So, I’m still working on remodelling the files that were in the Daz Archive and I remembered something the first time I made those models. I left them static initially because I didn’t want to compete with the vendors at Daz and to an extent, Renderosity. They were making similar or other weapons that were animated. Moving parts in other words. Rotating cylinder, functioning slide, trigger, hammer etc. Some provided empty shells to simulate ejecting casings and various other functions.
That gave me pause for thought this time round. I am tempted to animate the guns where I can find illustration of moving parts. When I originally built these guns I couldn’t find a decent image of a functioning Winchester anywhere. So I had no idea how the gun cycled, other than the lever action. Ejecting fired cartridges, cocking, none of that was available. Now it is. So, I could make the weapons function (up to a point). But, this again would directly compete with vendors. I always figured that they put in the extra work to make the thing move, so they deserve the credit and financial reward. It was unfair of me to offer free things that directly competed with that.
That opinion hasn’t changed. What has changed is that there are a lot of free models out there which are of commercial quality. Many of them animated. I’ve also noticed that people are ripping models from games, including the animation and sharing these. I have my doubts as to the legality of this, and I won’t comment about things I’ve seen in the “poser” stores which look like direct game rips. The legality issue there is between the company which created it and the person sharing it. Not for me to opine about it.
However, this availability of animated objects gives me pause for thought. With the enormous amount of alternative models out there, would it really harm any individual vendor if I made my models so they could be animated? For instance, a revolver with a rotating cylinder linked to the hammer and trigger for dual action, or linked to the cocking action of the hammer in a single action model. Slides in automatic or semi automatic pistols and such like? Not for every single model I make, but for those that I can be bothered with and that I can find diagrams of to show me the various moving parts.
As an example. The FN-SCAR I made. Would it be so wrong to allow the grenade launcher a break action to load? To have three empty cartridges in the air nearby from a three round burst?
I’m in two minds about firing cycles to be perfectly honest. The firing cycle of firearms is pretty fast. Unless you are specifically filming in slow motion, you just aren’t going to see it as the cycle is usually over in less than two seconds, and faster in most cases. Similarly with muzzle flare, very few rounds produce that explosive flame that most people seem to think should be supplied as normal. That’s a Hollywood thing. Yes, there is muzzle flash, but it isn’t the great sheets of flame and sparks that Hollywood seems to like. Most cordite now is smokeless, so you don’t get huge gouts of smoke belching from guns. In the majority of cases, the only clues a gun has fired is the rather loud report and a shell flying through the air, or the clink clink when it hits a hard surface. You don’t even get that with revolvers, just the bang. There can be and is smoke from a fired weapon, usually not clouds of it, but there is some. There is the cycling action of the weapon. I confess I haven’t seen too many animations from Poserdom (including Daz Studio) showing battles between antagonists wielding firearms. Mostly it’s still renders. More frequently some mostly naked female holding the firearm inappropriately. What is it about scantily clad large breasted females in renders, that they have to have poor gun discipline?
Well, enough of that. It’s something I’m wrestling with at the moment. I just can’t quite make up my mind whether to release static props (no harm in that), or to heck with the vendors (what do they do for me anyway) and animate some of the guns. No, I won’t take suggestions on this, it will have to be my decision in the end. I’m just illustrating one of the things that is causing a delay in making and releasing models.
