Due to the tremendous -- and unexpected! -- generosity of a very special patron of this artist, this blog, images like these are now possible...
The magic is all about the CWRW Pro Textures for DAZ's Millennium Horse ... and I am, to quote Han Solo, totally blown away ... both by the astonishing quality of the textures, and the amazing generosity of my patron! I want to say thank you so much!! And keep an eye on this blog, because the most amazing things are about to be happening! The images which have been locked inside my imagination are about to be let out...The plan for today's renders was this:
...and the little story that goes along with these images is about a young man who wants to liberate his tiny kingdom from the grip of a tyrant who took control in the days of the young man's grandfather. The kingdom has gone to ruin, but the grandson of the old tyrant just assumed the throne -- and this is where the plot thickens. Two generations of living the good life have turned the tyrant's descendants into degenerate weaklings. The grandson has the hots for young dancers ... but this young dancer is also a martial artist. He vanishes into the woods after dark to practise, and when he charms his way into the palace as a seductive entertainer, on the night of the Festival, well, let's put it like this: there's a nasty-minded warlord who won't be watching the sun come up!(Actually, don't applaud just yet. The story is a new spin on an old movie called The Flame and the Arrow. Burt Lancaster and Nick Cravat, made about 1955, set in one of those dukedoms in northern Italy, in about 1300 (mind you, I haven't seen it in 20 years so I'm absolutely guessing the date of the story).
So, anyway, there's the story that goes along with the planned renders ... and then magic happened! A donation of great generosity, leading to a swift shopping spree at DAZ 3D. The CWRW Pro Textures and fantastic ... I also got the Millennium Horse Mane add-on, which obviously lets you do a lot more with the horse's mane; I also got the Western Tack for the Millennium Horse, so that when he appears with our Western heroes, he'll be properly dressed; and the Equestrian Poses, which are a bargain at $5.95 or so, and have not only horse poses, but also poses for riders, too.
Now, you can do the riding poses yourself, but it takes quite a long time to get them just right. The beauty of having the pre-set poses is that they get you into the ballpark in a single click, and then you can nip and tuck and tweak to get the exact result you want, and still be done in a decent time.
Give me a couple of days to play happily (and I do mean happily!) and I'll do a full-on review of the CWRW Pro Textures. At first glance I can tell you, they are FANTASTIC. I also want to play with the tack and the rest. Christmas in February!
Jade, 4 February
