So, as I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I’m on this quest to create consistent characters for my graphic novel.
In Phase 1, I hired an illustrator to draw the characters. Paulo Montes is talented, good, fast, but not cheap. Thus, proving the good-fast-cheap (pick two) rule is true. But… I forgot to mention I wanted a Manga cartoon style. He drew realistic gorgeous cartoons, so I went with it. My target audience is not impressed, however. The Manga-dub world of YouTube knows what it wants.
In Phase 2, I explored character generation with Al. I tried most of the free versions of image generators.
Copilot makes luscious images but is not repeatable.
Leonardo is… complicated.
Scenario… just didn’t work for me.
I have Firefly (expensive Adobe is my young Padawans) as part of my academic subscription. It is probably the most consistent and repeatable. If I had about two years to learn how to integrate the images with the other Adobe assets, I’d put John Dykstra to shame.
But I don’t have that much time and unfortunately, AI image generation is not quite there yet for consistent characters.
Welcome to Phase 3. Let’s get down…
My solution to consistent character creation is Character Creator 4 by Reallusion.
I did this with the free trial version of Reallusion after watching one video and taking about 90 minutes to create. This is an alien made from the human morph. The watermarks stay until you pay for the software.
The following female is made using a cartoon morph. (A morph is just the naked model you use to start your character). Which style do you like better?
What impressed me was that with only one training video under my belt, I was up and running with two models who were posed, dressed, and accessorized in under four hours. And I didn’t know what I was doing exactly, just adventuring with the trial version and stepping onto the (not that steep) learning curve.
We all need to step there sometimes.
The following is for information only and is not a paid advertisement or an endorsement of Reallusion. It is just my opinion and facts from my research on the software.
https://www.reallusion.com/ Reallusion is $179 during 40% off sale. Don't believe the negative reviews from the commercial license customers who after paying $1000 ++ found out the customer service sucks (it does). For the basic creators with a bit of computer skill, it works great. Lots of freebies and add-ons for purchase.
They have Afro hair packs for both males and females with lots of twists, braids, and dreds. There are also Viking hairstyles if that's your thing. The add-on packs are made by independent developers and have something for everyone (check out Granny J. She has wonderful add-on packs). You’ll find guns, armor, space gear, uniforms, animation packs, and more. Enjoy.
Hmm. Hadn't even heard of that one. Was the $179 for the year?