Reference Material Request Thread

[SickAlice]

This is a thread for users to request reference material from other users. So like pictures and what not that users can use to get a better idea of what they are modelling, skinning and/or animating should look like. I know the urge is to go to a search engine and post pictures but mind that if someone has a request they probably already checked Google and either came up and dry or weren't satisfied with the results and are probably looking for something from your personal collection. Thanks, I'll start it off.

1.) I'm looking for a shot of Iron Man 2020's handgun. At best I found a front view of the gun firing. This doesn't give me an idea of the shape of the gun and the blast is obscuring any details.

2.) The Wizard Of Oz, specifically the great and powerful Oz as Dorothy and friends originally met him before looking behind the curtain. More specifically I'm looking for a good detailed shot of the centerpiece below his floating head, especially what appear to be dragon/gargoyle statues. I've found tons of shots online but most are blurred or these statues are obscured by smoke and flame. I don't own the DVD anymore, if anyone could get me a clear screenshot I would be much appreciated. I have an animated game prop made of this except those statues and am waiting on that.

Thank you in advance to anyone who can help.

[Cyber Burn]

I know I have the old "Iron Man 2020"  one-shot book from waaay back when. I'm just not sure if it's accessible or not. If it is, then I'll try to take pics and post them here. But it probably won't be until tomorrow though.

[Cyber Burn]

I'm sorry that these aren't the best quality Pics, I had to use my Phone to take them. If you want, I could "try" to scan them tomorrow, but unfortunately, I can't promise that I will actually be able to get to the scanner.

[Panther_Gunn]

[SickAlice]

Those are perfect friends, side views of the gun thanks. Yeah, the 4th panel from the page Panther Gunn shared was the only image of the gun online. Naturally I couldn't see what it looks like by that. Looks like Arno is greenlit. Much appreciated folks. CB I may tap you for some FX work, either doing them or just advising me how to. For his Star Blade (this will be present on the mesh and tossed from the hip) and flicker blades. I'll let you know when I'm at that point. Should be easy, just spinning stuff like a shield throw, shuriken or batarang would look.

[Cyber Burn]

Those are perfect friends, side views of the gun thanks. Yeah, the 4th panel from the page Panther Gunn shared was the only image of the gun online. Naturally I couldn't see what it looks like by that. Looks like Arno is greenlit. Much appreciated folks. CB I may tap you for some FX work, either doing them or just advising me how to. For his Star Blade (this will be present on the mesh and tossed from the hip) and flicker blades. I'll let you know when I'm at that point. Should be easy, just spinning stuff like a shield throw, shuriken or batarang would look.

Just PM or E-Mail me when you're ready. 

[SickAlice]

@Cyberburn: Thanks friend. Hopefully within a week to two span. 2020 and Mainframe are personal requests so I'm making them priority. I may or may not have to do some carpentry in there and space things out though I have two more surgeries so more likely I'll be " stuck in bed reading comics and making game stuff " (so sad  ).

No one requested this but I came across it last night and figured there may be a mad dash to make skins and nifs based on Age Of Ultron. This is an official size chart for the movies characters if anyone needs it:
http://www.crossingfinger.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Avengers-Age-of-Ultron-Size-Chart.jpeg

[daglob]

Not sure if you still need this. The things right by the podium seem to be dragons. I think the curved things behind the podium are the dragon's tails.

Also included a pic of the curtain behind which there is a man.

[SickAlice]

You rock. Yeah I still need or at least wanted it. The thing was complete with the exception of those bits so now I can get r dun. Again a zillion thanks, I've been trying since last year to get shots of that.

[SickAlice]

X-Treme X-Men Storm.

In this case I'm not looking for any images as there is no shortage of pictures of her in this costume but more for an educated opinion. You see and shame on me I know, I didn't read the X-Treme series. So I'm working on capes here and I'm looking at the costume with red trim. Tons of images as I said however they're all varied. So my question is for those that read that series is how should I present the cape of the following?:

1.) Two sidecapes that unite with the main cape and two independent drapes off each wrist? This seems to me to be the most used but I'm going from cover art.
http://static.comicvine.com/uploads/scale_small/0/1013/88425-9411-106162-1-x-treme-x-men.jpg
another angle
http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20081121044432/marveldatabase/images/8/85/X-Treme_X-Men_Vol_1_37_Textless.jpg

2.) Only one sidecape only which is attached to the right wrist?
this devaintartist represented the clearest shot. The ninth costume.
http://femmes-fatales.deviantart.com/art/X-Men-Storm-Comic-Costume-Chronology-433274973

Thanks for anyone that can help figure it out. For the most I'm at the mercy of cover art which is where a lot of this variation is. I prefer to model characters after what's generally shown inside the panels themselves. I have a few capes and hairstyles yet in front of the X-treme cape (as well the gold trim one) so no rush.

[Podmark]

I remember it being two side capes, but it's been a long time.

I tend to share your opinion about preferring interior art to covers as reference, but one pro about X-Treme was a lot of the covers were done by the interior artist Salvador Larroca so they're more likely to be useful.

[SickAlice]

Thanks. Yeesh I put a little research in and looked for previews. I found some for a subseries called X-Pose. Interiors and covers for that she just has a basic cape, no side cape extensions nor has the drapes. The cape itself is also tapered and tucked differently. *rubs eyes * So I'm going to check one for the two sidecapes, add one from myself because it's more convenient for me then just let this sit for a day or two and let it be decided since the art style seems to be varied across the series.

[SickAlice]

Another request bordering Off Topic but this seemed like a good place for it. Site links. I'm looking for all the currently active sites. I have a hella bookmark folder but I want to be sure. I figured since we lost most of the Master lists, some of the wiki ends and most things not being updated I'm going to go ahead myself and make a revised master on the Litterbox. Sites and any of your personal hosts like Yahoo groups. Thanks in advance anyone.

[Amazo Version 2.2]

Sites and any of your personal hosts like Yahoo groups. Thanks in advance anyone.

i don't know if it will help you or not, but cyber has a list he started for all the active yahoo groups.

[SickAlice]

You don't need to ask permission. I just asked if anyone had links. Feel free to share them if you have them. The idea is to have a master to direct users to and no offense but the majority, at least 90% or better of the requests I got this month were either for things that have been made or for for things I already made. I'm also trying to motion to a point where I can release content on the site but not do notifications here. That's been abused a little too much recently and my fault for letting rope out to begin but there you have it.

[spydermann93]

Another request bordering Off Topic but this seemed like a good place for it. Site links. I'm looking for all the currently active sites. I have a hella bookmark folder but I want to be sure. I figured since we lost most of the Master lists, some of the wiki ends and most things not being updated I'm going to go ahead myself and make a revised master on the Litterbox. Sites and any of your personal hosts like Yahoo groups. Thanks in advance anyone.

I could try putting together a list of all of the sites that I have bookmarked. Though some of the sites are defunct, the Wayback Machine has allowed me to at least view some of the interesting articles that were hosted on the sites, namely hero file creation recipes and hero file biographies.

I might not have everything, but like you, I have "a hella bookmark folder", and hopefully that means I have some links that are actually useful to the community.

[SickAlice]

I use the Wayback. Anything anyone wants to drop is great, I'm looking for it all. My end of it is to put some time out and then go through all the links and make a list of all resources by name, then a new master for 2015. Modern releases are more what I'm looking for. As a frumpy old duck I was around for the twilight but missed a large chunk after the start of the millennium.

In another brief note as I'm not sure where to put this sorry to anyone for the grouchy vibes I've been shooting off. Your all great as well as I've said before I've had a tough life so at least trust in that any person would actually have to try hard to get on my rotten side. Mainly I've dealing with some horrible things, the past night or so I ended up on the receiving end of some nasty behavior in real time. I don't want to go into details though any of my close friends here can feel free to jam in a PM. Needless to say I'm sorry and I'm sorry I've been short about what's wrong with me. I was dealing with a lot on my end and just couldn't squeeze in the time to come on and justify nor assert myself. I dealt with said problems and I should show a calmer demeanor from here on out in any case. I really love and appreciate you all and wouldn't want to inadvertently put anyone in a position where they though I'd taken odd sides against them. My modding schedule will remain intact of course as well and releases upon the date they would normally be. Thanks for putting up with me anyone.

[Cyber Burn]

PM sent.

Back to topic. In addition to the "Wayback Machine", I also use: http://www.oocities.org/

It's helped me find a bunch of old Geocities websites.

[SickAlice]

Received and thanks. Your good people as always. To clarify my airing above to anyone, not intending to stir up trouble or drama. I just want to make sure I did something in the way of letting any of you my bad mood lately is not on any of you. Sorry to anyone if I came off like a jerk lately is the gist of it. I've just been a ball of stress and rage, not anyone else fault here and I hope I didn't make anything feel otherwise.

Thanks again for more links as well. I'll get on the ball here and make up a list soon. I know sometimes things just get buried in forums and while it's proper to expect everyone to deep search sometimes that's easier said then done. I nice new alphabetized list of characters and versions I think would help that and as well I'm sure help anyone including myself get an idea of what needs to be done yet and what's already been done well enough. I don't speak for everyone and I've said it a few times but while there's characters and costumes I would love to tribute more I want to focus on finding anything that hasn't been done so players can have the option if they go looking for it. Given how much has been done that can be a tough one to figure out. Also and again those Yahoo groups can be a real pickle to figure out. Where is Australia Storm with short hair and her black suit by author unknown? Lol, right. Where indeed is that exact skin. Let's make a nice index and cut the time spent on those searches so we can all spend more doing actual modding. I got a pretty good list going now. But I want to be in depth as possible. Again especially anything from say 2005-2010. I was off doing something else in life then and missed everything really.

[daglob]

This is kind of obvious, and you may have thought of it already, but I've found Wayback Machine info by going to some of the older sites (Like Gryphon's and The Vigilante's), opening the links page, and copying the shortcut info from some of those REALLY old and defunct sites into the search pane. Once in awhile, the links page from the old and defunct site is archived, and you get a list of EVEN OLDER defunct sites.

I miss Mad Rabbit's page and, what was it-The Freedom Force Portal?

[SickAlice]

Yup. The Portal. I'm not using the Wayback for the most part though, maybe I'll look when I'm at the end of list only because the idea is to make a modern list with working links. Sometimes as you know the links " might " work but for their nature they're necrotic and most of the material has moved and hosted someplace new now. As well the newer links are more times than not also the most recent version of the work.

[SickAlice]

Looking for designs for Extraordinary Storms costume. I've found a total of two images right now. Neither actually show what the legs look like. I added the costume to the Storm pack anyways and just made the legs white like the pants. I'm thinking of releasing it as is but I have a few more little costume pieces to add to the whole thing before it's ready for release. Hopefully something concrete will come up by then. I'd hate to release the skin and have it be wrong. Thanks to anyone who comes up with anything.

[Podmark]

I'll keep an eye out but we're months from Extraordinary coming out so we might see anything for a while.

[SickAlice]

I was thinking the same but someone may have a better source, like a blog I didn't stumble upon or something. I dunno about the extended forecast though. The comic sites above all else are going to plug and blow up every piece they find so I think it'll come out sooner than that. We already got a preview page for that book as it is. I'm looking at a week yet (?) before release I think. Who knows, maybe I'll get lucky here. Thanks for the help.

[SickAlice]

Went ahead with Storm of course. If it turns out the leggings are different then what I did I'll just append that skin pack then.

Looking for what guns Shadow The Hedgehog uses still. I'm sitting on a work at 99% but haven't been able to find a lick of information about this other than " does use guns ". Okay, but what kind of guns? Mind you I have never played the game so I don't really have a clue myself, I'm just under the assumption at this point that Shadow functions exactly like Sonic does but also uses firearms? I stopped playing these games once they went 3d more because I was into other new games at that point. Thanks to anyone that comes up with anything. As I'm using standard FF keys here I'm probably only looking for two gun types, handgun type and rifle/shotgun/so on type. Whatever is normally associated with the character. Links to 3d models of the in game weapon models would be a bonus if possible.

[Tomato]

Shadow really only uses guns in his own game, and not that often even in that because the mechanic was so foreign to the gameplay of other sonic games that most people don't bother. That said, there are several guns available in the game, with various types of guns in human and alien varieties. There's a full list here if you're really interested.

That said, as far as ff is concerned, you're probably fine with a couple pistol animations. The bigger issue with shadow is his running animation... Shadow doesn't run like sonic does, he actually does more of a roller skating motion using a pair of rocket boots.

[SickAlice]

The link will be helpful thanks. I'm including guns just to meet the original request, otherwise it's helpful that I don't have to be too specific. I didn't know about the running animation (I did try this game once years ago but was more interested in Metroid Prime). I'll have to look about and see if I can find examples of that in action. If it's jets it would be an easy approach. I'm using the same Flash mesh I used for Sonic which has " trails " on the feet. I could just as well attach jets to that node and let the keyframes do the work. Thanks for the help. I'm hoping to get him and Tails out soon, I feel I took too long on these. I may try some other characters as well, I'm reading the Mega Man cross-over right now and my interest is peaked in the Sonic Universe.

* okay I see now, he skates and fire comes off his feet. I'll use the trails that are already there for the fire and bring in Dazzlers skate animation. Usually females don't work like that but I found out those Dazzler ones work fine with male meshes recently so this'll be pretty easy. Thanks for the help again.

[Tomato]

I did a quick google search for it, and one of the better examples I found was a fan animation (the most relevant portion is here) which isn't great, but it does showcase the difference in how Sonic runs vs how Shadow runs pretty well. About the only thing missing is the FX on the jet boots (The flame effect actually goes during his entire run animation, seen here)

[SickAlice]

Ja. I watched a couple videos. I pulled it off now. I used Dazzlers 3rd run animation but swapped out all the arm animations for the ones from here first. The replaced the " wheels " nodes in the animations with the streaks from Flash if you can picture it. So it looks close or as well as I'll get for conversion goes to FF. The streaks are weak as is but I'll replace them and add glow channels or if I'm not satisfied with it add particles to those nodes. Either way a pretty easy swap, I got lucky with this one. Now I just have to add info for whether the guns should be visible or not for anything (using Punisher guns as a stub but thinking I might just keep those) and attach the Shadow body parts and it'll be a go. Thanks for all the help and inspiration with this.

[SickAlice]

More Sonic questions.

I'm finishing Silver The Hedgehog right now at a good pace. I met him in the same comic series as the others and he had TK-ish moves and an aura in it. I watched a short video just now and it pretty much matched up there. It seemed the aura flashed in and out, which I could rig in the keyframes easy enough (fingers crossed). It seemed to come out when he was in action only and in run. I put this one on Gren's Vindicator as his movements are clear match and comes with an aura set in the keys for me already (I'm making a new aura geometry to fit Silver though of course). Is there anything signature about this character I'm missing or anything I'm observing wrong? Thanks.

Thanks again to anyone whose set me up with anything. It's all going to use and is a tremendous help. Remember this is everyone's thread so feel free to plug away for reference material yourselves here as well.