Bows (no not that kind)

wickedprince3d_fd273b40ac

Ok, so here's my thing. I'm into fantasy and alternate history type stuff that's also basically fantasy but borrowing elements from the real world.

So the thing is, I love making characters with bow and arrows. But what I find about 90% of the time that if the creator included a draw morph so you can do a pose with a character drawing an arrow and aiming at a target - only the string changes. It elongates in basically a triangular shape with the bow as the third side. But the bow itself doesn't bend. So you look at the pose, and it looks neat, but then you look closer and realize that now the string is twice the size that the bow could handle. Twice the length it is at rest. Yeah I can get that getting the bow to curve properly takes a bit of work, I don't make 3D items but I watch vids on it every so often. Don't most of those tools including a setting that would make the bow bend properly? Crossbows of course you get the same thing most of the time. I'm currently working on a scene using the bow from this costume: https://www.daz3d.com/dforce-elven-archer-outfit-for-genesis-8-females ; I am totally glad the artist gave the costume a quiver filled with arrows (imagine trying to pose a dozen arrows into the quiver, I'm sure anyone that's done an archer scene enough times has seen this). That's not as common as it should be. I'm also glad that they even included a set of poses - very very neat. But if you use the full draw morph only the string changes and it becomes twice it's normal length, give or take a few "inches". It's a great costume and I find myself coming back to it over and over to kitbash pieces from it. It has one other problem in that each piece has only one texture group which is bothersome - but I can figure out work-arounds there. But it snags on that bow.

 

There's another one: https://www.daz3d.com/dforce-ember-skies-outfit-for-genesis-8-and-81-females ; this one has a bigger problem - look at the poses with the drawn bow, and take a close look at the string. It curves inward from the tip of the bow out to the draw corner point. AND there is no curve in the bow during draw. I can't even imagine how the creator missed that string thing and let it go.

 

If you are a content creator, you have my admiration, I wish I had the courage to try that stuff but my brain has limits. But please, the next time you are creating an archer set, do these three things. 1) make sure the bow bends along with the string when drawn. 2) make sure the string is straight. 3: PLEASE include a quiver filled with arrows as a preset.

MissLeah

Oh! Something I can help with! One of the main characters of the book I'm currently writing is an archer, so I've been creating some pieces of him with his bow in various poses. I've been using the bow and arrows from this set: https://www.daz3d.com/dforce-torikku-outfit-for-genesis-81-male. The draw morph does curve the bow, along with keeping the string straight. It's quite nice, actually. There's a texture set for it too: https://www.daz3d.com/dforce-torikku-outfit-textures. I'm using one of those extra textures in my renders. I very much like the quiver as well, since it's a unique design. It does come filled with arrows, and there's a separate arrow prop if you need it.

I've tried several different bow sets, just like you, but this one is my favorite to work with. 

crosswind

wickedprince3d_fd273b40ac said:

Ok, so here's my thing. I'm into fantasy and alternate history type stuff that's also basically fantasy but borrowing elements from the real world.

So the thing is, I love making characters with bow and arrows. But what I find about 90% of the time that if the creator included a draw morph so you can do a pose with a character drawing an arrow and aiming at a target - only the string changes. It elongates in basically a triangular shape with the bow as the third side. But the bow itself doesn't bend. So you look at the pose, and it looks neat, but then you look closer and realize that now the string is twice the size that the bow could handle. Twice the length it is at rest. Yeah I can get that getting the bow to curve properly takes a bit of work, I don't make 3D items but I watch vids on it every so often. Don't most of those tools including a setting that would make the bow bend properly? Crossbows of course you get the same thing most of the time. I'm currently working on a scene using the bow from this costume: https://www.daz3d.com/dforce-elven-archer-outfit-for-genesis-8-females ; I am totally glad the artist gave the costume a quiver filled with arrows (imagine trying to pose a dozen arrows into the quiver, I'm sure anyone that's done an archer scene enough times has seen this). That's not as common as it should be. I'm also glad that they even included a set of poses - very very neat. But if you use the full draw morph only the string changes and it becomes twice it's normal length, give or take a few "inches". It's a great costume and I find myself coming back to it over and over to kitbash pieces from it. It has one other problem in that each piece has only one texture group which is bothersome - but I can figure out work-arounds there. But it snags on that bow.

 

There's another one: https://www.daz3d.com/dforce-ember-skies-outfit-for-genesis-8-and-81-females ; this one has a bigger problem - look at the poses with the drawn bow, and take a close look at the string. It curves inward from the tip of the bow out to the draw corner point. AND there is no curve in the bow during draw. I can't even imagine how the creator missed that string thing and let it go.

 

If you are a content creator, you have my admiration, I wish I had the courage to try that stuff but my brain has limits. But please, the next time you are creating an archer set, do these three things. 1) make sure the bow bends along with the string when drawn. 2) make sure the string is straight. 3: PLEASE include a quiver filled with arrows as a preset.

100% second the above points ~

The better way may be rigging + morphs. I ever did some. Attached is the optimized rigged Bow in dForce Elven Archer Outfit. I added a fix morph this time to make it look even better. Pls give it a try if you're interested.

Edit: You can save it as a scene subset or wearable preset, or a figure asset with your vendor name ~~ (modified with deltas only...)

wickedprince3d_fd273b40ac

crosswind    thank you for that, very neat. I have to pop that into my runtimes on my two computers. I've been doing digital art for more than 20 years and there are still so many things I don't know how to do. :D   With all the tools there are for costuming and stuff you'd think there would be an easy way to accomplish this as a vendor to improve your product. I have probably two dozen bows from various costumes and sets, and most of them have this problem, though I've only seen a very few with the arcing string problem of Ember Skies.

Matt_Castle

crosswind said:

The better way may be rigging + morphs. I ever did some. Attached is the optimized rigged Bow in dForce Elven Archer Outfit. I added a fix morph this time to make it look even better. Pls give it a try if you're interested.

Unfortunately, rigging is not separately redistributable within the DS formats; it's intertwined into the geometry data.

If you've created a scene file where you've painted weightmaps to the asset, then you've embedded a copy of that asset's geometry in the scene file and are sharing it in violation of EULA.

WendyLuvsCatz

off topic 

but confused which of the other 2 types of bows this isn't about 

the genuflecting type or the decorative tied type 

I know what you mean though, it should bend a bit or a lot depending on the type of bow when the string is drawn

crosswind

Matt_Castle said:

crosswind said:

The better way may be rigging + morphs. I ever did some. Attached is the optimized rigged Bow in dForce Elven Archer Outfit. I added a fix morph this time to make it look even better. Pls give it a try if you're interested.

Unfortunately, rigging is not separately redistributable within the DS formats; it's intertwined into the geometry data.

If you've created a scene file where you've painted weightmaps to the asset, then you've embedded a copy of that asset's geometry in the scene file and are sharing it in violation of EULA.

Right ~ I overlooked it. Editing ~

crosswind

wickedprince3d_fd273b40ac said:

crosswind    thank you for that, very neat. I have to pop that into my runtimes on my two computers. I've been doing digital art for more than 20 years and there are still so many things I don't know how to do. :D   With all the tools there are for costuming and stuff you'd think there would be an easy way to accomplish this as a vendor to improve your product. I have probably two dozen bows from various costumes and sets, and most of them have this problem, though I've only seen a very few with the arcing string problem of Ember Skies.

You're welcome ! Have fun !