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.

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!

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.

Business is War – The image!

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! 🙂

Business is War – creating CGI art.

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.

Creating landscapes…

I like to create CGI images and I use Poser to set up the model, add clothes and other props and then put them in a specific pose that would generate an interesting image. That sounds a bit complex and to be honest, yes! It is complex, because you have to consider many small things to get the best result. It’s a bit like programming, actually. You start to think about an interesting design and as you advance with the project, you’ll have to focus on smaller and smaller details. At first, it’s thinking about clothing and poses, next you have to check if the clothes fit good enough. Then you have to look even closer making sure no small items are poking through the wrong places. Nails from fingers, for example, when your model is touching something.

But hey, that’s one part of the whole process. I want to talk about landscaping! And for this, there are two interesting tools that are available for free! There’s Bryce from DAZ3D which happens to be a great tool. It’s available for both Windows and Apple’s Mac systems. I’ve downloaded it in the past, just never started to use it. Instead, I use Vue 10 Complete which is a bit expensive when you’re just starting since, hey! It costs money! So, if you want to start for free, get Vue 10 Pioneer instead! The difference? Well, you will be missing a few practical tools like importing models from Poser, and you’ll be missing some extra content. But, it’s a start.

Setting up a proper scene isn’t that difficult, although you will need a lot of patience, since rendering landscapes takes a lot of time. This is especially true when a lot of details in your image. I’ve rendered images at sizes 4000×3000 pixels with highest quality within 20 minutes, but those had just simple details and barely any reflections. I’ve also rendered a battle between a female warrior and a big dragon, far above the clouds with the landscape far, far away in the back. It took over 6 days to render and this is the result:

To be honest, the original size was 4000×3000, which happens to be huge, even when rendering with 64-bits software on a system with 24 GB of RAM. And part of the complexity are the clouds, which both reflect and refract light. And even though I didn’t much detail in the ground, the terrain that’s visible also happens to be a huge area.

So, problem one with rendering landscapes it that you need to be patient or just have to accept smaller images.

Would this image render faster if I hadn’t added a Poser model in the foreground? I don’t think so, since the model actually make the image less complex! It hides the items behind it, and those items would be harder to render because of transparency and shape. There are no shining items in the model, so it doesn’t reflect much, and the only transparent part happen to be the hair of the woman and the wings of the dragon.

Of course, the most complex part of landscapes are plants and especially grass. An image that I managed to render quickly just didn’t have much details. A starry night with a strange sun, one tree in the background and the top of some castle. This combined with a female warrior fighting against a lizard-man resulted within 30 minutes in the following image:

 

And why did it render that fast? Simple! The sky has no clouds and except for the tree on the right, the number of polygons happens to be very low. It’s not one of my best artwork but it’s a nice example of something that can be done fast, and tells us about the next problem…

Problem number two: the more polygons your image has, the longer it will take to render. And please do realize that plants will generate a lot of polygons. Filling your landscapes with trees and grass might turn a render-time from hours into days.

To solve this, try to cut the number of polygons in your image by, such as only adding details in front of the camera, and not all around the terrain. And putting simple objects in the foreground will remove the more complex details in the background, except when the foreground object is semi-transparent.

Although clouds can result in some complex images, they do become less complex when there’s just sky behind them. You could, for example, generate an image with a female warrior riding a dragon with a floating castle in the clouds, like this one:

It took over 10 hours to render, even though I’ve kept most of it quite simple. The reason for the delays were the clouds in this case, which had to show part of the terrain and castle. By avoiding a lot of plants and grass and just using a simple texture for the terrain, I did manage to keep the render reasonable fast. Also, not having too many light sources helped a lot.

Problem 3: each additional light source or glowing object will add to the complexity and thus to the total render time!

Still, you can reduce the influence of those lights by editing them as objects, and limiting the things that they would shine on. For example, you could add a light in the foreground which would only light up the dragon and warrior models, but not the terrain or clouds. That way, the objects in the foreground become more clear. (You might also want to turn off shadows for those lights!)

And so I get at the next complexity, which you’ll probably guess from this image:

 

I didn’t post the complete image, since there’s a naked fisher-woman who’s about to spear this fish, but you can see it clearly: water.

Problem 4: Water reflects and refracts and has a very variable shape. And fortunately, the original image at 3200×2400 rendered within 12 hours, simply because it only showed water, and a few naked models on top of a wooden construction. But I’ve decided to make the water very wavy, so the fish would rise up from the water. To add to the complexity, I added splashes around the fish. Yeah, more polygons. And because water reflects and refracts, it just takes some time to finish. For distant water, turn off the transparency to speed up the result, since at long distances, there’s no need to see what’s under the water surface. (Unless you’re looking from a great height down on the water surface!

So the four major problems with rendering landscapes are image size, number of polygons, number of lights and the complexity of water-like materials. There are a few more problems that will slow things down, but these are the ones you’d best be aware of when you’re just starting.

And of course, you could wonder if I use half-dressed or even undressed models in my art to cut the number of polygons, but no. A Poser model will probably add a few hundreds of polygons and my system can handle this. A single tree will be just as complex. Besides, the clothes would hide the model from view so it’s effects are small.

No, the reason for the lack of clothes in my models is because it’s easier to create them in Poser. As I said at the top, clothes adds complexity to the pose. Things always tend to stick through clothes, like parts of the arms or legs, belly, breasts and occasionally hair. Clothes can be too wide, too long, too rigid in shape to make them work with the rest of the pose. For example, I have a suit of armor for my model, but the chest size cannot be adjusted so my models need to have a specific chest size, else it won’t fit. I also use models with different lengths, and clothes are often set for specific lengths, forcing me to re-size the clothes and doing more checks. So, the naked ladies are just me being lazy…

Getting the eyes just right.[NSFW]

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.