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Was anything changed on your end? This problem had started for me yesterday afternoon. I turned my computer off and tried again when I got home that night, but even after restarting I was having the same problem last night, which is when I posted my previous message.
However, after going to bed and waking up this morning, I tried again to turn off my antivirus softward and open the ePic Character Generator program and let it update itself with the latest package, and this time it worked no problem and I’m able to view the new package without it crashing. I didn’t try anything different though, nor did I even restart my computer since the last time I tried, so I don’t know why it worked this time but didn’t several hours ago as I haven’t changed anything or done anything differently since then.
I really don’t want to start any debates or ruffle any feathers, but I want to respond to the nudity topic. First, I should mention there are a million different reasons as to why an artist would want to create a nude character, even one with pubic hair (which is a natural part of all of our bodies), other than “wanting to create porn”. Further to the point, “nude” (with or without pubic hair) doesn’t necessarily have to mean “pornographic”, although I understand this can be subjective.
Ultimately, though, we’ve got a program where we can create artwork for our own personal use or distribute it to “select” audiences if we so desire. So, as long as the creation and distribution is legal, there shouldn’t be any limits to what one can create with this program (aside from the technical aspect).
Meaning that since creating porn is legal (at least where I live), using the Generator to create porn shouldn’t be out of bounds.
Maybe I’m an outlier in wanting to create completely nude female and male characters (especially the latter), but I see this as simply a matter of increasing the creative options available from the program. Let’s be honest with ourselves, there will always be those who will want to create nude characters and don’t have a visual arts bone in their body and/or envision a character you can’t find online (especially one that you can use). Giving them a program that gives them the ability to have a creation they can be proud of is only a bonus.
Further to the point, as LBandy said, having a nude character gives the creator a “canvas” so to speak. If I want to create or alter different kinds of clothes for my character I can at least clearly see what areas I have to “cover” to get the look right.
I’ll close with a story. I’m primarily a writer, though I like having visuals of the characters I’m writing about, if nothing else because they’re useful. Sometimes those characters were nude. A few times, I’ve had stories where the characters were nude, “just ’cause”…there was nothing inherently sexual about it. I was a HeroMachine user for years, but HeroMachine has three distinct problems:
- Their models are very “cartoon-y”
- You can’t use what you create there for commercial projects
- There are no “truly nude” models, so getting the clothes to fit right could involve guesswork
The ePic Generator Pro version solved all those problems for me. I got it in January and I haven’t looked back. By far one of the best purchases I’ve made and that’s no hyperbole. I haven’t come across a creation tool that has more options and/or a better “look” than the Generator.
In short, the value of a creation tool, aside from how it looks, are the options. Why limit them?
Because Porn is porn.
As it happens, legality is one thing, the consequences of moral choices on a social group (or on many of them…) are something else entirely. Most of them being unforeseen.
Legality is just words on paper. I should know, law is one of my majors.
You may want to notice I didn’t talk about nudity, I talked about porn. That’s different. The point being: “let’s make sure such or such nudity doesn’t amount to porn”.
I believe I made my opinion quite clear about full frontal.
And these are just my opinions, ultimately, ePic’s team decides and the choice went your way so why do you care ?
Kelemelan, I think we just need to agree to disagree and leave it at that. At least that is where I am leaving it.
On to more important matters- LBandy, regarding the PSD exports: when loading the files in GIMP, the layers all load in their base colours (meaning if you’ve changed the colour in the Generator GIMP will not recognize that) and, at least with the exception of the Season Three packs, the base underwear or “panties” layer will not load at all.
It’s not a major problem and I don’t know if it has more to do with the fact I’m using GIMP and not Photoshop, but I figure I would raise the issue.
That was my point from the very begining: that I was disagreeing with the original choice. I didn’t expect anyone to agree with me. Just expressing dissent. 🙂
Back to business :
I’m using GIMP too, haven’t used Photoshop in ages.
Can’t say I dealt with such issues since I’m adjusting colors/shade/hues/luminance/whatever in GIMP/Krita/paint.net well, whatever is convenient, not in ePic.
Out of the top of my head, I’d hazard that if there’s an issue with GIMP’s PSD that could be because GIMP’s default isn’t PSD, it’s XCF. PSD is Photoshop format. Maybe give Krita or Paint.net a chance ? Just guesses, not promises. 😛 ^_^
Had a look, indeed adjusted colors doesn’t seem to get saved in ePic in PSD. Can be changed from the PSD in your software of choice of course.
Colors are not saved into PSD intentionally. When changing the RGB values from code they are done on the actual representation of the image loaded up on GPU, and they can somehow decrease the quality of the image a bit in some circumstances. On an exported PNG this isn’t really noticeable unless you are saving your character on a transparent background, so I wanted to maintain the original quality of each layer by not applying any coloring on top. Changing colors is easy enough in both PS and GIMP with a much wider toolset compared to a single color picker that is available in the software. As I see it generates confusion though, so I’ll add a message box saying the same in the software so it’ll be obvious in the future that this isn’t a bug.
As for panties not loading at all, can you elaborate on that, so I can investigate the issue? Just did a quick export check and all layers are exported well in all combinations (panties, underwear, pants, and tops). Thank you!
Works here too but looks like there’s a “trick”.
Some items (like panties) are selected as default but you have to manually reselect them otherwise they won’t show in the export.
It’s not a big issue, unless you actually need panties as a selectable item in the final PSD export.
Only visible items are meant to be exported, so if you are getting fewer items than what’s shown in the software it could be an issue – if you’re getting more that’s always a bonus. 🙂
OK. So these are all PSD exports from Season One packs, loaded into GIMP via “Open As Layers…”:
I wasn’t sure if I could post nudity on this forum so I played it safe and put in the “censored” bars. They’re obviously not on the original uploads.
Anyway, on none of the exports does the “panties” layer show up, when in Season One, there’s no way to shut that off in the Generator. If the character is not wearing any pants, they will have nothing on at all in that area when uploaded to GIMP, as the program doesn’t acknowledge the existence of that layer.
The Season Three Throne Lady *will* upload with the “panties” layer being recognized by GIMP, with the layer being called “pantsdefault”:
Make that of what you will.
LBandy said:
“– added the option to remove the default underwear on Season #2 characters for PSD Exporter owners
I will update all Seasons eventually, but since they mean that I need to regenerate all packages, I’m planning to do it around the release of the Anthro tail addons from Kelemelan.”
What you are describing makes perfect sense. You are **not** refering to “default underwear on season #2 characters”.
Good news is I keep working on the tail addon so that one should be ready in a matter of days not weeks. Hopefully. ^_^
This is an interesting issue, and I’m not sure it’s relevant to the latest update, I think panties never really showed up on Season #1 PSD exports. I’ll definitely take a look and fix it. Thanks for letting me know!
So the issue here is definitely the different way we handled default items in Season #1 than #2. I could work it around in code, but it’d probably be more consistent with the actual content update to Season #1 when it comes. Will need to see which one comes first. 🙂
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