Time for an update!

A couple of basic comparison shots that I picked up and put together while I was setting up for this post, first of all:

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]

While setting up I found myself looking at the base models again, and I felt compelled just to get fresh images here, as case studies. These are not the models of natural-looking, healthy creatures. All of the existing commentaries apply; hip width and depth ratios are too wide and deep, to a borderline deformed state. When viewed along with the design of the legs, the height scale, the size of the head and the chest depth, this creates a very strong impression of neoteny or dwarfism, not of a naturally healthy creature. Both models, but male halflings in particular, are extremely top-heavy, and bear the head and shoulders (and in the female case, distended bust) of a human-sized creature; larger, in fact, than out human-sized models, which brings me to the original point of today's post.

So... here's something that I haven't specifically drawn attention to except by proxy, but I feel it's worth mentioning as a point of order, regardless of any other changes that may or may not get made.

We've discussed the way that one of the issues with the models currently is that the heads are too large for the rest of the model, creating a number of problems. As I've mentioned earlier, the change that needs to be made is only a minor one, really – it doesn't need to be a huge alteration in order to (along with the other mentioned fairly small alterations in other places) remove the impression of neoteny/dwarfism/infantalism from the current models. Halfling heads can and likely should be Slightly larger in relation to their bodies than the equivalent ratios for human-sized models... just not as much as they are right now. Where they are right now is borderline ridiculous.

In point... Right now, Halfling heads are Physically Larger than the heads on human-sized models. I'm not talking about ratios compared to their bodies, here – I'm talking actual size. Their heads are tangibly bigger than beings twice their size. Here are some comparison shots:

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]

My previous shots didn't do this comparison quite so directly, but here it becomes really clear to see, and it's terrible.

Halflings, male and female in this case, have the same hip and shoulder width and depth as their medium-sized counterparts, but they have also been made thicker and stockier as well, which overall means that these halflings actually have Larger and Broader body dimensions than the medium-sized creatures.

Alongside this, it's clear to see that not only are their head proportions overblown for their own size... they are actually larger overall than the medium-sized comparisons, and that is ridiculous.

So, to refresh and recap for those jumping into the thread without going through the rest of the thread, though I'd strongly encourage it for anyone who has read through this post this far (For those who have already been following along, there's nothing new in these points, it's just a recap on existing stuff for new-comers to the thread):

(Model Issue Refresher)
The changes to improve the models need only be simple and quite subtle - they don't need to be massive changes to have a pronounced positive effect and remove the impression of dwarfism/neoteny etc.,

- The head: Currently far too over-sized. It should be slightly (only slightly) smaller than the heads of medium-sized creatures, while currently it is actually larger than them. This would only be a subtle reduction – their head to body ratio would still be slightly larger than the equivalent medium-sized creature's ratio; making the heads two thirds of their current size, would be enough to prevent the neoteny impression. (this applies to both male and female models)

- The torso: Should be scaled to have a smaller relation to the arms and legs; this again would be subtle, but even a 10% reduction in scaling here would help reduce the impression of dwarfism or of being juvenile, depending on how the eye focuses and relates. (This applies more strongly to male models, but both need it – the chest depth on female models makes them almost ridiculously busty, along with the more general issues that this scaling currently causes.)

- The hips: The biggest source of problems, visually - by having the model share the same hip width and depth as a creature twice their size, this reinforces and hammers in the impression of a creature with dwarfism, rather than a naturally well-proportioned creature. The width and depth of the hips and the hip region in general (bum and thighs included), needs to be reduced to scale more fittingly with a creature of this size and frame - again, it only needs to be a subtle reduction to create a valuable positive effect on the visual.

- The legs: The tapering of the legs exacerbates the visual issues caused by the hip region; normalising their legs from the knee down with the rest of their body frame would be another subtle change, but would help.

Last of all for today, a little bonus shot that I snapped while I was nipping characters through for the camp comparisons:

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]

While female halflings sneaking around looks at least passably normalised for their models – or at least not too distended – Male halflings are another story entirely! They move with their hands out far, and wide, once again as though they are trying to hit pose marks designed for larger creatures. The result is a very odd-looking crab-claw, creepy-arm walk that just looks silly on them. In the process, there's something extremely upsetting going on with Feeron's hands here.... I suggested that he needed to see a cleric about those fingers, but he just ignored me and turned to sneak away again... and dear gods, sir, that made it even more unsettling.