarily losing their luster as pain contorted its face. Rage, raw and primal, replaced the amusement that had flickered in its eyes before.

A second blast of fire erupted, hotter and more intense than any they had faced before. Red Fury 2.0 bucked like a bronco, the cockpit filled with the acrid smell of burning metal. Sophia fought for control, her knuckles white on the stick.

They were no longer playing a game of cat and mouse. They had wounded the beast, and now, it was hunting them with a vengeance. The sky turned into a warzone, filled with the roar of the dragon and the desperate jinking maneuvers of Red Fury.

Sophia knew they couldn’t keep this up for long. The dragon’s fury was a tempest, and their chopper was a mere leaf caught in its path. But neither Sophia nor Yvonne were ready to give up. They had tasted victory, however small. The dragon wasn’t invincible. Now, they just had to survive long enough to exploit that weakness.

As the dragon swooped in for another fiery attack, a thought sparked in Sophia’s mind, a risky gambit fueled by desperation and a flicker of hope. With a silent prayer to whatever gods might be listening, she threw Red Fury 2.0 into a heart-stopping dive, aiming straight for the dragon’s wounded wing. This story wasn’t over yet.

The world tilted on its axis as Sophia steered Red Fury 2.0 into a dizzying descent. The wind howled in their ears, a banshee shriek that threatened to drown out the dragon’s enraged roar. This was it. Their one shot at a desperate victory.

Yvonne, her face pale but resolute, held the magical bow steady. The single remaining arrow, pulsing with an otherworldly light, gleamed in her hand. The dragon, momentarily surprised by their sudden change in course, swooped down to meet them, its fiery maw agape.

“Now!” Sophia yelled, yanking the chopper even lower. A searing blast of heat washed over them, warping the transparent cockpit canopy. Through the haze, Yvonne saw her chance. With a deep breath and a silent prayer, she released the arrow. It struck true, finding its mark in the thick muscle of the dragon’s other wing.

The dragon’s roar turned into a screech, a sound filled with agony and fury. It flapped its wings in a desperate attempt to regain control, but the wounded limbs failed it. The massive creature tilted, plummeting towards the earth like a crimson meteor.

Suddenly, a wave of relief washed over Sophia, so intense it almost made her dizzy. They’d done it. They’d actually wounded the dragon so badly it couldn’t fly. But the elation was short-lived. Red Fury 2.0, battered by the dragon’s heat and the reckless dive, was no longer responding properly. Alarms blared, warning lights flickered, and the controls vibrated ominously in Sophia’s hands.

“We’re going down!” she screamed over the cacophony of noise.

Yvonne’s eyes widened in terror. She secured the bow and braced herself for impact. The ground rushed up to meet them, a vast expanse of green blurring into a dizzying kaleidoscope.

With a sickening crunch, Red Fury 2.0 slammed into a field, the force of the impact throwing Sophia and Yvonne violently against their harnesses. The world spun, filled with the deafening silence that follows a crash. Pain lanced through Sophia’s back, but she ignored it, her focus on Yvonne.

“Delonge! You alright?”

Yvonne groaned, slowly shaking her head. “Think so… just a bit banged up.”

Relief flooded Sophia. They were alive. The mangled wreckage of Red Fury 2.0 lay smoking beside them, a testament to their near-suicidal gamble. In the distance, they could hear the earth-shaking tremor of the dragon’s crash, a sound that sent shivers down their spines.

But victory, it seemed, came at a heavy price. They lay there, battered and broken, in the shadow of a grounded dragon. The battle was far from over. They had grounded the beast, but how to finish it, and how to escape themselves, were questions that hung heavy in the air. They stared at the wreckage of their chopper, then at the fallen dragon, a silent vow passing between them. This wasn’t over. They would find a way.

A primal scream ripped from Sophia’s throat, a combination of pain, adrenaline, and the desperate need to finish this. Ignoring the throbbing in her back, she grabbed the ornately carved spear Senna had provided. It pulsed with a faint magical light, a beacon of hope in the wreckage.

Yvonne, battered but conscious, watched with a mixture of fear and admiration as Sophia charged towards the fallen dragon. The massive creature was no longer a majestic predator soaring through the sky, but a wounded beast thrashing on the ground. Smoke billowed from its ripped wings, and a low growl rumbled from its throat.

The clash was brutal. The dragon, enraged and desperate, lashed out with its powerful claws, tearing furrows in the earth. Sophia dodged, her movements hampered by the pain in her back, but fueled by a relentless determination. She parried a swipe of the dragon’s tail with the spear, the magical wood absorbing the force of the blow.

The dragon reared back, its crimson eyes blazing with fury. It unleashed a torrent of flame, but Sophia rolled to the side, the heat singeing her clothes but missing its mark. Seizing her opportunity, she lunged forward, aiming for the beast’s exposed underbelly.

The tip of the spear, imbued with magic and propelled by Sophia’s desperate strength, pierced through the dragon’s tough hide. A roar of agony erupted from the creature, a sound that shook the very ground. The dragon thrashed wildly, trying to dislodge the spear, but it was futile.

The magical weapon pulsed with an otherworldly light, draining the life force from the beast. Slowly, the dragon’s struggles subsided, its fiery eyes dimming, replaced by a dull film. With a final shudder, the massive creature went still.

Sophia slumped to her knees, her body wracked with pain and exhaustion. She had never felt so broken, yet so oddly triumphant. She had faced a creature of legend and emerged victorious, albeit with a heavy price.

Yvonne stumbled towards her, a look of awed disbelief etched on her face. Reaching Sophia, she helped her to her feet, their gazes locked on the fallen dragon. The silence, broken only by the rasping of their breaths, held a weight of finality.

“We did it, Danger,” Yvonne whispered, her voice hoarse. “We actually did it.”

Sophia nodded, a weak smile playing on her lips. They had. They had faced the red dragon and lived to tell the tale, a tale that would forever be etched in their memories. But as the shock subsided and the enormity of their situation sank in, a new question surfaced.

They were alive, but stranded in a field with a dead dragon. And with the adrenaline fading, the full force of their injuries threatened to overwhelm them. Their fight was over, but their struggle for survival had just begun.

Relief washed over them like a tidal wave when a familiar silhouette emerged from the horizon – a rescue helicopter sent by Colonel Van Der Meer. The medics swarmed them, applying first aid to their various cuts and bruises. The pain, which had been a dull throb in the heat of battle, now flared with a vengeance. But even the throbbing pain couldn’t dampen their spirits. They were alive.

Back at the base, after a debriefing that felt more like a dream than reality, they found themselves in the familiar confines of the communal shower. The hot water cascaded down their battered bodies, washing away not just the grime of the battle, but the lingering fear and adrenaline. For the first time in days, they were alone, a stolen moment of privacy in the midst of chaos.

Yvonne’s eyes met Sophia’s, a silent understanding passing between them. Neither needed words. They had faced a creature of legend, pushed themselves to the limit, and emerged stronger, not just as allies, but as something more. Their arms reached out for each other, a natural extension of the bond forged in the heat of battle. The shower stall became a sanctuary, filled with the whisper of water and the unspoken language of their bodies.

The embrace was broken by the gentle chime of their lockers unlocking. They emerged, a shy smile gracing each of their faces, wrapped in towels, and a newfound confidence in their hearts. It was a simple victory, a moment of intimacy earned in the face of danger, but it felt like a turning point.

Back at their apartment, exhaustion finally caught up with them. They collapsed onto the familiar couch, the silence only punctuated by the rhythm of their breathing. Just as sleep began to claim them, a knock on the door made them both jolt upright.

Exhaustion pulled at their eyelids, the events of the past few days replaying behind closed eyes. Yet, when the knock on the door shattered the silence, a jolt of adrenaline shot through Sophia. Opening the door, she found Senna, her elven features framed by the harsh overhead light, a small smile playing on her lips.

“I see you two have been busy,” Senna said, her voice laced with amusement. “But I have more questions about your… encounter.”

Yvonne and Sophia exchanged a glance. Their fight with the dragon was far from over. There were secrets to be unraveled, a truth hidden within Senna’s arrival and the cryptic message of the red dragon. Their quest, it seemed, was only just beginning.

“Senna,” Sophia breathed, surprised.

“I see the legendary heroes have returned,” Senna said, a mischievous glint in her eyes that didn’t quite match the gravity of the situation. “And I see you’ve… bonded.” A knowing smile tugged at the corner of her lips.

Yvonne blushed, stepping forward. “We have a lot of questions.”

Senna nodded. “And I have answers. But more importantly, I have a proposition.” She gestured for them both to step inside.

The apartment, once familiar, now held an air of mystery. Sophia and Yvonne exchanged glances, a silent understanding passing between them.

“The red dragon,” Senna began, her voice turning serious, “was not simply a rogue creature. It hailed from a world far different from ours, a realm where magic flows freely and creatures of legend walk the earth.”

A world of elves and dragons. The words triggered a memory in Sophia’s mind – the flicker of amusement in the dragon’s eyes before their first fight. Perhaps it hadn’t been arrogance, but recognition. Perhaps it had seen them not as enemies, but as kindred spirits, warriors from another world.

Senna continued, “In that world, elves are locked in a constant struggle against these fire-breathing beasts. They are brave, resourceful, but outnumbered. They need… help.”

The weight of her words filled the room. A different world, a war against mythical creatures. It felt like something out of a fantasy novel, yet here they were, facing the reality of it.

“You,” Senna said, pointing at Sophia and then Yvonne, “have proven yourselves capable against one such dragon. Imagine what you could do with an army of elves at your side.”

The proposition hung in the air, a challenge and an opportunity rolled into one. A world of magic, a fight for a noble cause, and a chance to step into an adventure beyond their wildest dreams.

Sophia glanced at Yvonne, silently seeking her partner’s answer. Yvonne’s eyes held a spark of excitement, a flicker of fear quickly replaced by a resolute determination.

Sophia squared her shoulders, meeting Senna’s gaze head-on. “We’re in,” she declared, a hint of a smile playing on her lips.

Senna’s smile widened, genuine this time. “Welcome to the fight, heroes.”

A wave of dizziness washed over them as Senna held out a hand, her fingers glowing with an otherworldly light. They stepped forward, a mixture of trepidation and excitement bubbling in their stomachs. They had survived a dragon on Earth. Now, they were ready to face whatever awaited them in a world beyond imagination.

Making 3D prints with OpenSCAD, Poser and Shapeways.

As you might know, I’ve played for years with Poser Pro now. And for about a year, I have created printed models through the services of Shapeways while also creating all kind of artwork with those Poser models and E-ON Vue. But more recently (well, less than a week ago) I started experimenting with OpenSCAD, which is an open-source CAD application where you just “program” a special script file and it will generate a 3D model for you based on that script.

So, to start I will show you how I created a special box for my electronic experiments, which is my Shapeways model. It is a rectangular box with five holes in the side for wires that lead to a small, round container. Not sure what I want to build inside it, but I just like the shape and it is a nice experiment to start with.

This is a box with two different lids. One round, one rectangular. The rectangular lid will also contain a small engraved text.

To start, I create a simple module to create the lid:

module BoxLid(width, height, depth, groove){
    union(){
        cube([width, height, depth/3]); 
        translate([groove, 0, depth*1/3])cube([width-2*groove, height-2*groove, depth*1/3]);
        translate([groove/2, 0, depth*2/3]) cube([width-groove, height-groove, depth*1/3]);
        translate([width*6/20, groove*1, -depth*1/3]) cube([width*8/20, groove/2, depth*1/3]);
        translate([width*7/20, groove*2, -depth*1/3]) cube([width*6/20, groove/2, depth*1/3]);
        translate([width*8/20, groove*3, -depth*1/3]) cube([width*4/20, groove/2, depth*1/3]);
    }
}

This set of cubes will create the lid that will slide in a special slot that we will add to the box. The first three cubes are of various sizes and create a groove to slide over. The lid will completely cover the side of the box.

The last cubes are used to put some relief on the lid to allow it to slide easier up and down. But I want to have it engraved with some text, so I create an engraving module:

module label(name, depth, fontSize){
    linear_extrude(height = depth) {
         text(name, size = fontSize, font = "Lucida Calligraphy", halign = "center", valign = "center", $fn = 50);
     };
}

And I need a second module for the lid including the engraved name:

module NamedBoxLid(width, height, depth, groove){
    difference(){
         BoxLid(width, height, groove, groove);
         translate([width/2, height/2, groove/2]) rotate([0, 180, 270]) label("Team Katje", groove, 8);
     }
}

Yeah, engraving is just that simple! Subtract the shape of the text from the shape of the lid. The most tricky part is actually trying to rotate it and making it fit. But it also tells us how we can create a box. We basically make a box and subtract the lid from it! I will also subtract 6 cylinders from a side for the holes to the round box on the side. And we will also subtract the inner space from the box so it has space:

module Box(width, height, depth, groove){
    difference(){
         cube([width, height, depth]);
         union(){
             translate([groove, groove, groove]) cube([width-2*groove, height-2*groove, depth-2*groove]);
             translate([width*1/5, groove*3/2, depth/2]) rotate([90, 0, 0]) cylinder(h=groove*2, r=groove*2, $fn=precision);
             translate([width*4/5, groove*3/2, depth/2]) rotate([90, 0, 0]) cylinder(h=groove*2, r=groove*2, $fn=precision);
             translate([width/2, groove*3/2, depth*1/5]) rotate([90, 0, 0]) cylinder(h=groove*2, r=groove*2, $fn=precision);
             translate([width/2, groove*3/2, depth*4/5]) rotate([90, 0, 0]) cylinder(h=groove*2, r=groove*2, $fn=precision);
             translate([width/2, groove*3/2, depth/2]) rotate([90, 0, 0]) cylinder(h=groove*2, r=groove*2, $fn=precision);
             BoxLid(width, height, groove, groove); 
         }
     }
}

Or actually, I combine the five holes, the box content and the lid together into a single shape and subtract the whole shape from the box. This way, I know the lid will fit perfectly on the box.

All I have to do now is create the second, cylindrical box on top of the holes. For this, I again start with creating a lid:

module CylinderLid(width, groove){
    union(){
         cylinder(h=groove, r=(width-groove*2)/2, $fn=precision);
        translate([0, 0, groove])
         difference(){
             cylinder(h=groove, r=(width-groove*2)/2-groove, $fn=precision);
             cylinder(h=groove, r=(width-groove*2)/2-groove*2, $fn=precision);
         }
     }
}

Again, a simple procedure of stacking two cylinders on top of each other. However, to make slightly more room, the smaller cylinder is hollowed by subtracting an even smaller cylinder. The result is a ridge to keep the lid in place.

And like the box, I will subtract the cylinder lid from a hollowed cylinder:

module CylinderBox(width, height, groove){
    difference(){
         cylinder(h=height, r=(width-groove*2)/2, $fn=precision);
         union(){
                 CylinderLid(width, groove);
                 translate([0, 0, groove]) cylinder(h=height-groove, r=(width-groove*2)/2-groove, $fn=precision);
         }
     }
}

Now I know that the cylinder plus lid will be exactly the proper height together. All I have to do now is put them all together:

width=40;
height=80;
depth=width;
groove=2;
cylinderhight=12;

Box(width, height, depth, groove);
translate([0, 0, depth+3]) NamedBoxLid(width, height, depth, groove);
translate([width/2, groove, depth/2]) rotate([90, 0, 0]) CylinderBox(width, cylinderhight, groove);
translate([width/2, height/2, depth+10]) rotate([180, 0, 0]) CylinderLid(width, groove);
translate([width/2, height/2, depth]) cylinder(h=10, r=1, $fn=precision);

I first specify the sizes for the box in millimeters. It will be 4x4x9.2 CM in size, which is large enough for a 9 volt battery plus holder, some wires and maybe some other stuff.

Next, I create the box at the standard location. Above the box, I put the lid, with some space in-between to keep them separate. The cylinder is put against the box itself around the holes but the lid for the cylinder is put on top of the lid for the box itself.

The last thing connects the box and the two lids to make it all a single part. On Shapeways, you have to pay extra if it is all separate parts so make sure you connect it all together with thin connectors that you can easily cut away with a sharp knife. And yes, I checked to make sure it doesn’t go through the line of text on the lid!

Now, what does it all look like? Well, just look at these images:
LidBoxCylinderLidBatteryBox

It is all quite easy to do, although it requires plenty of math to get things in the proper locations. I haven’t explained the math part and I won’t. I’m just showing what you can do with OpenSCAD and a few hours of free time.

The result is a .STL file that you can upload to Shapeways to have it printed. As an alternative option, you can also convert it to an .OBJ file format and import the box into Poser, and add a Poser model on top of the cylinder lid, just for fun.

Or you will add textures to the shape and use it in Poser/Vue to create some new image. It can be even more interesting if you can combine a 3D printed model together with a rendered image of the same model.

I still have a lot to learn about OpenSCAD but this tool allows you to specify exactly the shapes that you want for your 3D model and allows you to create modules that will allow you to do some complex things like separating a lid from a box.

Four models on Shapeways (NSFW)

I like Shapeways since you can upload your own 3D designs and end up with a 3D printed model. This allows me to e.g. create custom boxes for small hardware experiments. These boxes are combined with my Poser models and will thus result in very interesting designs. But like everything with 3D, you will have to do some experiments first. I created three new models in Poser named Nora, Tommi and Cassiopa and I used some interesting trick to create a special rack to include in the pose. But first, let’s look at Nora:

WIN_20151026_102324 WIN_20151026_102455

Nora was printed in two versions: White plastic and Colored sandstone. And in both models a few flaws were already visible. Nora’s shoes were made of a very thin material and the upload to Shapeways did a repair that removed the very thin parts. As a result, the shoes are flawed.

WIN_20151026_102331 WIN_20151026_102500

Well, a bit of glue and plastic can fix that. But her fingers were also a bit delicate and the sandstone version ended up with broken fingers because the fingers are actually too thin. Again, some glue and they’re back in place.

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Her thumb is still missing, though. Then again, I was more interested in checking how well the 3D printer handles holes, like the area where she keeps her left hand. In front of her genitals, to keep it decent, yet far away so it doesn’t touch. Combined with the position of her legs, this results in a complex hole to print but it ended up flawless. Even her left hand was intact.

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So, what I’ve learned from Nora is that thin elements like fingers and shoes won’t print very well. White plastic does a better job than sandstone, though. That’s because sandstone needs further processing after the printing is done, which requires some manual labour. Thus, small parts can end up being damaged.

Another part that’s important with the sandstone version is the textures. For this, I will check her face:

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And in case you’re wondering why her hair is covered by a towel, well… Hair really doesn’t print very well. It tends to generate loose shells or often to parts that are too thin to print. Besides, the towel makes her look as if she’s just out of bath, relaxing.

The White plastic versions shows a reasonable amount of details in her face. Even her open mouth is printed quite nicely. The sandstone model also has an open mouth and you might see her tongue and teeth if you look inside with a microscope. But I’m more looking at her face and eyes.

Printing in colored sandstone has an ink density of about 50 DPI. Normally, a printer would print at 300 DPI so the colors will lose details. But I chose a light-colored iris and Nora has good-looking pupils in this print. Which is important to remember, since dark eye colors might darken the whole eye. It still looks good in my opinion. At least better than what I can do with paint and a brush.


The next model is Cassiopa. Since I know that thin parts won’t print well, I’ve placed her on a towel, hoping for a better result. The result is okay but the sandstone version did not survive the print because the towel was too thin. So I uploaded a newer version of Cassiopa on a more solid floor and in this version, I also adjusted her clothing. Why? Because I need to test more than just panties on topless women. Still, the white plastic version looks okay, although it is a bit small:

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The model was almost 15 CM long, but that’s the length of the towel. Cassiopa uses only 2/3rd of this length, thus she’s smaller than my other models. (This also happens with one of my Tommi models.) Smaller means that fewer details will be visible but it is still detailed enough.

The towel she’s on has a hole in it, which is too bad but I’m not too worried about it. I now know that I can’t use these kinds of thin plateaus for my models to rest upon. In the sandstone version, the towel had crumbled away.


The last model is Tommi which I’ve combined with a rack. I made a second version of Tommi climbing this rack but Tommi herself becomes small if you do this, thus losing details. Let’s look at the climbing version first:

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I gave Tommi a skirt instead of panties so you should have been able to look up her skirt. However, Shapeways repairs this automatically and as a result, the skirt became solid. And that’s a flaw in the skirt model.

This is a colored print so her texture helps to add details, but she’s too small to be very clear in details. She did have a flaw in her right hand, since her fingers were too thin and either did not get printed or broke off afterwards. A bit of paint will fix that, though. It is just something to remember.

So, remember: make sure thin parts are well-supported and preferably resting against something else and with clothes, be aware that Shapeways might fill in specific areas that you’ve hoped would stay hollow. In this case her skirt but I also tried another interesting top on Tommi but that added a white mass over her breasts since Shapeways was filling the area between the left and right cup.

Next, the bigger version of Tommi with her resting upon the rack. That one was perfect, although one of the legs from the rack had broken off during transport. So, even if a part is thick enough to print, it might still be very vulnerable. With a length of over 4 CM, they can’t handle a lot of stress. Still, this model is great with no broken appendices and even her toenails are visible!

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Well, at least I glued the leg back in place. I might decide to remove all four instead, though, if I fear they will break again. This model happens to be quite heavy too, which makes sense since she has the biggest volume of all. Her eyes are nicely detailed and her skin color even has some variation around her knees. And you can see her toenails! A bigger model is nice in that regard so if your model has a lot of fine details, have it printed in a larger scale! Although the price will scale up too, since more materials will be required.

Well, these three models all look reasonable well and taught me what I need to know about printing Poser models: use a reasonable large-scale, support all small parts and be aware that hollow spaces might end up being filled with extra material because Shapeways “repairs” some thin materials.

I kept these models mostly undressed because I know the textures of these models and needed to see how the color printing will support the texture details. Also, it is difficult to find Poser clothing models that are working well when uploaded to Shapeways. These models are not made to be printed in 3D but to be rendered. So finding good clothes to print is difficult. For Victoria 4, her bikini top and bottom do print quite well, though. They too are filled up, but the filling it towards the body of the model and not between both cups.

Another problem is the limitations on models set by Shapeways. There’s a size limit and there’s a polygon limit. (64 MB or 1 million polygons.) Poser models can easily go over this amount of polygons so you will have to find a way to reduce those, while keeping textures intact.


And then there’s the rack used by both models. The rack is the same length for both and I’ve created it myself by using the Firestorm viewer with the Second Life virtual worlds, but I could have used my own OpenSim world too. I just joined several cylinders for the rounded sides and balls for the rounded corners to build the framework. I also created a square plane with a hole inside, which I copied three times and put next to one another. I then exported the whole model from the SL viewer to a Collada file, which I imported in AccuTrans 3D to clean it up a bit and to reduce the complexity of it. (For example, by merging all parts into one single part.)

And then I checked if the rack has enough space for other hardware.

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Well, the rack isn’t wide enough for an Arduino board

Since I copied the square plane three times, I had expected all holes to have the same size. And the rack was made so I can add some hardware in the empty rack space and have some wires or other parts move through the open holes to e.g. shine a LED light on the model. So, I was surprised when I discovered that the middle hole was slightly bigger than the other two. Which I discovered by trying to fit an Arduino-board. (The YUN is shown in the picture.) The length is long enough for the Arduino Mega but it will have a few millimeters on the sides of the rack. The pins are actually at the exact location of the long bars. So you could actually put an Arduino in the rack if you don’t mind the width.

But smaller devices like the Arduino Mini, the Trinket, the NetDuino mini and the Digispark have plenty of room inside the rack.

But back to the holes!

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Using the climbing Tommi version, I used to try a green LED. It doesn’t fit the top or bottom hole but it does fit the middle hole. Trying it again with a regular lamp of 5 MM diameter, I see it going through the middle hole without effort but the top and bottom ones don’t fit. A laser light won’t even fit the middle hole, though.

The conclusion is that these holes are a bit too small for LED lights. No problem, since I can take a drill bit and make them wider. Still, I had hoped they would be big enough for a LED light. So I have to redo my calculations. And I have to wonder why the middle hole is bigger than the other two, while they’re basically all the same in my 3D software.

Anyway, I now have two great models for containing some of my experimental hardware. I know the racks are open so the hardware would be exposed but that’s something I will solve with a next version of my rack. I also know how thin the walls can be and how thin the walls of my rack are. I can still have the rounded areas but the rack should get more solid walls. Thin walls too, since the rack has a lot of volume.

Next, the question what I would like to create with these models. Whatever I think of should match the model. The three holes in the rack are meant for lights, cables, buttons or something else but I don’t want to show too much hardware on the model side of the rack. I also need to find a solution to attach the additional hardware to the rack, since it doesn’t have any special pins or whatever to hold them. Then again, these models were created to see how well these racks would print. The different hole size was a surprise for me which I need to include in my calculations.

And the three rack-less models? They’re just nice desk ornaments.I have ordered more prints so I will likely have more ornaments soon.

My next designs will have better racks, preferably with extra points to hold my hardware in place. The sandstone prints still look great but I have to consider the size of the whole thing. And I will need to experiment with clothing, to see which items will print best. The same is true with hair, since I still have to find hair that prints well in 3D.

All in all, 3D printing is a very interesting challenge. Slightly expensive too, though.

Shapeways 3D printing

Well, as you know, I like making 3D images. But nowadays there’s also an option of making 3D prints. You can do this with your own 3D printer or you’ll use the services of a company like Shapeways.

Personally, I want to experiment with my own 3D printers but finding a good one isn’t easy. On KickStarter, I found Tiko, the unibody 3D printer which looks great! So I supported it since I want one! It is now funded so they are working on creating it and then shipping it so I have to be patient before I can 3D print myself. And I’m not patient!

So I have experimented with Shapeways, which is fun. And my first experiments failed mostly. I noticed several interesting challenges because 3D printing and 3D rendering are two completely different things. Take, for example, this model that I’ve called Bianca:
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A nice bikini model wielding a sword and something I really would have liked in color. Unfortunately, Shapeways does offer color printing but the details on this model are too fine for this. They have colored sandstone and colored plastic. Unfortunately, sandstone is brittle during printing and the model might fall apart during handling. Full-color plastic is better but requires a minimum thickness of some parts and there’s a size limitation. The largest size allowed for this model resulted in too many thin walls. So I decided to go for strong, white plastic instead:

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The drawback of white plastic is that I now have to paint it myself. Which is okay, since the print was perfect. Even her sword came out nicely. Only the bikini bottom had a flaw, since at one point of her backside, there’s a hollow area because the material was too thin. But hey, it looks funny so I don’t mind. 🙂

Still, I wanted a colored 3D print so I experimented a bit and decided to use this dinosaur as a model:

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And I kept it just simple so I can experience what the material would look like. But also, it allowed me to see how well the sandstone can handle pointy, short things. And the result looks great:

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Okay, not my finest picture but the result looks good. The sandstone glitters a bit, though. But the horns are great and the print was perfect, except for a broken toe. That’s basically a flaw that can happen with the chosen material.

There are many other materials to choose from, including metallic plastic and even expensive metals. But printing in those materials is complex and requires shapes with thicker walls and fewer details. Printing in gold is also very expensive because, gold! You don’t want to have big, gold models unless you have a big wad of money available.

For 3D printing, various techniques are used. The technique generally depends on the material used. Shapeways has a nice material selector for picking the materials you like and provides detailed information to use when you create your model. Metals are especially complex because they need to print a mold first. Once it is done, they have to pour the hot metal into the mold and then polish the result. Although fine details are possible, they might get lost during polishing and they might not reach all areas for polishing.

I have one model printed in Elasto plastic, which is fun stuff. This model can bounce since it’s a bit rubber-like. I have 4 models in hard plastic and two dinosaurs in sandstone, I’ve ordered a few more but they tend to be canceled because of small flaws that are discovered during manual checkups before they start printing. Often, it’s just the wall thickness, loose shells or other minor flaws but they are important because your finely detailed model might miss some fingers or other parts because these walls were too thin. Or the model is made from two or more parts and not all printers can print multiple parts.

Still, you can always tell Shapeways to print it anyways. I did so with several models and the results were fine. Except for one sandstone model, where the legs had broken off and some parts had shifted.

So, how do 3D printing and 3D rendering differ from one another? Well, there are a lot of differences and as I’ve discovered, when rendering I have some semi-transparent parts in my model that adds some special effects. For example, my model has a cornea that adds reflection or other special effects to the eye. But in a 3D print, there is no transparency so it becomes a blob over the colors of the iris.

Also, with rendering you tend to use bump mapping and set up special lighting to make the model look good. In printing, all you have is the shape of the model, nothing else. Details have to be part of the shape when printing while rendering images allows other tricks for those details.

And printing has only one color, unless you choose the 3D color printing options. You can still paint your model afterwards and to do so, I would recommend the strong, white plastic and acrylic paints. Of course, a color print is optional but the result might not be what you expect. Again, in a 3D rendering, the colors can be enhanced by using all kinds of techniques. For a 3D print, you’ll have to find a place in your house where the light will show your model from its best side.

Finally, the printing quality. If we were talking about 2D printer, we’d be talking at the number of DPI of a printer. In 3D world, we have to look at the volume of the smallest particle that the printer supports. And this also makes clear why 3D printing tends to be slow. If the smallest part is 0.2×0.2×0.2 millimeters and you’re printing something that fits a box of 20x20x30 centimeters then you’re using a lot of drops! Of course, the model will be smaller than such a box but my Bianca model was almost 80 cubic centimeters.

And to be honest, my 3D print needs a bit of polishing since those particles leave very, very tiny bumps on my model. Still, my sandstone dinosaur are made from bigger particles and feel like very fine sandpaper. Polishing should be possible, though. I just don’t want to risk it.

I’m still waiting for a few more models to return from the printer. I want my dinosaur in colored plastic just to see what that material is like. I also ordered it in white plastic for painting purposes. And I ordered two sandstone prints of this model:

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Two versions because I used two different hair styles.

I hope this will print well and to help the printing process, I made sure the model is on a plateau for stability and put the hands and feet against something solid. I’ve set the bikini top and bottom to the thickest setting and now I just have to wait until they can take it into production.

So, my conclusion is that 3D printing has its challenges. I still have to wait for my 3D printer to arrive before I can really start making my stuff but for now, Shapeways is providing me a great service for testing purposes. Okay, a lot of my models have been rejected for flaws but you can only learn from your flaws! So I’m fine with that. I just start all over again until it goes right.

Adventures in 3D.

I remember when Blender became first available for me. It was a 3D rendering engine and it looked fun, so I downloaded it, installed it and tried it. This was somewhere around 1999 and I still had a lot to learn back then. Still, I did not like the user interface of Blender (and still don’t) and I considered it too complex and not useful enough for myself so I soon forgot about it again. I still was interested in rendering 3D images, but I also wanted something simpler.

So, around 2004 I purchased a copy of Poser and it had the user-friendliness that I was looking for. I needed to collect all kinds of models, though. But by using models I could create some interesting images and could use my own CGI artwork instead of my own photographs for the software development that I like to do.

Being able to generate your own artwork for your applications is a better option than depend on stock material or purchasing/hiring others to make it for you. I don’t want to violate copyrights of others, but when you create websites, you need some graphical parts too and I needed to be my supplier of these images. Buttons were easy, since Paint Shop Pro and other 2D software had plenty of functionality to create them. But more complex things like showing a person behind a computer either required taking pictures or rendering a 3D model. Poser made the second option available to me.

When Second Life became hot, I also played a bit with that. Here is a 3D environment where you can build 3D objects simply by combining several basic shapes, or prims. (From primitives.) The game gave me a more comfortable feel around 3D environments and made me wanting even more.

And now its 2014. I have a piece of land in Second Life where I can build all kinds of things. I use the Firestorm viewer which allows me to exports my own objects from Second Life to use in other 3D software and from there I can continue to change them even further. Second Life also allows me to import back those objects I’ve exported and modified and allows me to import other objects from 3D software, although it does have a lot of problems with many of those models. Unfortunately, Second Life isn’t very clear when it reports errors and doesn’t seem to be able to simply fix some problems during import.

But in all this time, I’ve gotten a nice collection of 3D software which I will mention now, including where you can find it and what I think about it. All software I have are used on Windows systems.

Blender

Blender is a very popular product but I consider the user interface a bit complex. Too many buttons and options are polluting the screen and make it difficult to understand. To make things worse, it’s user interface behaves different from standard Windows user interfaces. Dialog boxes tend to appear anywhere, with plenty of different options instead of Yes/No or Ok/Cancel. Information is visible all over the screen so you have to look everywhere to find it. It’s just not intuitive, which is probably because this is an open-source collaboration between many developers who each left their own marks on the application.

Personally, I think the Blender user-interface needs a complete rewrite…

POV-Ray

POV-Ray is another 3D render engine and even older than Blender. POV-Ray uses scripts instead of a 3D graphical environment thus it’s not easy to use if you want to generate some 3D model. You just have to write each line in code for this software. Fortunately, there are plenty of 3D modelling applications that you can use to generate POV-Ray scripts. One of them is:

AC3D

AC3D is a commercial product that makes 3D modelling quite easy. Not as easy as Poser or Second Life, but it has plenty of good features. It’s user interface could use some sanitation, though. On my dual-monitor setup, some of the dialog boxes tend to pop up on the wrong monitor. But it’s very practical and supports several 3D image formats. For all others, you might want something that’s able to convert many different formats. Something like the Online 3D Model Converter or an application like:

AccuTrans 3D

AccuTrans 3D supports a few 3D image formats, allowing you to convert your models between different applications. This software also allows you to make some simple modifications to your models and I’ve used it to convert my Poser models to a format that Second Life understands. During this conversion, I also merge the parts of my models that all use the same texture, thus making the models simpler within Second Life. Of course, there’s an alternative that’s free:

MeshLab

MeshLab is open-source, but it has a clear user interface. It still has a few flaws, though. For example, it’s a bit slow compared to AccuTrans 3D. And it fails to correctly import some of my models correctly. It also fails to generate an export file that Second Life can read correctly, thus I need AccuTrans 3D to create those. (And even then Second Life tends to have problems importing them.)

Still, MeshLab is useful and allows you to make several changes to your models. But if you want to put models in proper poses, you will need:

Poser and Poser Pro

Poser is my favorite tool to create 3D models to use within my software. If I need a model of a person behind a computer, I can make it within 20 minutes with Poser. Just take a model of a person, add clothing models and a computer model, perhaps a desk and chair model and start rendering. It is very easy to use and it can import models created by other applications, although those will be less flexible than regular Poser models.

Another application that can be used with Poser models is:

DAZ Studio

DAZ Studio is free, thus making it very popular. It uses the same models as Poser does and DAZ also sells those models! Thus, DAZ has become very popular as supplier of Poser models.

But maybe it’s because I’m too used to Poser already, but I don’t like the user interface of DAZ Studio. To make it worse, I’ve tried to open some of my Poser models with DAZ Studio, only to discover that DAZ Studio did not accept many of the changes I’ve made to the models. Body parts were reset to their default shapes and it just did not look right.

Still, if you use Poser or DAZ Studio to render some new images, you’ll often want to have some interesting background too. Indoors settings aren’t much of a problem but outdoor images would need a more complex environment. One solution would be:

Bryce Pro

Bryce can make some great environments, although it seems to be missing some functionality. It also looks very small on my screen with a resolution of 1920×1200. While the results look very good, the user interface is less practical than the alternative:

E-on Vue

I use Vue a lot to render models that I’ve created with Poser. The reason for this is because Vue generates very good environments while Poser creates fine models. I could use Poser to render those models, but the lack of a good environment makes them look a bit boring.

Still, one problem with Vue is that it cannot export my generated environments for use in other software. Although Vue does have an export option, it also has many models that are not allowed to be exported. Thus you can create a nice sea, with boats and an island, and try to export it only to discover that you can export just one tiny rock from the whole scene. Vue is also quite expensive, compared to Bryce.

There is far more 3D software available, for all kinds of purposes. DAZ Studio also has Hexagon and Carrara:

Hexagon

Hexagon is just another tool to create models in 3D. I like to use it and have created a few things with it, but it tends to crash a lot. It’s not reliable enough for big projects because it can unexpectedly crash while you’re working on some project. While it is very user-friendly, the instability is just annoying.

Carrara

Carrara is similar to DAZ Studio and Poser, since it’s meant to put models in certain poses. But it combines this with landscape modelling, making it more useful. It has a simple interface, making it very practical to use. Less is more. Well, at least for user interfaces. Users tend to get lost in very busy interfaces.

Carrara can use Poser models and more. It can import templates I’ve created based on Poser models, although it doesn’t always succeed at importing Poser scenes. It can export to a format that Second Life should be able to read, but this too has some incompatibilities. Second Life is just too picky.

Second Life

It’s easy to forget but Second Life itself is also very capable of building 3D images. And it seems to be very user-friendly at this too, since it does so in an interactive way with the user. You have an avatar that can walk or fly around the object, which helps you to create models at a nice scale. It supports several primary shapes that can be used to build more complex items. It also allows great control over textures on your objects.

However, to build objects in Second Life, you need some land where you can build. This happens to be limited to certain areas, unless you yourself own some land. You also have to pay small amounts to upload images to the Second Life environment, making it costly in usage. So, there is an alternative:

OpenSimulator

The OpenSimulator is an alternative for Second Life. It’s open-source, thus free. But it can be used by the same viewers that are used for Second Life. It is a bit complex to set up your own simulations and OpenSimulator itself lacks a useful graphical interface. For this, you need a special viewer:

FireStorm

FireStorm happens to be a great viewer for both Second Life and OpenSimulator. While Second Life has its own viewer, FireStorm has some more advanced features and can be used for OpenSimulator. You can use it to build objects within Second Life or OpenSimulator and then export these for usage in other 3D software. Thus you could use Second Life to make a building or fortress and export it and use it in Poser with some models around it.

There are more viewers available for Second Life and OpenSimulator, but I would recommend to use Firestorm.

VastPark

One more simulator. Unlike Second Life, VastPark seems to focus more on businesses who want to make more interactive presentations. And what better to use for this than a virtual environment.

But like OpenSimulator, you can’t really use this without first generating the virtual environment. This takes time and some skills with 3D images. You need to create models and create textures for those models, else it’s just a lot of white on white…

VastPark could also be used to create complex animations by recording the actions within the virtual world. This would be useful for creating training material or support documentation of special events, like car accidents or office fires.

LightWave

I haven’t used LightWave but it looks quite nice. However, I use the LightWave file format as export format for Poser. I then convert those with AccuTrans 3D to the Collada file format, which Second Life can import. The only problem is that Poser models are extremely detailed because they are used to generate highly detailed images. Second Life can’t really handle that much details and often fails to import these models. I can use AccuTrans 3D to split the Poser model in several parts and import those parts one by one, which seems to have a better effect. However, the models that you will import this way in Second Life eat away a lot of your land usage, thus you need a large piece of land. Or your own simulation!

FreeCAD

FreeCAD is just another modelling tool. It has some good examples but it lacks some practical functions. However, missing functionality can be added through plug-ins. It is a good tool to combine with POV-Ray. It can do a lot based on the design mode that you’ve selected.

DeleD

DeleD is another modeller, which is more used for game development. It is useful for simpler objects, not Poser models. It works a bit like Second Life, where you select cubes, spheres and other primitives to build more complex objects.

Speaking of game development, there are also libraries for developers that can help them to create their own 3D software. For example:

Horde 3D

This is an open source 3D rendering engine, to be used in games and 3D applications. It has been created for speed, thus less practical if you want to generate highly detailed images. But in a game, you want animations, and you want them in real-time, running smoothly.

Ogre 3D

Ogre 3D is another 3D rendering engine, written in C++ and with wrappers for use with Python, C# and Java. It too is great to use with games and other interactive environments. It also supports Linux, iOS, Android, WinRT and the Mac OS X. Basically, it’s a library around the OpenGL specifications.

OpenGL

OpenGL isn’t really an application but today, it is part of almost every computer that has a graphics card. The Khronos Group is responsible for maintaining this standard, thus every graphics card can be used by the OpenGL protocol. (At least, if the manufacturer added the support for OpenGL.) Most 3D software relies on OpenGL to display its graphics, although there are plenty of games that use DirectX instead. However, DirectX is an API created by Microsoft to be used for Windows applications only. Thus, many developers are focusing more on OpenGL while Microsoft seems to try to push them back to DirectX.

Oculus VR

The greatest dream of 3D will be the Oculus Rift, a special piece of hardware that’s supposed to give you a 3D virtual environment. Basically, it’s made of two screens, each of them showing you a scene from a slightly different angle. Since each eye will only see one screen, your brain will see the virtual world in 3D. (Unless you’re a cyclops.) It will respond on the movements of your head and development for this device will ask a lot from future developers. The 3D worlds are arriving for consumers and companies. It’s still mostly eye-candy to have nice, 3D environments. Development for such 3D worlds is more complex than having a simple web page with text on it. It will need to conquer its place in this world.

However, there’s also development done on 3D televisions and monitors that would not require special glasses to view its content. If such a device would hit the market, then 3D development would become even more important…

So, developers… Prepare to go 3D!

Dealing with deadlines…

I’ve worked on many projects and all of them had deadlines. And like any other developer, I consider deadlines very annoying as they get closer and closer, forcing me to work more and procrastinate less. The result tends to be an uneven workload, since things are reasonable quiet when the deadline is in two months and extremely busy when the deadline is at the end of this week, and it’s already Wednesday. Deadlines can be especially nasty if someone estimated a task to take three weeks while it turns out to be two months worth of work. Or worse, it’s two weeks of work, but other tasks in the same period also expand to two weeks work. Thus, if you have 5 tasks that each take two weeks, and you have three weeks in total, then you’re doomed before you can even start…
But while deadlines are Evil, we just can’t work without them. At least, as long as we want to receive our paychecks, we can’t do without them. Why? Because to create a project or to upgrade an existing one, an X amount of money is reserved to cover all development costs. The final deadline is calculated based on the amount of money that is invested in the project, minus the amounts of money that those paychecks will cost. (Plus many other costs…) Once this deadline swooshes by, the product will have to generate revenue so new projects can be started. Else, the end of the deadline will probably mean your paychecks will stop too. So, it’s important to finish within those deadlines.
I can’t help thinking about the Cathedral and the Bazaar, an essay describing the differences between open-source and closed-source. It fits the area of deadlines too, since bazaars are built by people who feel inspired to build just a small piece of something large. And when they leave, others can take over. As a result, thousands of people can work on building the Bazaar and while the final result might be chaotic because of all the style and color differences, it’s also something that’s build quickly and without any deadlines, simply because others will fill in the spaces of those who don’t make it in time. Then again, many people working on those bazaars won’t get a paycheck, just some recognition of being part of a larger community.

Building a Cathedral, however, is a very long process which used to take decades or even longer. Things had to be carefully planned and everything needed to be finished in time, because other parts need to be built on top of the first parts. Not making the deadline often means it would take longer for the cathedral to be finally finished. Fortunately, most Cathedrals had near-infinite funds because people knew it would take decades to finish even before they started building. Thus, they would find investors to start things up by donating money in return for promises in the afterlife. Which makes a very wonderful sales argument, by the way. Besides, if for whatever reason the construction of a Cathedral could not continue, people would change the build plans or re-use whatever had been built for something else. Here, deadlines matter but because the financial resources were almost infinite, there was never a real, final deadline.

Unfortunately, software developers generally want to be paid and don’t have infinite resources. Thus, we have to deal with final deadlines far more often. Which is why development methods have been created to make sure that there’s at least something finished at the end of a deadline.

When I was young, I’ve learned a technique called SDM, which is based on the seven stages of action. This method is often referred to as a waterfall method and is often considered outdated because people today expect software development to be “rapid”. In SDM, each stage could take a few weeks to finish and only in the 5th stage you would have some real code that would do something. Then the 6th stage would start all kinds of tests and if those tests failed, you would have to go back to stage 5. And if there was a design flaw, you might even have to go back to stages 4 or 3. Thus, it could easily take months before a company would see some results.

A modern approach is called Agile and basically it’s different from the old-fashioned waterfall technique because now you’re dealing with dozens of small waterfalls instead of one big one. And every waterfall has its own final deadline. A moment when you have to stop working on it simply because you’re out of resources. Unfortunately, if agile methods aren’t implemented correctly, they tend to fail quite hard and you will miss plenty of deadlines. This is mainly because these methods are created to generate results fast, even though the results themselves are small.

When done correctly, Agile will start to generate a very small project that has almost no functionality and isn’t much to look at. As time passes, more and more functionality will be added, which is possible because customers start paying for the product. (Or other forms of income are generated.) These customers will make extra demands and by using agile methods, the developers make the product comply to those demands within a reasonable amount of time.

But Agile will go wrong if developers start writing code too early or when management fail to estimate how long certain tasks will take. Worse, unlike the old SDM Waterfall method, the developers have no idea what the product should look like in two years. With SDM, they will. It’s just that with SDM you won’t have a product before this time, while agile methods will allow you to get customers involved in an early stage.

Agile methods also have another advantage. You are allowed to miss some of the deadlines, which just means some functionality won’t be implemented. So your project will e.g. miss functionality to export to Excel. It’s not that big of a deal, since you can always decide to try again after some time. But before you can do that, you will have to build up your resources again and analyze what went wrong. With the SDM methods, you might discover that exporting to Excel isn’t possible for whatever reason, thus you might have to go back a couple of stages to redesign this part. And going back means the whole project will be delayed longer.

So, let’s look at several scenarios with deadlines in them…

The deadline was yesterday.

Well, too bad. The project has failed. If you used SDM then start looking for another job since your company will most likely run out of its resources. Of course, there’s still a chance that they find some more investors thus the deadline might get extended. If that’s the case, the deadline just wasn’t final.

If you used agile methods then your product will be missing a feature. This is less costly and maybe you can keep your job but this is also the moment when people have to analyze what went wrong. Too much procrastination? Bad management? Bad planning? Or just too many surprises and unexpected events?

I have seen how a scrum sprint of three weeks contained work for 4 developers. Each of them would have to work at least 32 hours per week. Unfortunately, it was planned during the holiday season around Christmas, and two of the developers had taken two weeks off. One three weeks and the last one would be available most of the time. Management knew about this all months before the sprint would start so it was already doomed before it started. To make it worse, the developers would still try to get a lot of work done, thus coding started without much thought of any logical design and the code just became a bigger mess than it was before. Bad planning because of bad management that results in bad code. This can haunt the future of the project since the next sprints are unlikely to contain tasks to fix the problems that occurred during this period.

When you’re not finished at the end of the deadline, it’s important to analyze why it failed and if there’s anything usable produced which could help to redo this sprint. The code needs to be frozen and put on a sidetrack (a separate branch in your source control system) because the next sprints will have to be done. In the worst case, the other sprints are depending on the thing you were supposed to build, thus you must restart it all over again, causing an extra delay for the final delivery of the product.

The deadline is at the end of this week, and its Wednesday.

If you’re using SDM methodology, this will mean a certain doom, unless the product is finished and the testers can test it within the remaining days and don’t discover any bug. I have better luck with the horse races when I bet on the three-legged horse, but okay… It could happen. You can also try to deliver an untested product to your customers, which happens often enough. It’s a gamble but it might give you a chance to get more resources which will allow you to fix anything your customers find. Then again, if the bugs are really nasty, customers might claim their money back and might even sue for damages caused by your product.

When you’re using agile methodology then this means this sprint will be the last one so you should start working on fixing any major bugs and forget about adding new features. Disable and hide anything that isn’t implemented and if you can’t fix certain bugs in the last days, consider the possibility of hiding the options that cause the bug. Your customers are waiting and you’re now in damage control mode.

However, if you used the agile methods correctly, most of the features that are supposed to be in the product are available. Most bugs have been fixed already as part of earlier sprints. Most functionality should be available, even if you were forced to skip a few sprints. Just remember that this is not the moment to add some new functions. Quite the opposite! This is the moment to disable all that’s not working!

The deadline is over two weeks.

If you use SDM methods then you should be in the last stage, which is called ‘Implementation’. Basically, this is the final test phase of the whole project and things should work just fine. If bugs are encountered, they should be small and you should just test to see if the project is doing what it’s expected to do. Minor bugs can still be fixed or even ignored but any changes of the code should have a very minor impact. If you do find severe bugs, you will have to go back one stage, which will cause you to see the deadline pass by before you have a final product. But you will have a chance to fix those bugs and deliver the product with those fixes untested. Hopefully, those fixes didn’t cause new bugs. If they do, angry customers will tell you about them!

Agile methodology will have sprints of two or three weeks so this is your final sprint. You should not be adding new features at this moment because they might add new bugs. Those new bugs are normally fixed during the next sprint, but this one happens to be the last. The final sprint is better used to fix the most serious problems and have them tested so you know the final product will be okay to deliver to your customers.

All projects will have bugs so don’t be afraid if your product has a few. The deadline is there to show when you run out of resources and by delivering the product, you can gain some new resources. If you used agile methods correctly, most bugs will be minor and you will have added plenty of new functionality to please your customers.

The deadline is the next month.

Using SDM methods, this means that you will move from ‘Realization’ towards ‘Implementation’ thus if some features are still missing, then you’d better consider if those are really needed. This time will tell you if the design that you created during the first stages are good enough for the final product. Worst-case scenario? A design flaw, causing you to go back at least 3 or more stages. Still, at this moment you can consider moving to agile methods and fix things within one or two sprints.
When you’re using agile, you can consider adding a few minor functions to the product and you should start testing in an environment that resembles that of your customers. Don’t try to come up with new things and keep the developers available so they can quickly fix things before the final deadline.

I’ve seen the error of companies who decided to let developers work on the next sprint which would be part of the next version of the product. This is not a good idea because if something goes seriously wrong in the current development versions, those developers will have to switch back to the code base from before the new development. Worse, that new sprint will most likely fail too because those developers can’t work on it. Do keep in mind that resources will stop when you’re passed the deadline and your product isn’t ready to be delivered.

Of course, many companies will have some reserves that will allow them to delay things a bit more, but customers will be unhappy about this, too. They expected a product at the end of the month and now learn that they might have to wait another two to four weeks, at least.

The deadline is within a half-year.

Well, with this much time you can start making careful planning and do a few designs and exchange ideas before you start developing. If you’re starting something new then it might even be a good idea to use SDM methodologies with a deadline set at three months in the future. While it’s a single waterfall, it’s very likely that you want to start the project with a good base of functions. It’s no use if you have a product within a month that allows users to just enter a bunch of data without any other functionality, and with a crappy GUI. Besides, if you do manage to create a working product from scratch within two scrum sprints, then what’s the difference with the old-fashioned waterfall way anyways? Okay, you’ve had two smaller waterfalls. Most likely it won’t be enough to appease your customers because it’s a product that still leaves a lot to desire.

Still, agile methods would also work fine, because those customers can start adding their desires to the final design. You would have to start small and have a way for your customers to offer lots of comments. It won’t really be your product because your customers will dictate some of its functionality. Then again, that’s how agile methods work. They offer customers an early peek view and allows them to become part of the process.

Which also tends to cause problems with agile, because an important customer might ask for functionality that’s complex and takes long to deliver. To keep this customer, you would have to add this, but your other customers might prefer that you start with other features first. Management will have to read through all those demands and will have to decide which ones can be done before the final deadline, and which ones are for the next version.

Do keep in mind that I don’t mean the end of a sprint with ‘final deadline’. The final deadline is when you will have to deliver something to your customers because you’re running out of resources.

With SDM, you can still show a design to your customers and ask if they have any more comments. You can continue with these design stages until you reach the ‘Realization’ part. At that point, you should have enough information about what you want to build, what the project should look like, what your customers are expecting and you will be able to divide the remaining work into short sprints for the next three months. Up until that moment, you would have more need of your designers while your developers can just be procrastinating or whatever. But once you start to realize things, using sprints will at least make sure that you will reach part of your final goals.

Agile tends to fail also because of a lack of vision. You can start with a small project, then listen to the desires of your customers and add more functionality. But sometimes you want to create something big, like a CRM product for supermarkets. Sure, you could start small with a simple CRM product, but then it’s likely that those big customers aren’t interested and you’ll end up with lots of small fishes with lots of small desires. Still, plenty of small fish will offer enough resources, as long as you can keep them nibbling on your bait.

Creating a nice CGI landscape.

I want a new background for my desktop system. But it’s a dual-monitor system with two monitors with 1920×1200 resolutions. This means that I have to make a very wide image. So I decided to make a wide landscape image. But I don’t want a bunch of trees, some mountains and water, but also some models inside the image, doing something. So I’ve decided to make it a hunting scene. On one side, Raevin with a dangerous gun who is hunting a Brontotherium on the other side. So I first need to create and pose them in Poser. And to make it easy, I just put them both in a single model. I can split them again once it’s imported in Vue. So, here are the models:

Main charactersOf course, I will make them look at one another in Vue. As I said, I will split it in Vue. Just needed to create a proper pose first.

The next step is starting Vue, set the image to 4800×1500 pixels which is the proper scale for my two monitors. I will have to re-size it later on to 3840×1200 to make it fit perfectly, but the larger resolution will also allow me to cut out part of the image as separate images. But size won’t be enough. I need to pick a proper atmosphere, the flow of the landscape, the trees and grass I want and of course I want to add water since that big monster would look nice with his body partially reflected. It also means adding some small splashes and ripples.

So, the atmosphere first. It should be sunny and a bit cloudy, but no real visible clouds. A nice sunset would look great. So I start with this:

Atmosphere

Next, I need to decide where I want the models and have decided to place Raevin on the left, so the prey is on the right. The sunlight from behind will make his shape a bit darker, thus more menacing. The same will be true for Raevin, but I will add a second light on Raevin so she becomes more clear in the image.

But before adding the models, I need to decide on the landscape. I want a few mountains in the background. I also want the animal standing in a lake, so I need water on the right side. But Raevin needs to be on dry land, preferably grassy. So, let’s add some terrain, grass and trees for in the distance.

Plains

It’s still far from perfect but it has a lot of potential  But you will also notice that I have water on the complete foreground, but I want to keep Raevin on dry ground. That makes it a bit complex, but it’s still easily solved. Also, I want to have the animal on top of some rock too, even though that rock would be submerged. It just adds more realism. So, I need to import both now, split them and make some adjustments while placing both on flat rocks. So, let’s first show Raevin in this environment.

Adding RaevinWell, I don’t really want Raevin to hunt this animal. She’s cautious but she has a different target. A lot of improvements are still needed, though. For example, I want some bushes in the image too. But first, that animal… And I have to remember to put a rock beneath his feed and to add splashes because he’s walking through water.

Adding Animal

This is promising to look very nice already. However, trees! I am going to add a third rock, place it behind Raevin and I will add trees to it, so she’s slightly hidden. No good hunter would be on open terrain where any possible prey or dangerous animal could see them…

However, I’ve noticed that the atmosphere seems to degrading with every new preview I render. It seems to be getting brighter and brighter. So I just load the atmosphere again before my next preview. And yes, this could be a bug in Vue, or maybe a problem with my graphics card. I will have to look into that one day. However, for now reloading the atmosphere works just fine, as shown in this preview:

Preview 1The next step is fine-tuning the complete image. Raevin needs to be a bit more shiny, and I don’t like the way her gun looks. So I need to fix her textures, or materials. But the problem is that this image is becoming a bit slow to use, so I will use a trick to speed things up. First, I will save this scene so it’s safe. Then it’s time for a new preview. (I will also add a second light just to highlight Raevin.)

Preview 2

And now it’s starting to look better already. The shiny cybernetic limbs of Raevin are a bit shiny in this preview, but I don’t mind. It adds an extra dimension to the image. It’s time to render this image at its full resolution and highest quality. Considering the amount of objects and reflections in this image, I guess it will take a few hours to finish. First I need to save it and then I’ll start rendering around noon. It will probably take most of the night to finish.

And indeed, the next morning I can see the result. Raevin is really having shining cybernetic limbs, which look very interesting. Not a good thing for a hunter, though. Unfortunately, she seems to be floating a bit above the grass so I might have to adjust that. Maybe I should also change the reflectiveness of her cybernetics. The extra rock with the trees is missing some grass, so I might want to add that too. And the mountains in the background you can see lots and lots of houses. It’s really a lot. It turns the setting away from prehistoric times, which is what I like about it. The brontotherium looks great, though. See for yourself!

Raevin and BrontotheriumUpdate

After considering the above image, I decided that a few details had to be changed. First of all, the background just didn’t look natural enough. The sun is shining very pretty but there are too many houses. Another problem is the shininess of the cybernetic arms and legs, that are too distracting. And there’s a bald spot on the ground where grass is supposed to be.

Rendering a final image is very time-consuming and I knew it would take about a day for the render to be complete. But since I wasn’t happy with the above image, I did render it again with some different details. The scene, lighting and models are still the same, except for the textures of the land and cybernetic limbs. This should be a much better result:

Raevin and BrontotheriumUpdate 2

I’m still not very happy with the final result. Raevin needs to be even lower and she should be aware of the beast that’s about to charge at her. So I turned her around a bit. I also changed some of the bushes in the foreground and added additional plants on the right so the “cameraman” would be hiding behind these.

This minor adjustment resulted in the following image, which is supposed to be the last version:

Raevin and Brontotherium II

 

Poser Pro 2012 versus Vue 10 Complete (Slightly NSFW because: nipples)

A long time ago, I’ve created an image in Poser of Victoria 4 together with a large, white dragon in a winter landscape. Back then, I liked the result but recently I decided to redo the render with Vue. And while I’ve tried to keep it as similar to the original one, there are a few differences that I added.

First of all, I changed the background. Poser works with backdrops and the result is clearly visible in the Poser image. You can see where the backdrop starts because it’s darker than the foreground. In Vue, I removed the backdrop and put some real plants in it. I also made sure the landscape behind it would be as white as possible so the illusion of snow continues.

I also changed the clothes a bit. When I created the Poser image, I did not have the option to turn clothes into rags.

The angle of the camera is also slightly different and because of the way the camera is set up, the clothes are exposing a bit much of the model’s skin. Oops! Yeah, suddenly her nipples are partially visible… I could Photoshop them away, though. I decided not to do that.

The lighting is different too. In Vue, the light is much brighter.

But an important difference is the transparency of the dragon’s wings! Because the image is lighter and because I’ve added “real plants” in the background, they’ve become much more transparent. It’s a neat effect, also demonstrating the fragility of dragon wings.

So, what do they look like, these images? Well, below on the left is the Poser image and on the right, the Vue image. Click on them to view the bigger versions. Originals are at 3000×4000 pixels but to save disk space, I’ve uploaded them at size 768×1024.

Skin colors in images

When you look at all kinds of pictures then you will notice that most models tend to have a light-colored skin. Which is a bit off since there are many dark-skinned women too who are modelling. And while discrimination might be a reason for this, I think there is a better reason, which I can best show by creating an image with one model and 5 different skin tones. And sure, I will keep it decent. The model will wear clothes and jewelry to highlight her a bit more.

The model I’ve used is Raevin and I kept her human ears and made her breast to the regular V4 shape. (In other words, zeroed it.) It’s a pretty shape and a slightly dark skin, so a nice balance between two extremes. I saved her with all clothes and then imported her five times to get five identical figures. Then I’ve started changing their skin colors.

The two on the right use a skin called “Raw Macy” and “Raw Macy 2”, which are a dark and very dark skin. The left-most is Lolo and to the right of her is Mylin, an oriental skin. The middle one is still Raevin. I’ve avoided adding a very light skin because that would upset the contrast even more. And I won’t render it too big in Poser since these five models together eat up a lot of memory. I do have 24 GB of RAM available, but when I see that it’s using 20 GB already, I just know it’s working very, very hard to process all those models! Fortunately, I use 64-bit versions of Poser and Vue, else I could never create images at those high resolutions.

And rendering this many models isn’t much slower than rendering a single model. At least, not as long as the rendering engine doesn’t have to use the swap disk to retrieve data. Lots of memory in your computer helps a lot!

Well, this is the result in Poser:

And the reason why dark-skinned models are less popular is suddenly visible. Even though all have exactly the same body shape, the one on the right is more like a silhouette with a dress than a real model. Raevin and Mylin are actually the ones that are the most visible.

I’ve also rendered the above image with Vue, which results in a much better image. But Vue also shows very clearly how darker women disappear and seem to be like shadows in art.

 

The girls on the left are still very good, with Mylin being the one who is the one who’se body and facial expressions are the clearest. Do keep in mind that they all use the same facial expressions!

The darkest Macy is shiny  which happens to be highlights in the skin. I could have removed those. But her facial expressions aren’t very visible, and those facial expressions are important in model photography and CGI art. The lighter Macy is better in facial expressions but still not very useful.

So, an important reason for dark-skinned women to be less popular has nothing to do with racism. Their facial expressions are harder to see in still images, no matter how pretty they look in real life.