I’ve always said, commissions feel like a scam; taking advantage of people who can’t learn how to use these 3D programs. …And I’m also ‘guilty’ of starting the process of one. But when desperate times call for equal measures, it’s something I have little choice but to do (due to the ‘floof’ of the model that would get in the way of properly retexturing). And the person who I’m setting up the commission with, knows this very well (and how to get rid of it).
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As it currently stands (this currently isn’t official, as this is the start of setting up the commission), it’ll cost a single Andrew Jackson ($20), because I was able to get the parts for the model (would had costed upwards of $30 without). And how I was able to get them, two of the four required parts came from a member named ‘Foxes’.
The first model was looking for a bull horn (for the horns of the head). Though I had found some, the ones that I needed.. costed money (and they were also connected to the bull). Foxes had found a free cow horn, and tried to set it as close to my preferred specifications as possible.
As for ‘retexturing’, One can simply use a white texture (and use Cubed’s Unity Shader’s ‘flat toon’ shader (to match it with the rest of the model)).
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The second thing, took a lot longer (due to my own stupidity of forgetting I can resize the damn thing in Unity). I wanted the triangular spikes on the 2D pic’s back (but hilariously didn’t know what they were called, and had to look up what they are (called the spine)).
I’ve called them ‘back spikes’ for years. *facepalm*
Anyway, I was thinking of a 3D triangle (that’s thicker on the bottom). Didn’t know I was trying to explain a pyramid (which was actually what I needed at the start). Instead I’m wasting his time by mistake, and he’s understandably getting frustrated and tired with this. But finally I realize that YES.. I needed a pyramid. All I would had needed to do is rotate it 45*, and then use Unity’s scale tools to set the ‘fatness’ (to fit it in place).
Voylia, instant dragon spine!
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Third thing, dragon wings (of course). The whole thing that sparked my interest for the model idea, was seeing someone posting something about ‘fake dragon wings’ (that can be imported via Blender). Found something that looked nearly similar to the wings of the 2D pic on DeviantArt (that are already rigged). The DL page claims all you have to do is “attach it to your model and it should automatically work”.
Though, the person forgot to add in what program you use to attach them. Blender, or Unity? The way it sounds, it seems I could easily connect these to CATRigSpine3 in Unity. Yet how would they work, when you have no bone connecting from the spine to the bones of the model? Don’t you have to? I’m tempted to try it, but.. like everything else, I don’t want to be disappointed either.
There’s just no way it’s that easy (to import this thing from Blender, convert to fbx, and place the wings(and they’ll instantly work))! You NEED bones connected from the spine to the wings (especially if you want to add dynamic bones)!
Plus, colliding might be an issue (aka: the Gandora model).
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But whatever. There is also a 4th part, unfortunately this is not something I can easily attach to a bone.. as it requires completely replacing a part of the Best Boi; a scaly tail to replace the ‘floofy’ one (which can only be done in Blender, and I have ZERO idea on doing that). This alone, would either make or break the entire idea.
And then there’s the ‘tuff’ of the neck floof. This would throw off the retexturing of the model. And the more I thought about it, it WILL throw it off. This is supposed to look like a scalie, not a furry. 😛
(I’m fine with the ears, though).
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So in closing, hopefully now you see why a commission is pretty much my only option (for this idea). I require expert help for this, and I’m willing to pay for it (as long as it’s reasonably priced, and IMO, $20 is quite reasonable).
The good news from all of this (outside of this taking a major load off of my chest(physically and mentally)), is I’ll be able to put my full focus back on Wurm, and do those very important tasks to secure that mine.
UPDATE: The person has yet to respond to me if they’ve started the commission or not. This is a bit worrysome.
Just contacted the person while they’re streaming, they said their Discord installation is “fucky” right now (and not showing messages). She says she’ll look into it.
That explains a lot. Tried my best to not mention the word ‘commission’ in the stream.
UPDATE 2: The commission is good! I had to get someone to speak to the person in my behalf (as they weren’t in the same world I was). Also, the someone I asked to speak to the person, also has a commission with them.
And as to if the thing would be completed before next Friday (the catwalk event), the person said yes. AYY!! This relieves a huge burden off my chest! And it seems payment will be done once I see the completed model.
Can’t wait to see it. I hope doesn’t look childish. :/