Frequently Asked Questions:
Q: What software do you use?
A: XSI for most of my modeling work, Zbrush for displacement maps and morphs, UVLayout for uvmapping, Photoshop for most of my texturing, CR2Builder for my rigging editor, Poser’s Setup Room as my Rigging tool.

Q: Can you teach me to make things like these?
A: Well it’s possible, but frankly speaking, I really don’t have time to tutor someone in the step by step of product design from the very beginning. There are numerous books on the subject that I would highly recommend as well as ebook/tutorials available online depending on the modeling software packages. My favorite is the Joan of Arc series at 3dTotal.com and B. L. Render’s book ‘The Secrets of Poser 5 Figure Creation’. Also PhilC has a few tutorials on his page at www.philc.net

Q: Do you mind if I use your characters to make scrap booking images for sale?
A: This is a Yes and No answer I’m afraid, No, I don’t mind at all if you make scrap booking images, printed or digital out of my characters or products. HOWEVER, Yes I do mind if you make your products in such a way as to eliminate ever needing the original product in the first place.
(i.e. Good: A dozen images of Plushies frolicking in various poses.
Bad: 300 images of Plushies frolicking in every conceivable pose and color
The Good makes the scrap booking images only good for a limited usage, the Bad makes it such that even poser users don’t require my product to make any picture they want.)

Q: Do you allow your products to be used in Games?
A: Again a Yes and No answer, Yes, I allow my products to be used in commercial games AS LONG AS the game in question is using pre-rendered images of my products. Under no circumstances are any of the properties included in the product to be transmitted, stored, encrypted, etc into a game. The license is very clear, you are allowed to make commercial renders, you are not however allowed to distribute any of my product materials even in encrypted form without express licensing negotiated with me, prior to the development of said product. Product is inclusive but not limited to the geometry, textures, cr2 files, mat pose files, etc included within the product zip given upon sale and subsequent updates following.

Q: I’d really love to use one of your hair products on IMVU (or other game), I won’t be making any money off of it and will have to totally redo the geometry so that’s okay right?
A: *SMACKS with a week-old dead fish* NO NO NO NO NO! No, you may not do this. This is pretty clearly covered under the license of all my products, you may not redistribute any of my product materials in any form, in part or in total, even if you poly reduce and remap them. NO. Please, stop asking. I’ve tried being nice but it’s exhausting trying to explain to people why exactly this is wrong. The simple fact is I don’t allow it, please don’t argue with me why you should be an exception.  You’re not.  Its theft, pure and simple.  Don’t do it.

Q: Well then can you do hair for us on IMVU?
A: I’ve actually looked into it, and I won’t say no yet…. however I need 2 things before I will agree
1) XSI Support, I don’t have Max, so I’m afraid my program can’t cleanly interface with it.
2) Payment for services rendered in cash, not requiring that I need to go through a credit selling service.   I don’t have the patience to fight with exchange rates and finding some to buy my credits.  Someone makes a brokerage house that I submit to and I get paid once a month from,  I may be more interested, but as stands… the system is more trouble than its worth.

Q: I got a copy of XSI just like you, but I’m having trouble getting started, can you lend me a hand?
A: EEEEP, first off, thats a good chunk of cash for that program and two, XSI is about as beginner friendly as a chainsaw. If you can, I’d say take XSI back, and go over to www.nevercenter.com and get a copy of Silo. It’s not as powerful as XSI but its WAY WAY WAY cheaper and is a pretty good system.

Q: How long does it usually take you to make a product?
A: Depends on the product…
Plushies… 2 weeks usually
Gumdrops… 3 weeks
Hair… 4-6 weeks depending on the number of fits and intricacies
Outfits… 6-8 weeks depending on the level of detail and how many morphs I’m supporting
New Characters… 2-3 Months depending on how detailed they are

Q: But you release something every month, frequently hair and an outfit, and it hasn’t been 6-8 weeks since your last release.
A: Yes, however, a great deal of that time is product testing. In which time I’m also working on up to 5 other products at the same time… For instance I may be working on three costume products and while waiting for one to finish final testing, I may be texturing the second, jointing the third and then adding a Plushie to the mix when I’m stalled.

Q: Ooooo Testing! How do I become a tester?
A: Well occasionally I have a vacancy or one of my testers is on vaction so there’s always a chance if you ask, I’ll put you on a the list. This said though, first three things that I look for in most of my testers, are they familiar with Poser, are they familiar with my products, and can they report bugs vs complain
The first two, you’ll want to have a gallery of your poser images available at either www.renderosity.com or www.runtimedna.com. Generally I’ll use those to evaluate a user’s level of expertise at Poser (And do not fear if you are a beginner, I have a couple of beginners on my testing crew. They post avidly and are growing every month! Part of the thing I’m looking for is energy, the want to actually play with the product as much as possible, not load it once then never look at it again.)

Anyway, frequently I’ll tell folks wanting to apply that I’ll put them on the list. That’s not a no, that’s just that I’m full up currently, feel free to check back in a couple of months if I haven’t contacted you back. Occasionally I forget things (okay frequently) and I’m horrible about loosing my lists.

If I do have an opening, I may give you a test run. This is your chance to shine! I know its a really glamorous sounding job, getting the earliest copies of my newest products before anyone else for free, but it’s also about trustworthiness and responsibility that I’m checking out. Testing is an evil job where you have to open a product in poser and play with it in every conceivable way, play with all the morphs, play with all the options, render it from as many directions as possible, just to make sure that future customers will never find a single problem that they’ll write me back on, needing me to fix it. My testers are the folk who keep my products nearly flawless and my workpile huge! And I love them for it! They don’t complain, the skirt’s too short, the heels are too high, the dress is in the wrong color… no they post pictures of arms bending and the sleeve flying off the arm, morphs that poke through, hair loading in the wrong color…. They are an endless fount of ’stuff I need to fix’ before the customers see it, and for that, they get free product and my eternal adoration

Q: What about you personally? Are you really female? Are you really a Lady? How old are you? What’s your favorite Movie?
A: EEEEEP!!! Stalker!!! ;P (just kidding) I’m past 30… lost count after 34, so you’ll just have to go under the assumption of something older than that. I’m female, married, two kids, 3 cats and a dog, and am currently still hunting my favorite movie…. but a close second would probably be Coyote Ugly… not sure why though ;P. Yes I am an actual Lady, though not in the Brittish nobility sense, I’m a member of the Society for Creative Anachronisms (SCA) and through hard work and service, I was awarded my AOA (Award of Arms) and am officially Lady Ciaran Littlefox. The name Littlefox was taken in honor of the man who trained me in cartooning, Baron William Blackfox… I was his ‘little’ fox, so the name stuck. I work in more art mediums than I think I can even count any more, and while mostly in 3d these days, my more exotic ones are welding, cake decorating, glass blowing, costume design, doll making, and knitting.

Anyway, think I’ve taken up enough blank space, if there are any questions that ya think should be up here, feel free to email me anytime!