other then Hero Machine

[Oneway]

...or paying for CoH's monthly fee, is there a program out there to aid in drawing characters?

Hero Machine is too limited.

Not sure it is worth it to pay CoH $15/mo just to use their 3D designer software.

[Derek Hiemforth]

ProFantasy has some kind of art software I believe. www.profantasy.com

[Dale A. Ward]

ProFantasy has some kind of art software I believe. www.profantasy.com (http://www.profantasy.com)

You're referring to Character Artist, an add-on product for Campaign Cartographer 2. CA costs $36.95, produces artwork of lower quality (in my opinion) than Heromaker, and requires that you have the CC2 software first. CC2 costs an additional $39.95.

I've used CC2, and it's an excellent program for making game maps, despite its rather steep learning curve. On the other hand, CA is not worth what they're charging. I wouldn't pay more than $10 for it.

I wish I had an alternative for you, Oneway. The best I can suggest is to use a program like Second Life or Star Wars: Galaxies to design your character, then take a screen shot.

[Curufea]

Editing the skins for Freedom Force also works.

[Starwolf]

If you are interested in 3D design software DAZ Studio gives away their software for free. They also have 3 of their models/character bases you can download for free. Between the other free stuff they give away and other free Poser/DAZ stuff freely and legally distributed on the web, you can access several Gigabytes of artwork creation stuff. You can find their website here (http://www.daz3d.com/index.php?refid=753820585)

[Arioch]

i use city of heroes/villains to make all my characters, then again I play the game also as well so the monthly fee is worth it

[Oneway]

If you are interested in 3D design software DAZ ... You can find their website here (http://www.daz3d.com/index.php?refid=753820585)

very cool, a little like playing with a VR doll.

only prob is i am running into a prob in finding content (mostly hair and clothes) and not looking forward to paying $10-30 for a few bits, that may or may not have what i want.

still, does look neat (even if it has waaaaaaaaay more power then i need in a program)

[Aroooo]

I have Poser, and there is a lot of free content out there; but it does have a huge learning curve... I've never been able to devote enough time to it to get very good at it. Maybe one day...

Aroooo

[Starwolf]

Here (http://www.renderosity.com/freestuff.ez?Topsectionid=1&Form.SortOrder=UserName&Start=1&WhatsNew=Yes) is a site with loads of free stuff for Poser and DAZ Studio

[BNakagawa]

some time ago, the korean front end for COH was released as a standalone app, so you could play around with the character design bit (not the actual game mechanics, though)

If you poke around in the right spots, I'm sure you could probably find where to download it.

[Oneway]

If you poke around in the right spots, I'm sure you could probably find where to download it.

tried, NC Soft pulled it from the Korean site and has aggressively attacked any site that hosted it.

i would gladdly pay for software like that(just dont want to pay $15/mo to use), if it had a decent export function.

[ghost-angel]

very cool, a little like playing with a VR doll.

only prob is i am running into a prob in finding content (mostly hair and clothes) and not looking forward to paying $10-30 for a few bits, that may or may not have what i want.

still, does look neat (even if it has waaaaaaaaay more power then i need in a program)
If you join the platinum club you get disounts on tons of stuff, not to mention a lot of it for $2 instead of full price. You usually end up saving more money than the Platinum Club costs. Pretty quickly too.

I know from experience :)

[Starwolf]

Plus you get a $5.00 discount on your first non-platinum club item purchase each month. And right now they are running a special where you get an extra 10 PC items for free. Altogether I glomed onto about 30 free items just for joining. Of course joining cost me $29.95 plus about $8.00 per month to maintain club membership.

[ghost-angel]

I did the Annual Membership... saves $20 over the monthly membership per year, and you get a grip more free stuff....

Of course, even with the PC savings I've spent a ton of cash on the site!

[Starwolf]

Of course, even with the PC savings I've spent a ton of cash on the site!

Me too, my wife even (jokingly I hope) suggested that I take a second part time job to pay for extra Poser stuff...:rolleyes:

[ghost-angel]

Me too, my wife even (jokingly I hope) suggested that I take a second part time job to pay for extra Poser stuff...:rolleyes:
Heh, my wife's hobby is real dolls; Momoko to be specific. She spends more on that hobby than I do on Hero and Daz combined.... I never get nagged for spending to much money on my hobbies, it's great! :D

[Ghost Archer]

I use Sims 2.

My Ghost Archer

http://the-wild-hunt.org/hunt/archer.jpg

Thistle Grey, Archer's love.

http://the-wild-hunt.org/hunt/thistle.jpg

Suelee Hung, Chinese crimelord.

http://the-wild-hunt.org/isla/suelee.jpg

You would be amazed at the amount of free stuff available, including spandex and weapons. I believe it is almost impossible to get the same figure twice there are so many possiblities. Clothes of all kinds. Hair in all kinds of colors and styles. A myriad of eye color. Jewelry, makeup, tattoos, piercings. And the facial features are totally customizable. You can very height and to a small degree, weight.

I think the basic program, The Sims 2, can be picked up for about $30. Watch the video card requirements though, I think the base game requires an ATI 7000 or better and the later Expansion Pack, Open For Business requires an ATI 8500 or GForce2 GTS or better. As of this moment, my Download files, the stuff you can find for free online, is over 12000 items.

PS: Also works great for making a base/headquarters.

[Starwolf]

Great PICs GA! BTW Hexagon 2 is on sale for PC members for $1.99, it will go up to the regular price of $297.00 soon.

[Dale A. Ward]

I just DLed a new 3D modelling app... haven't had a chance to test it yet.

Google Sketchup v5.0.245
http://sketchup.google.com/

I get the impression that it's not intended for characters but for things like architecture and the like.

[Warp9]

Since we're on the subject. . . .

I have a 3D modeling program that I've been developing. And it does do characters, plus a large number of other things including landscapes, vehicles, buildings, etc. . . .

It needs more testing; if anybody wants to help test it, you're welcome to give it a try. :yes:

http://www.siliconstorm.net/Andromeda/AndromedaBase.html

[Dr. Anomaly]

People might also take a look at this site:

http://www.myvirtualmodel.com/en/index.htm

[Dale A. Ward]

Since we're on the subject. . . .

I have a 3D modeling program that I've been developing. And it does do characters, plus a large number of other things including landscapes, vehicles, buildings, etc. . . .

It needs more testing; if anybody wants to help test it, you're welcome to give it a try. :yes:

http://www.siliconstorm.net/Andromeda/AndromedaBase.html

If you need a betatester, put me on the list. How do I get the current version?

[Warp9]

If you need a betatester, put me on the list. How do I get the current version?

Hey thanks Dale, having you test the program would be great! :)

I can either email you the program, or put the program up on my site and have you download it from there.

[Dale A. Ward]

Either way is fine by me. My email address is...

dale dot a dot ward at gmail dot com