Sheaths?
I'm wondering, there have been so many weapons collection featuring 'incomplete' swords and daggers in the past few months. Do they really sell? Personally I'm unlikely to buy a set that contains daggers or swords without a fitting scabbard as that's an unfinished product in my opinion. What would I use it for? Even if I depict the character with the sword or dagger in hand, the sheath won't magically vanish. It will still be there and more often than not at least partially visible in the image. Not to mention I lose every chance to depict the character drawing (or sheathing) the weapon.
I would certainly prefer future sets to come out with sheaths, heck at this point we could even use a product consisting of nothing but sheaths that can be fitted to various swords and daggers that been published in the past.
Comments
Yeah that's always been a pet peeve for me about weapon props: No proper sheath or holster for them.
You can make do with other wardrobe packs with jerry rigging, but it rarely looks 'right.'
I'd love a sheath and set of straps to strap certain swords on, or a detective styled under-the-arm holster for a gun.
Britech as an example, has created some really wonderful weapons .... I congratulate him very much. In fact, I have not bought the sets either - because ... and that's a bit precarious now ... as Cederien sais - the props do not have some crucial options.
Quivers would also be great
i have asked some PAs about this and the verdict is that a sheath, that hangs off a belt or another wrap is a total pain to rig.to keep it from deforming. If you look at the belt and sheath for the kadis armor for G3, it was quite the ordeal for the PA i read.
All of my products come with the proper attachments such as sheaths, holsters, and slings. The new Ghostblade outfit for G8F comes with sword and sheath, Tactical Assault Weapon add-on features a sling, and my new upcoming Machine Pistol comes with a holster and mag pouches.
What I have noticed with weapons is that they're usually standalone products so usually they just include weapon in hand with poses. It "could" be overlooked by the artist but if a weapon comes with an outfit then I think there's no excuse not to have some type of way to holster it. That's just being lazy but I'm sure it hurts their sales. Any item though to holster the weapon should be created as an add-on attachment with a pivot point in the right location. Shape stays original and easy to adjust from pose to pose.
I've brought this up here before. The response was "It's too hard".
If it wasn't hard we wouldn't need you to do it for us.
It boggles the mind that it is more difficult to do solid items than ones that deform. Seems to be the case though. On a related note, I've asked before about plate armour (ideally historically accurate- there is practically none in the store) where the individuall solid components don't change shape. Armour that distorts looks like it is made out of rubber rather than metal.
I wonder how well it would work to add a script to armor so that when it's loaded to a figure, it also changes the character's joint limits.
The problem is to make solid items that conform to a figure. Completely static items are rather simple to create.
TBH, I'd be completely okay if it was just a seperate object that didn't attach to the figure or conform, and that I'd have to position independently. As long as it looks appropriate for the weapon. I love the look of the beautiful Darque Rose Weapons Collection, but not having sheaths for the swords and especially daggers made me love them less.
The Blade Weapons 2 for Genesis 3 and 8 are the right idea, although not the look I'm after. Here are the sheaths, now sort yourself out.
A scabbard could indeed just be positioned at the thigh, without needing to pe actually attached to a clothing item. Parenting it to the pelvis would put it in the right general position and it could be repositioned as necessary. Perhaps if you like a sword that lacks a scabbard you could make the scabbard in sketchup or blender, and import it into Daz. (SketchUp is easier to use, and exported models can be imported into Daz if via Blender.)
I gather that complete weapon scabbards and suspension setups (or holsters, etc.) are difficult to do (though as Herschel Hoffmeyer, not to mention today's Assyrian Warrior Outfit proves it is possible). However, I'm with Sevrin there, just the sheaths are fine with me (or at least a big step in the right direction). That way at least I can improvise something or simply fix it in post with much less effort than having to try to photo-bash/paint an entire scabbard.
Making scabbards isn't so much difficult as it is tiime consuming. I usually do it the outfits I make (disclaimer: I don't broker here) that have swords, but in those cases the rigging is straightforward because it's part of an outfit. It you're making a sword with a scabbard and belt or baldric as a standalone, you're looking at a massive number or outfits they may be paired with. In the case of fantasy putfits in particular, you have the potential for some pretty wild armor pieces in the waist and hips, and with a baldric, you have to conside the shoulder and chest as well. Having had to jump through the hoops to get a scabbard working with a known outfit, I really understand why a vendor wouldn't do it for unknown outfits.
If, as a customer, I am using a sheath or a scabbard with another outfit I would expect problems and work around them or just not use that combination. After all, look at the trouble we have with footwear and pants, sometimes from the same outfit.
"It won't work with everything" is not a good reason to do nothing.
It is if you're trying to get something through QC, or having to deal with complaints because it doesn't work with [ fill in your favorite outfit]. I can appreciate that you expect problems/ are willing to accept workarounds. Others do not.
With that reasonable attitude I would like to support you. Please provide a link so that I can.
If I understand the forum rules, you can if someone asks you to.
Are there really that many 10-Ts that complain because something you create doesn't work with another item?
I'd like to think that people are more sensible.
I'm Deacon215.
And the overwhelming majority of people asking for help are absolutely great. We do our own customer support at Rendo, so when there's a problem with one of my items, my little blue sitemail icon lights up. And I apologise if I came across overly negative... having a bad day.
Unfortunately, there are...
Surprise, surprise. :) You happen to be one of my favourite artists. I buy all your historical stuff out of principal, even those outfits I don't think I will ever use (like the Lorica Segmentata Legionary outfits). There are so few artists who bother to do historical accurate (as far as possible at least) stuff. Those that do deserve the support from my point of view. (That said I abstained from the Neolithic outfits you did recently ... after all they are prehistoric, so I can get away with not buying them and still claim to buy all the historical sets you do. ^^) Anyway keep up the great work please. (Oh and I'm still waiting for the noble Scythians outfits to supplement the common Scythian horse archers you did. ^^)
Aw, and after I spent all that time researching Otzi the Iceman and watching One Million Years Years B.C.
Thanks, appreciate the kind words.
Wow! Now I remember you! We had a discussion about chain mail, and you were super cool.
Sadly, I only use modern stuff, but your Bronze Scale for G8F is hot! Can it be used on G3F?
Raquel Welch.
'Nuff said.
What can I say, I gravitate towards the old stuff.
I don't see why the Bronze Scale wouldn't work on G3F with a proper convertor. There's, well, not a lot to it after all....
Not a lot to it? Even ignoring it's size, that is one of the most complex sets of *ahem* armor I've seen in the 3D universe!
Can you recommend a converter? I have zero experience with G8 anything.
Okay, just bought it, and the Fantasy Bronze for G3F, just because the flat-heel boots are so rare and will be SO useful! Nice looking, too.
By the way, what hair is that in the main images? Looks good.
Thanks! Yes, I was refering to the coverage. It was a fairly complex set to make, especially in light of how little it actually 'protects.' My daughters had some quite sacastic comments when they saw it.
RiverSoft Art sells a convertor here at Daz, and Sickleyield had a tutorial on how to do it manually a couple of years back (I think it was on her DA page.) I'm a poor one to ask about how to do conversions because I have little experience...when I need one I remodel and re-rig it.
The hair is the Leyton hair . It's a favorite of mine because it's a rather timeless style, and it works well on G8F as well.
Leyton Hair. *sigh*
As usual, I already own it and didn't recognize it. I have waaay too much stuff.
Just bought the converters you mentioned, I think I'll make a reward poster for my readers.
They seem to appreciate beautiful women with weapons.
quick and dirty scabbord fix.
Any scabbord you have that is rigged and fits your character.
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take another sword, etc.
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use geometry editor, hide the blade, delete the blade, export the hilt with a varient name, import the hilt, (if you have two of the same item in a scene geo-edit does them both)
then reload the original blade and use that as a source of the textures to retexture the hilt,
the stick the hilt on top of the other sheath.
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it might not have been a perfect match in shape.
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hmm, if you have a sword that works with a sheath .. in and out etc. knock off the hilt and parent the hilt you want to use onto that set?
as for a blade texture .. I wonder how interchangable a blade texture would be
started with Night Guard Sword and Scabbord
took hilt off sword with geometry editor
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leaving just scabbord
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added Rune sword, centered with scabbord
and scaled on Y to fix Rune sword
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added some doo-dads to sheathe and hilt
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generically sheaths were basically just leather coverings or metal but shaped like a sword blade
only details would probably be trim, etc for proper period.
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this should leave you with whatever morphs etc the scabbord had originally.
One could be really clever if hilt a separate shading domain and add a geometry shell offset and turn the cutout opacity down for the hilt and texture the sheath/blade part in something appropriate
FYI the new outfit by secondcircle at rendo has a really nice looking sword/belt/scabbard combo