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.
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:
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:
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:
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:
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:
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:
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.
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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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:
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 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 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.
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:
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 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.
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.
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 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 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:
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 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 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.
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…
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:
Of 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:
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.
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.
Well, 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.
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:
The 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.)
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!
Update
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:
Update 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:
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.
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.
And here’s an update for my previous post! I expected this render to take a bit longer, especially since it started a bit later than I wanted. I had to make one more final fix, so I started rendering and watched some TV on my computer. My monitor also happens to be a TV screen so that makes it easier for me. I started around 21:00 and now, at 22:25 the image is finished!
I did already notice a few flaws, though. But those are very minor, easily forgotten. Well, okay… Her hair is poking through her vest on her left shoulder. And her right shoe is a bit too low so it goes through the floor with its sole. And her belly piercing is slightly in front of her belly instead of sticking through her belly. One place where things must poke through other things and it just didn’t happen!
I like the fact that I took away the blouse. This way, her bikini top is better visible and you can notice that it also has a few tears. It makes her more attractive, while she’s still a bit intimidating and that’s needed, because something should balance out with her weapons! Also very pretty is her shadow, and even the hole in her pants that’s visible in her shadow so I’m glad I did make that last lighting adjustment.
Still, one other flaw I just realized. The scope on her gun isn’t supposed to be a laser-sight… Oops! 🙂
This time, I want to show how I use Poser Pro 2012 and Vue 10 Complete to create the CGI art that I like to create. And don’t worry since I will keep it decent. The amount of time I’ve spent on this is about three hours, although most of the time is used by waiting for the rendering to finish. Time, which I could use to do other things, like playing Freecell or just to browse the Internet.
First, I have to choose a model. Since I have several pre-made models, I chose the one I like to call “Lisa Xanthe”, a redhead with a very nice shape. And since I’ve promised to keep this post decent, I’ve already given her some clothes that she will wear under the other clothes that I will add later.
Here you see the basic screen of Poser. On the left are dials that you use to set parameters for the model. On the right you see an overview of all the parts within the model. The white lines in the middle screens is actually a spotlight that’s used to add light to this scene. Without light, it would all be black.
On the dials on the left you can already see that I can adjust quite a lot of parameters on this model. Size and shape of her breasts, hips, arms and legs and whatever more. Basically, all I use for my work is a single model with a lot of different parameters. And yes, those parameters can make her appear younger, older, larger, obese and even pregnant, if you’d like.
I then decided to add clothes. I have a set of clothes called “Cuore di moda” and this makes her look a bit like a woman who likes to do business. Yet it’s also sexy enough to make her more like a gangster-girl or even gangster-boss. It’s very fashionable.
I combined it with a machine gun from a set called “Elay V4” which isn’t available on DAZ3D anymore. I will later also add a handgun to this all but for now I still have to think if she will hold the gun with one or two hands…
Her glasses are from Fawne V4 which is also a very sexy set of clothes, but I didn’t consider it the right clothes for the scene I want to create, which I’ve called “Business is War” in my mind, although the final image isn’t really clear about the ‘business’ part…
Anyways, the clothes look good, but I need this girl in true battle-mode with heavily-torn clothes! So the fun of tearing up her clothes begins! This is done with the Rag-erator for Poser.
If she wasn’t wearing that bikini top and bottom, you’d probably see some naughty parts now…
But before tearing it all up, I did change the textures on those clothes.
Next,I have to add some background-prop. I decided to use a crime lab without equipment to look a bit like a shopping center.
I like this because of the glass windows and the doors in the background. And although I already place it in a way where you can see the back wall, this will not be the final angle at which I will render the final image.
But before I export it all to Vue, I first need to make Lisa pose in some way. I want to make it appear as if she’s firing that gun so I ended up with the following pose:
But after some considerations, I decide that I still don’t like some things within this pose so I adjusted her hair, added a laser light and made a minor alteration to her machine gun, resulting in the next image:
And that will be the complete scene that I will export to Vue. Just some minor checks to make sure nothing is poking through something it shouldn’t poke through and hoping everything is complete.
The imported pose isn’t in the right camera location but here, you can see the parts that make up Vue.
Vue provides four view-ports so you can see your model from different angles. Poser also provides such a view but I don’t like it much because you’ll also see less details so you have to move around a lot to check everything.
On the right you can see the layers and the location where I can alter the textures and materials I want to use. I will be using those options to e.g. change the glass, make the gun more shinier and to re-position certain things.
On the left, you can see buttons that I can use to add more objects to my scene. Well, I will be adding a large rock, three trees and a road somewhere behind the back door and I will add a few lights inside the room on the right and a few more close to the camera. The sun will be positioned behind the back door and will shine through the window in the back.
Considering the proper render settings is always a bit difficult. I chose ‘Ultra’ because my machine can handle this but for complex scenes the use of ‘Ultra’ will take many days to finish. I also chose an aspect ratio of 16:10 which matches my screen resolution of 1920×1200. Rendering the whole thing to screen will allow me to see it’s progress.
Once I’ve chosen my preferred settings it’s time for a quick render preview.
I am reasonable happy with this result already but it’s far from perfect. Let’s look more closely to this preview:
The light is too hard and it reflects too much in the back door. Also, the sunlight is too dominant, obscuring everything behind the door! And I might want to alter some more materials… So to look more closely at details, I split things up over layers. And to hide the building, I move the building to the second layer! Now I can use my camera to look around Lisa to make sure she’s looking okay. Lowering the sun a bit and then I’m ready to look at the second layer.In the second layer I just examine the building, making sure the road in the back ends at the door and checking the lights.
Things are nearly finished now, although I still have to check if things are really okay. So, the first pre-render:
And I’m not happy with it. Her white shirt is too white and it just doesn’t look good. I could return to Poser and remove it but I can also do that in Vue itself. I just disable it!
Once disabled, I can render the image again, which results in the next pre-render:
Here, I’ve already lost two details in my image. The muzzle flash from her gun had already been removed for being too dominant in the image and now the shirt is gone too. Fortunately, she’s still wearing a bra so things stay decent enough to avoid the [NSFW] tag.
But there are too many shadows, so a new pre-render is required:
And I decide to make the laser light more dominant by adding a strong, red glow to it. And I will change the colors of the machine gun! So now we get the next pre-render:
Here, I’m still not happy with the lights and shadows. So I adjust them even more! There are actually a total of 8 lights in this image! Four are in the room on the right, which makes that window extremely white. There’s a sun far, far away in the background. And there are three lights around the camera, all of them emitting a special glowing gel-light. One orange, one blue and the last white/blue. The white light is the one that casts shadows, the other lights just add more color contrast.
That last image will be my final pre-render. It is now Wednesday 20:25 and I will start the real rendering step, rendering this image at a whopping 3840×2400, four times the resolution of my screen.
Why? Because I can!
Anyway, I don’t know when it will finish so I will start rendering and check once in a while to see how much has progressed. Once finished, I will post the final result.
I love creating images using Poser and Vue. Poser is great to create a model based on existing models that’s imported in Vue. And Vue will add the additional landscape, larger objects, plants, water, cloud and lights. The final result can sometimes be very stunning. Unfortunately, there are always some small problems in each item because of flaws while posing the model in Poser. Or because the landscape in Vue overlaps the Poser model.
One flaw tends to be the eyes on models. Each model has two eyes and you need them to look in the same direction. And you’d prefer them to look in a specific direction. So, what’s my trick for this? How to get a model to point her eyes e.g. upwards, because she’s under water, on a huge hook and surrounded by fish? Or have three girls in the grass looking at the same point?
Well, it’s not too complex. I just add a simple primitive, often a ball, to my models. Just one. I also make it invisible so it won’t appear in the rendered result. Once done, I select the left eye of the model and using the “Objects/Point at” menu, I point the eye at the ball. I repeat this for the right eye and the eyes of the other models so all eyes are pointing in the same direction.
Next, I have to move the ball in the direction that I want all models to look at. This means moving it over the X- and Z-axis, preferably far away from the models, else they will become a bit cross-eyed. Then, move it up and down to point them upwards or downwards, and don’t be afraid to put it at -100 on the Y-axis to make them look a bit down.
When dealing with multiple models, like in my image below (which has nudity, thus it’s not suitable for work environments), you might have to do more adjustments. Often, this means that you have to twist and bend the necks and heads of the models while looking if their eyes are put in the correct locations. Since the eyes already point at the right direction, all you have to do is adjust the heads and neck.
A drawback is when you have to re-position the model because that often means re-positioning the ball too. This is something important when you create an animation because you would then have to move the ball to the locations that your model is supposed to look at. But it does make your animated models look more natural during animations. It allows them to quickly move their eyes and even though it’s a very minor detail in animations, it’s still a very simple trick to make their looks more natural. Because the most important part behind this trick is that the eyes are both pointed at exactly the same spot.
And well, as you can see, the eyes aren’t the first things that you’ll notice. Most will notice the nudity in the image, which just happens to be very casual and peaceful. Others will notice that one model, Aisha, happens to be a cyborg with nice, shining body parts. And people will notice the background, the trees, and probably several flaws too. But when you look at their eyes, they’re all looking at the same point, since they’re all pointing at a ball that’s behind the camera. This makes them look straight at the camera.
Of 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.
Well, 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.
The 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.)
Update
Update 2
I did already notice a few flaws, though. But those are very minor, easily forgotten. Well, okay… Her hair is poking through her vest on her left shoulder. And her right shoe is a bit too low so it goes through the floor with its sole. And her belly piercing is slightly in front of her belly instead of sticking through her belly. One place where things must poke through other things and it just didn’t happen!
First, I have to choose a model. Since I have several pre-made models, I chose the one I like to call “Lisa Xanthe”, a redhead with a very nice shape. And since I’ve promised to keep this post decent, I’ve already given her some clothes that she will wear under the other clothes that I will add later.
I then decided to add clothes. I have a set of clothes called “Cuore di moda” and this makes her look a bit like a woman who likes to do business. Yet it’s also sexy enough to make her more like a gangster-girl or even gangster-boss. It’s very fashionable.
So the fun of tearing up her clothes begins! This is done with the Rag-erator for Poser.
But after some considerations, I decide that I still don’t like some things within this pose so I adjusted her hair, added a laser light and made a minor alteration to her machine gun, resulting in the next image:
And that will be the complete scene that I will export to Vue. Just some minor checks to make sure nothing is poking through something it shouldn’t poke through and hoping everything is complete.
The imported pose isn’t in the right camera location but here, you can see the parts that make up Vue.
Considering the proper render settings is always a bit difficult. I chose ‘Ultra’ because my machine can handle this but for complex scenes the use of ‘Ultra’ will take many days to finish. I also chose an aspect ratio of 16:10 which matches my screen resolution of 1920×1200. Rendering the whole thing to screen will allow me to see it’s progress.
The light is too hard and it reflects too much in the back door. Also, the sunlight is too dominant, obscuring everything behind the door! And I might want to alter some more materials… So to look more closely at details, I split things up over layers. And to hide the building, I move the building to the second layer!
Now I can use my camera to look around Lisa to make sure she’s looking okay. Lowering the sun a bit and then I’m ready to look at the second layer.
In the second layer I just examine the building, making sure the road in the back ends at the door and checking the lights.
And I’m not happy with it. Her white shirt is too white and it just doesn’t look good. I could return to Poser and remove it but I can also do that in Vue itself. I just disable it!
Once disabled, I can render the image again, which results in the next pre-render:
Here, I’ve already lost two details in my image. The muzzle flash from her gun had already been removed for being too dominant in the image and now the shirt is gone too. Fortunately, she’s still wearing a bra so things stay decent enough to avoid the [NSFW] tag.
And I decide to make the laser light more dominant by adding a strong, red glow to it. And I will change the colors of the machine gun! So now we get the next pre-render:
Here, I’m still not happy with the lights and shadows. So I adjust them even more! There are actually a total of 8 lights in this image! Four are in the room on the right, which makes that window extremely white. There’s a sun far, far away in the background. And there are three lights around the camera, all of them emitting a special glowing gel-light. One orange, one blue and the last white/blue. The white light is the one that casts shadows, the other lights just add more color contrast.
Wim ten Brink 