Digital Art Zone

I’ve been seeing a lot of merchant resources around a lot and I was wondering what does it do/what is it used for?

Think of it as a starter pack for creation of what it is intended for. MR for characters are intended to be a base to build upon in creating your own character, adding imperfections, tan lines, hair, jewelry, second skins, makeup, changing the skin tone, etc.. Doing one from scratch is quite a bit of work and takes some more skill than using a MR.

A merchant resource provides a basis for creating a for-sale item—start with the merchant resource, then add your own enhancements.

Can you use a merchant resource just as it is?

Basically, a merchant resource is a ‘starter kit’ for building other products.  Many are only for use in building ‘for sale’ products.  Most don’t come with directly usable items…like a skin resource will most likely just be the skin texture maps without (some do include one, but it’s a basic one with no fancy settings/shaders) material poses/scripts.  All of them are designed to be significantly altered before use/inclusion in a product.

Another example would be a clothing resource.  It could be some basic meshes and probably a ‘donor rig’, but no material settings or textures.

ArtXtreme - 13 October 2012 09:07 PM

Can you use a merchant resource just as it is?

If you want to just use it for making renders, that’s fine.  If you want to create something for sale, you have to change it significantly.

fixmypcmike - 13 October 2012 09:14 PM

ArtXtreme - 13 October 2012 09:07 PM

Can you use a merchant resource just as it is?

If you want to just use it for making renders, that’s fine.  If you want to create something for sale, you have to change it significantly.

Would it look like any other texture for victoria 4 when you render it?

ArtXtreme - 13 October 2012 09:16 PM

fixmypcmike - 13 October 2012 09:14 PM

ArtXtreme - 13 October 2012 09:07 PM

Can you use a merchant resource just as it is?

If you want to just use it for making renders, that’s fine.  If you want to create something for sale, you have to change it significantly.

Would it look like any other texture for victoria 4 when you render it?

Yes, it’ll be somewhat plainer than most, and they don’t always come with the material presets, sometimes they are just the raw texture files.

fixmypcmike - 13 October 2012 09:18 PM

ArtXtreme - 13 October 2012 09:16 PM

fixmypcmike - 13 October 2012 09:14 PM

ArtXtreme - 13 October 2012 09:07 PM

Can you use a merchant resource just as it is?

If you want to just use it for making renders, that’s fine.  If you want to create something for sale, you have to change it significantly.

Would it look like any other texture for victoria 4 when you render it?

Yes, it’ll be somewhat plainer than most, and they don’t always come with the material presets, sometimes they are just the raw texture files.

What I am mainly looking at is something like this: http://www.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/gfr7-v4/73737

ArtXtreme - 13 October 2012 09:19 PM

What I am mainly looking at is something like this: http://www.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/gfr7-v4/73737

You can use it for whatever you want on your system. You cannot give any of it away as a freebie and if you sale a product with it you will have to alter it.

ArtXtreme - 13 October 2012 09:19 PM

fixmypcmike - 13 October 2012 09:18 PM

ArtXtreme - 13 October 2012 09:16 PM

fixmypcmike - 13 October 2012 09:14 PM

ArtXtreme - 13 October 2012 09:07 PM

Can you use a merchant resource just as it is?

If you want to just use it for making renders, that’s fine.  If you want to create something for sale, you have to change it significantly.

Would it look like any other texture for victoria 4 when you render it?

Yes, it’ll be somewhat plainer than most, and they don’t always come with the material presets, sometimes they are just the raw texture files.

What I am mainly looking at is something like this: http://www.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/gfr7-v4/73737

This product is face texture only.  You would have to check with the vendors other sets to see if there is a close match to use on the rest of the body or use it with another body texture which could give you some odd results.

Before you buy a Merchant Resource, it is a good idea to read the readme.  If vendors have special guidelines, they will be spelled out there.

Merchant resources can be used for personal use out of the box.  If you wish to use them as a base for making your own textures, you will have to alter them using human resource photos.  The generalized rule for altering to take an MR to your own original texture is at least 50% although some may require more.

Most creators of MR’s will not allow the MR to be used to make freebies. 

All of this will be in the readme.  If it isn’t or you’re not sure, email or site mail the vendor and ask.  It’s always better to know than to guess.  It’s been a couple of years since the last one but copyright infringement and all that goes with it is nothing new in the Poserverse.

If you are looking for human resource phots, 3dsk is the best source.  You can also find packages at Rendo.