Artwork: Time to leave the ship

Been ages since I've had the time or the inclination to work on this baby, but I found a little time tonight to at least start playing with the fur settings.

I've been creating puppy dogs as party of my day job, so I've been playing with hair and fur quite a bit over the past couple of weeks. Initially I thought the way to set up the direction of your fur was done via the UV map (and to an extent it is), but it turns out it's a lot easier to set things up using curves as guides. This gives a vastly more accurate result, although it does take quite a while to set up.

The image here is just my first few tweaks with the fur. As you can see it really isn't working too well. With the new knowledge I have of the fur system I'm thinking it'll be a lot simpler to go back and redo some of the model. At the moment it's really just the same model I used for 'The Island', just smoothed a little. I'll probably want to redo the UVs so the fur will work a lot nicer.


With a fair bit of work I've no doubt I could make it look good, but I'm still not entirely convinced it'll fit with the rest of the image. Thoughts people?

Creatures 1: Tony and Justin

Two furry forms lay upon the ground,

Eyes emerald green and saphire blue,
To lose a dear one is to mourn,
Worse still when numbered two.

Tony and Justin have left us now,
Their souls depart together,
To join those who've left before,
And be as one forever.

R.I.P Tony and Justin

Creatures 1: Trista

Blond of hair and full of life,

Beneath the glittering pixie lights,
Trista closed her eyes once more,
To wake again at heavens door.



A sleepless babe the kits did say,


Though you and I know better,


She leaves her prodigy in tact,


There's none that shall forget her.


Another friend, another life,
Another tear to shed,
We'll remember you, our caring friend,
And see you in the life ahead.



R.I.P - Trista

Creatures 1: Heartly

T'ween fruitful fern and hanging vine,
Deep silence fills the land,
The birds here dare not sing their songs,
For the mourning of the Hand.

A kindly friend, a playful soul,

A showoff too no doubt,

A smiling face beneath the wrinkles,

And never one to pout.

The reaper comes for all my dear,
I wish we need not part,
Godspeed, good luck, fairwell my friend,
You'll always be my Heart.

R.I.P - Heartly.

Creatures 1: Selective Breeding

The first generation Norns continue to age, with Pollen and Heartly becoming elegible for seniours cards.

Some Norns age gracefully. I think Pollen is just a little upset to discover her new wrinkles.



Heartly on the other hand has taken it well in his stride. Rather than being put off by old age he took the oppertunity to get Trista pregnant, most likely for the last time as she is the eldest Norn in Albia.

Satisfied with his work, Heartly has spent a great deal of time sleeping since then.



Actually as the elderly keep getting older there seems to be a lot more sleeping going on. Only two Norns retain their youthful appearances; Tabby and Lillai. Tabby has led a very peaceful life, rarely needing too much food and almost always in good spirits. Lillai hasn't done too badly either, although I'm still not sure if her youthful appearance is due to a healthy lifestyle or a lack of sprites.



Strangely some of the Norns have become better eaters in their elder years. Trista has ping-ponged between a good eater and bad eater most of her life, but seems to be eating well now. Personally I think she's just taken a liking to bananas.

Heartly and Tabby have remained good eaters for most of their life, so it's not much of a surprise to see them continuing to do so.

Trista is sitting just short of 11 hours. Lillai is just over 10. Tony, Heartly and Justin are all sitting around the 9 and a half hours mark. Tabby is just short of 9 hours and Pollen is only 8 and a half.

With most of the Norns into their elderly years I will be very surprised to see any more pregnancies at this stage. But with 12 eggs laying in wait, and 2 more that accidently hatched the next generation is well and truly secured. For now I'll do my best to keep the Norns comfortable for the remaining few hours they have left.

Creatures 1: Selective Breeding

Albia has been relatively peaceful the last few hours. The males low testosterone levels have made it very difficult for additional pregnancies, although Heartly is still young and vigorous enough to have a chance.

For the most part I've been leaving the Norns to themselves, stepping in periodically to make sure everyone is reasonably well fed.

As you can see Justin has been the next to succumb to old age, getting his wrinkles at 7 hours and 42 minutes.



Justin and Tony have become to old men of the island, spending all their time there. They seem to have even chased off the resident Grendel!



But that's okay, as Treyborn (who has aged beyond his tiny status) has found a new friend in Lillai. Lillai seems to have an affinity for the Grendels and seems to like hanging out with them.

This shot makes it look like Treyborn is gazing off at the far mountain. Perhaps they're contemplating if that's the mountain Pollen came from?



Speaking of which, Pollen has decided to join the old men on the island. Having spent a fair bit of time alone recently I'm hoping she enjoys the company.

You really need to clean out your submarine periodically. The Norns tend to leave such a mess. 2 carrots, a moldy bit of cheese, a honey pot and...oh that's where the recorders been hidden!



On the other side of the world Heartly and Tabby decided to have a beer and banana party to themselves, much to the disgust of Trista, who not only is too old for such games anymore also wasn't invited!

Strangely Trista seems to have taken a liking to the bananas and has been gobbling them up. This is a fantastic change as she usually doesn't eat well. Theoretically honey, cheese, carrots and bananas are all classified as 'food' and the Norns can't tell them apart. I do wonder sometimes, as my Norns have always seemed to prefer one food type over another.

Curses, they left the shower on again!



I can't help but feel Heartly would really like one more egg to his name. Although not high, his testosterone level has been sitting around the 40% mark. If his sex drive would kick in he might get lucky. Maybe some tomatoes would help?



Heartly has taken to playing with the eggs, and takes great joy in parading them around in front of the girls. Unfortunately I don't remember which egg belongs to which Norns, however it amuses me to think he's actually showing off his future children.

Still no deaths in Albia yet, but the time can't be too far away. Trista is sitting at a comfortable 9 hours and 50 minutes, with Lillai trailing at 9 hours and 7 minutes (goodness she hasn't even got wrinkles yet. Although I'm not 100% sure if the Powwow Norns have old age sprites). All the Norns are quite healthy though, with everyone sitting comfortably over 70% health. There's still some life in these blighters yet.

Creatures 1: Selective Breeding

It seems I've reached my number of eggs in good timing. The generation one Norns of Albia are starting to show their grey hairs, in some cases literally.

I've reimported all the Norns after taking care of their basic needs and they're all frolicking together again.

Trista is the first to reach old age. And at 8 hours and 20 minutes old I'm not surprised. She has done well to keep her youthful appearance this long.



Sadly my last Grendel passed recently; I can't remember if I introduced him at any stage. This has however allowed a new Grendel to hatch, and for the first time I get to see the baby Grendel sprites I installed ages ago! They're so tiny and cute!



As you can see from this shot Tony has been the next to succumb to old age. His grey hairs cropped up much earlier than Trista's at only 7 hours and 37 minutes. I don't think there was anything in his genetics to do this, but he hasn't been as good an eater as Trista and it may have been a lack of food and stress that caused his faster aging.

Despite having all the Norns in the world and hearing plenty of kiss-pops there hasn't been any new pregnancies. I have a gut feeling there may not be any more due to the aging population. We can still cross our fingers and hope though!