i has eyebrows!

Isn't facial hair a pain?

I mean, it's not like I can even do anything about the fact that my eyebrows are horrific looking. Sometimes, I try to remain as expressionless as possible, so that maybe, just maybe, nobody will notice. Of course, with at least one person looking at me for great lengths of time on a regular basis, they're bound to notice. Plus, I can't keep still; I'm always smiling, bouncing in place, or, well, being full of life.

Yet, what can I do? I'm polygonal - there are no tweezers for me.

/sigh

Oh, the woes of the female Night Elf named Taeminas. In Blizzard's art, Night Elves like Taeminas are portrayed one way, but if you catch a glimpse of Taeminas, you can't help but wonder what the heck is wrong with her eyebrows!? Or, maybe that's just me.

... Are you confused yet? They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. So then, let me provide two pictures, for further clarity. Or rather, two sets of screenshots.

This screenshot was created using WoWModelViewer. The model is of my Night Elf, Taeminas (more on her tomorrow.)

Both figures are doing the /shy emote. The model has been rotated so you can better see the face.

On the left figure, you can see the "lower" set of eyebrows - they're very fuzzy. Yet, you can see a second set of eyebrows... Isn't that... odd!

On the right figure, you can see the result of my 5-minute editing job using the smudge tool. Basically, I took out the fuzzy, annoying eyebrows.


Now, I do admit that both the before and after look kind of odd based on the rotation I chose, so let's look at a second, more natural pose.

Here is Taeminas from a very normal resting pose. Again, we have a before and after created simply by removing the fuzzy eyebrows. The difference, to me at least, is not just "el oh el, no more fuzzies!" but the oddly aloof expression is gone. To me, the "after" model better matches the illustrations we see often produced by Blizzard.

The fuzzy eyebrows, I think, were some sort of placement guide. They're drawn onto the skin of the model, while the second set of eyebrows are, for lack of a better term, a separate layer.

(Can you tell that I'm not an expert?)

I think that the fuzzy set of eyebrows aren't necessary. If anything, perhaps they should be thinned down so that they still act as a guide, but do not overstep boundaries to produce an image that is different than much of what Blizzard portrays, as seen [here] for example.

The fuzzy eyebrows is one reason why the Night Elf model started to irk me. With Taeminas, I intentionally picked a skin tone and hair color that I hoped would blend better, making the fuzzies less prominent. Taeminas' appearance is the result of my desire to make a Night Elf model that didn't bug me. Aside from her skin and hair blending, I chose a short hairstyle to avoid clipping; long hairstyles can cut through the cloak model, which seems silly. The face and markings were chosen because I thought they worked well together.

Now, Taeminas' fuzzies are still around ingame of course, but with the help of my trusty FlagRSP description, anyone who reads about Taeminas will learn that her eyebrows have been *gasp* manicured! They're not long and bushy, but look more like humans' eyebrows - they're shorter and thinner. This is the beauty of roleplaying with FlagRSP (or even MyRolePlay).

Blizzards' character creation is rather limited - certainly nowhere compared to Oblivion for example. However, roleplayers don't let the limited choices get them down, no, roleplayers provide a description to bring new life to an otherwise cookie-cutter model.

Blizzard can make improvements to their models and add more choices - as they will in WotLK for hairstyles. Blizzard may even revamp character models entirely one day, allowing for more customization; height, girth, and other such features. Yet in the end, a person's imagination will always be there to break the game's parameters of what a character looks like and make things more interesting.

Urge-supressor or Instigator?

The culprit: WoW Model Viewer.
The crime: Aiding the imagination.

Today, I was minding my own business and leveling one of my alts (I'll introduce her on Monday), when I happened upon a male Night Elf rogue, running around and doing his thing. Turning in quests? Picking up quests? Scouting out a suitable location to engage in some /dance? I'm not really sure, though I am thankful that there was no /dance.

As I'm still getting used to the server, I sometimes reminisce about my characters on Sentinels. In seeing that Night Elf rogue, my thoughts wandered to Sec, my Night Elf hunter who I've not played in months. She is my most accomplished character, although she hasn't even hit 70. Perhaps one day I will be able to buy a ticket for her to ride the Transfer Express, but until then, she sits in limbo. I've always had a love-hate relationship with Sec, mainly because I never realized that the Night Elf models had annoying flaws until after rolling her and realizing the "kinks" many levels later. Right now, my Moon Guard roster lacks any Night Elves, because of the fact that aesthetically, I decided that they were annoying.

Yet, seeing this Night Elf rogue caused the cogs in my head to creak and turn. The grand result of my skewed thought process was that I had to load up WoW Model Viewer and see if there was a model I could produce that would avoid the "kinks" as best as possible.

Of course, before I even created my first character on Moon Guard, I decided that I would not hastily stuff my roster full. So much for that. Impulse prevails!

I load up WoW Model Viewer and start pushing buttons.

For anyone not familiar with WoW Model Viewer, it is an application that lets you view 3D models of characters, items, creatures and environments. You can not only view models, but you can also view their various animation sequences, if they have any. You can even put characters on mounts and design tabards without worrying about in-game lighting conditions. Did I mention that the mounts aren't restricted? Have you ever wanted to see a Tauren on a Mechanostrider? You can with WMV!

WMV is wonderful, unless you're trying to restrain your alt-making habits. WMV allows the user to zoom in and see characters' details in a manner that WoW's character customization screen doesn't. With WMV, I can actually, easily tell the difference from one Night Elf face to the next. Facial details are also easier to see, whether they be Blood Elf earrings or Night Elf markings. When The Burning Crusade was released, I was rather disappointed that the character customization screen wasn't improved upon, though of course, the staff already had their hands full with everything else.

I've come up with a Night Elf that looks nice and probably wouldn't irk me. I'm happy to see that I could roll a "nice" looking Night Elf, but knowing isn't satisfying enough. No.

Now I have to.