Category Archives: Previews

Terminal Knees

Watson Bradshaw requested a set of legs that would terminate at the knees, as if the character were kneeling. Since that's been requested by lots of folks, I thought it would be wise to go ahead and publish the first pass at it for general comment, though since it's Watson's prize he gets the final word. Here's the screen grab of it:


It's now live in "Body-Male-Standard" and once we get it finalized (i.e. Watson says he likes it), I'll do a set for the female body as well. Let me know what you think, changes you think it needs to be fully functional, etc. I put in one for the left and one for the right leg.

HM3: New Right Hands

Finishing up Imp's prize from Character Contest 33, I've converted these three hands from the Modern Warrior mini to HeroMachine 3 Alpha:

Thanks for your patience, and for the suggestion, Imp!

HM3: Common female fantasy tops

I've just posted the "Tops-Female-Fantasy-Common" set to HeroMachine 3, a conversion of the previously released male items to fit the standard female body. As usual, if you don't see it on the list, clear your browser cache. Enjoy!

HM3: New pattern

For his Character Contest 40 prize, Haz requested that the vertical gradient from the "Patterns" tab be turned into an item in the "Patterns-Standard" set so you could do a two-tone effect, mask it, rotate it, size it, etc. I had no clue how to do such a thing, but I gave it a whirl and what do you know, it worked! I've now updated the file and you can use it immediately. Here's a screen shot of what it looks like:

The top color is color 1, the bottom one is color 2. I am excited this turned out to be so easy! If I get motivated I need to do it for some of the other ones too ... although I suppose with just this one and some masking, you can put a two-color gradient going any direction onto any item, more or less.

I am working on prizes now, and have already sent out several for approval this morning. Sadly Haz didn't get the chance to approve it, I was too happy and figured I nailed it, so this is the first he's hearing of it. Surprise! Haz, if you don't like it for some reason let me know and I'll make changes.

After the jump I am going to put a list of the outstanding contest prizes -- if you see your name and haven't gotten your prize yet, let me know. This is particularly critical for Steve, Cory, Fishpants (x2), Frankie, ArtfulDodger, Violodion, Brons (x2), MercWithAMouth, and Bixlord as starting tomorrow I am going to forfeit your prizes and instead turn them over to the community at large to vote on items THEY want instead.

Continue reading

HM3: Female Coats

I've just updated HeroMachine 3 with the Tops-Female-Coats set, a direct translation of the Tops-Male-Coats set. Here's how a few of them look:

The long transferal slog continues apace. Holler if you see any problems with this particular one.

HM3: Six new bustiers

Thanks to your feedback, I've added six items from the HM2.5 Expansion set to the HM3 Tops-Female-Bustiers set:

These are available now; if you don't see them, clear your browser's cache.

HM3: Bustiers

I've completed and uploaded the conversion of the HM 2.5 "Bustiers" set for HeroMachine 3, and it is now live for your use. Here is a preview of a couple of screens worth of entries:

I tried to be careful about bringing over all the items, including things like the star-spangled and striped sets, and to further break them down into the complete item down to the waist; cut off at the navel; and just the bra.

Furthermore there are a number of standalone options for mixing and matching your own creations. For instance, item number nine (first page, first column, last row) is designed to fit over the default shoulder straps so instead of a top portion with pointy ends, you can make them rounded instead. There are also a number of zippers set to different lengths which can be sized, rotated, and moved to serve any number of functions.

Hope you like them! Note that armor stuff will be covered in the conversion of Tops-FantasyArmor from males to females, so don't be surprised that there's little enough of that here.

If there's anything in particular you'd like to see, or problems you've noted, with the set then please let me know in comments.

HM3: Fantasy Headgear update

If you don't see it, clear your browser's cache, but I've just updated the Headgear-Fantasy set with the following ten items from the suggestions you made after the last update:

With this release we're at a turning point in the HeroMachine 3 development process -- I have the sense that we're pretty much done with adding new items, with the exception of female bustiers. Barring any huge item set that I've overlooked, and which I count on you to remind me of in the comments, I think the next steps are as follows:

  1. Swap all the items that are currently right-only to have left components as well (hands, shoulders, feet, items, etc.);
  2. Convert all the male-only items (tops and legwear mostly) to fit the female figure as well;
  3. Recode to solve bugs and hopefully address some of the performance issues, add new features, etc.;
  4. Make another pass through the items to catch any that we missed;
  5. Upgrade status to beta and go for a wider release;
  6. Address any major issues revealed by the beta test and release.

The key takeaway is that this will be the end of "new" item releases for quite a while as I concentrate on converting over the stuff that already exists. I know that's not super exciting for you (or for me, frankly), but it clearly needs doing.

So, let me know what you think of this proposed plan!

HM3: Fantasy Headgear

I am super pumped to announce the release of the "Headgear-Fantasy" set of items for the HeroMachine 3 Alpha. I've included most of your suggestions over the past few months for various other things (full suits of armor when I was working on chest pieces, etc.), and also gone frame by frame to import (and update, for the most part) the items from the same set in HeroMachine 2.

Here's a quick sample showing some of the all-new items, and then at the end a couple of conversions:

Hope you like them! I've got room for a few more at the end, although at 78 items it's getting close to the ceiling. But let me know if there's some key bit missing you were really hoping for and I'll see what I can do.

HM3: Fantasy common

I've just added the "Tops-Male-FantasyCommon" set to the HeroMachine 3 Alpha. This set includes 70+ items, some ported over from existing set and many new ones as well. Each entry where appropriate is broken down into the complete item, just the middle portion, just the chest portion, and just the sleeve. To get the sleeve on the left side, make sure you've got Multiples selected, add a second sleeve, and use the "Flip" button. Then drag it over to the right.

As usual, if you don't see it on the list, clear your browser's cache and it ought to appear -- it's definitely on the server.

Here's a sample of some of the items. Note that I tried to include some loose sleeves that you can match up with the wide variety of vests to make customized tunics.

Hope you like them! I've got room for maybe one or two more items with their breakdowns, or up to eight individual items, if there's something missing you've just got to have.