Seeking help shopping for pieces to a V4 Superhero Costume

mmitchell_houston

Hey, all: Back in 1982, I created a superhero named Ultra. The sketch of her below is by an artist named Steve Addlesee, who did it based on my designs. We actually did publish some fanzines with her in it, but those had very low press runs in the early 1980s, so I'd be stunned if anyone here had ever seen her before. At any rate, I would now like to recreate her using V4 in Poser (why not Genesis & Daz Studio? Simple: I want to use the Comic Book Preview mode in Poser 11; I want to work with the Geometric Edge tool on my next project to see what I think of it). So, I'm shopping here and there to find the bits and pieces of her costume that I need. I'm aware that I will have to do some customization, but I'd rather find things that are as close to perfect matches as possible.

I have: Mask and bracelets (but would look at others, if suggested).

I need:

• Shirt: Puffy sleeves, open neck, x cord at neck (I know I'll probably have to add the x myself) Vest: Short, with a few movement controls would be nice
• Vest: Short, simple and straight (no dip in the front). Having a few open/close, front/back controls would be nice.
• Belt: She's shown here with a chain belt, but I'd actually prefer the gold metal disk belt that the Black Widow wore in 1970s Marvel comics
• Trunks: I have one set, but am looking for others
• Boots: I really want them to have the heel and points at the top -- I don't want to mess with morphs (especially since morphs tend to be kinda soft and round, and I want hard, sharp points). I am aware that I will need to retexture the boots, and I'm okay with that.

I'm looking for free and commercial products. I've done some shopping, but there's just so much here that I'm overwhelmed, which is why I thought I'd ask for input.

Finally, if anyone would like to discuss doing a character design for me, customizing products I buy, I'd be willing to talk about it. But I doubt I could afford it. Still, it doesn't hurt to talk.

Thanks to anyone who responds. There's just so much stuff here and out there that, to be honest, hunting for ONLY thigh boots that fit Victoria 4 is a long, tedious process. My searches keep bringing up each and every outfit that has boots, including some that aren't evn for V4.

THANKS AGAIN!

Mike

PS: The artwork includes two possible color treatments for the costume. You see, when I designed this, color printing was outrageous, so I never even thought about doing her outfit in color! My, how the times have changed.

FSMCDesigns

You might try contacting terrymcg, he does custom superhero outfits and might be able to create exactly what you need.

http://terrymcg.deviantart.com/

Ken OBanion

I'm going to suggest that you spend some time scouring ShareCG.com -- there is a series of 'cosplay' outfits for V4 there (at least eight, that I'm aware of, and have even downloaded), at least some of which (I'm almost willing to bet) probably include most of the various bits and pieces you're looking for.  And they're all free for the downloading.

In addition, you might think of other 'accessories' while you're there, too; just use the search function, and see what turns up.

Happy scavenger-hunting!

Tobor

The V4 bodysuit is fairly universal, and you can create different looks by using transmaps. That would probably take care of the close-body clothing. You'll still need vest, shoes, and puff sleeves, and as Ken suggests, various options are fairly well available over on ShareCG. I've also gotten quite a bit of V4 goodies of this type from the Freebies section on Rendo.

I was thinking that because this is Poser, you might be able to make the puff sleeves on the bodysuit by using the morphing tool. Set it to loosen (or whatever they're calling it in P11). But even without that, you ought to be able to find a suitable puffy-sleeve blouse, transmap everything but the sleeves, and apply a coordinating texture to have it appear to be part of the bodysuit.

If you're very lucky, you can get the V4 bodysuit on sale, or -- believe it or not free -- in the V4 Hero Pro Pack that they sometimes give away. 

mmitchell_houston

FSMCDesigns said:

You might try contacting terrymcg, he does custom superhero outfits and might be able to create exactly what you need.

http://terrymcg.deviantart.com/

Thank you SO MUCH for that link. I had seen his stuff before, but couldn't remember his name. I may very well call him up. But I thought I'd see if the items I want are already available. There's nothing really weird in her costume, so i thought I'd see if they were available to "kit bash" (as we used to call this process in modeling) the costume before comissioning custom work. But if I can't find what I need, I will give Terry a call.

mmitchell_houston

Tobor said:

The V4 bodysuit is fairly universal, and you can create different looks by using transmaps. That would probably take care of the close-body clothing. You'll still need vest, shoes, and puff sleeves, and as Ken suggests, various options are fairly well available over on ShareCG. I've also gotten quite a bit of V4 goodies of this type from the Freebies section on Rendo.

I was thinking that because this is Poser, you might be able to make the puff sleeves on the bodysuit by using the morphing tool. Set it to loosen (or whatever they're calling it in P11). But even without that, you ought to be able to find a suitable puffy-sleeve blouse, transmap everything but the sleeves, and apply a coordinating texture to have it appear to be part of the bodysuit.

If you're very lucky, you can get the V4 bodysuit on sale, or -- believe it or not free -- in the V4 Hero Pro Pack that they sometimes give away. 

I will spend an afternoon over at ShareCG looking for stuff (I spent about an hour there already and found some cool stuff, but not quite what I'm looking for). I also had not thought much about using the morphing tool  (or magnets) to make the sleeves puffy. But that's a COOL idea. I did think that if I found the puffy sleeves (especially with that neck and x-cord), it would probably be on some type of pirate shirt that would need me to hide the bottom (unless I was lucky nough to find one that was tucked in).

I already have a V4 bodysuit, and if I were not looking at making extensive use of the Geometric Edges feature in Poser 11, I would go that route. Especially since there is a dark circle around the ankle, which would probably hide any seam between a high heel shoe and her bodysuit. But I think actualy boots -- based on geometry -- will give me more options when it comes to designing the character. The Geometric Edges feature allows you to define the edge based on the applied texture, and I think that is something I would like to work with on this project (I'm thinking that I might like a slightly thinner line on skin than on the costume, but we'll see how that works in practice). So, I'm thinking that I want to keep transmaps at a minimum.

ON A SIDE NOTE: Check out this image (at the bottom of the page: the girl and the hole blasted in the brick wall), which is the first serious work I've done with the Comic Book Preview and Geometric Edges feature. The outer lines were all very crisp and clean, as wer the lines on the gloves, belt and where the costum meets the skin. But I had to redraw all interior lines (where white meets green) and the mask (which was super pixilated) that were provided by the texture map. I'm told that bumping my map resolution up to about 4k will resolve this, but that's just a workaround.

But thanks for the input. You gave me some good ideas, especially about the sleeves.

mmitchell_houston

I found boots like I'm looking for over at ShareCG, in a costume for Raven: http://www.sharecg.com/v/48785/gallery/11/Poser/Cosplay-Costume-8

Or possibly this one for Starfire: http://www.sharecg.com/v/48938/gallery/11/Poser/Cosplay-Costume-9

I think the holes are just transmaps. If not, I'll remove the discs from the Starfire costume. I've downloaded them and will work with them by this weekend just to check their quality and workability.

Additionally, I've contacted the creator of these costumes about helping create a custom shirt, and the other pieces in her costume. However, he doesn't really do hair, so I will continue the hunt for suitable hair, or hire someone to make some for me.

DollyGirl

This V3 top has sleeves and collar that would work. Here: http://www.morphography.uk.vu/dlbecky.html

EvilInnocense has a product called CrossDresser that will convert clothing from V3 to V4.

Here is the belt for V4: http://www.morphography.uk.vu/dlprop.html 13th down

I looked at the Starfire boots and the gems on the front of the boots are a material setting so I think you can just make them invisible.

mmitchell_houston

Thank you SO MUCH, DollyGirl! I have downloaded these and will investigate them this weekend!