Heget's Blatherings

Posting this to the journal as well, because I really need to get started copying content here as well.

Now, when I saw the theme that was picked, I knew I would be making or recolors lots of children's toys. Aside from the dolls - which I will finish! - and iCad recolors of a large playground set (which I have done, but the meshes aren't as reposited as I hoped), another item on my list were to recolor THIS absolutely fabulous mesh by rebakah- a working animated Rocking Horse for toddlers based off the Freetime bouncy rides. But like most heget projects, once I started recoloring, I had to redo the UV Mapping to facilitate more complex recolors- plus this were a few minor tweaks I wanted to make towards the mesh- mainly redoing the mane and fixing one side of the fake reins. But the mesh itself is almost completely all rebekah's original mesh- as are the animations and coding and everything.

And really, no nursery of any era is truly complete until it has a useable rocking animal.

Now, for recolors I did two sets.

First I made some wood grain and shading to give a carved wooden look and filtered it over the iCad woods for a solid-tone stained wood look. The reins are various shades of neutral browns.

The mesh itself has two subsets- one is the main body and the other is the curved rockers at the bottom. I also linked the reins to the rocker subset for reasons as you'll see.
For the iCad recolors, however, it looks better not to mix the woods.

To refresh your mind, these are the 20 wood shades:

But these are horses. Or ponies. Imitation ponies. And children's toys should be bright and painted and fun. So I embarked on a mission to make 30 recolors that mimicked the look of a loving parent or creative toy-maker recreating the actual coat of a real horse with a coat of paint- paint that has been slightly worn by passage of time and hours of rough play.
Why 30? Because added with the 20 monotone woods fifty shades of neigh were good enough.
Each paint recolor comes with reins and matching rockers in a range of colors, so you can mix-and-match as you want.

And since not everyone is well-versed in horse coat terminology, I've photoed each recolor and labeled them.
Warning, a slew of pics incoming!

Most horses come to one of two common pattern types- chestnut or bay. So a common recolor for your nursey jennet would be a chestnut- which is a brown/reddish body with the mane and tail a similar shade.

Bays are the other common color. It's like a chestnut, only with Siamese cat markings- where the legs, face, ears, and mane and tail are black.

And now our darks. Liver chestnuts look like dark brown horses- and some varieties get very dark indeed. Seal bays are bays with the base brown dark enough that it can be hard to tell in low light from black. However, our true blacks have no reddish or brown hairs- though I did two versions, one completely solid and one jauntly marked.

Buckskins are bays with a cream gene making the red-brown lighter. Palominos are that cream on a chestnut. Yes, there are typos on the swatch.

Perlinos and Cremello are double creams on a bay and chestnut, respectively. Sort of like albinos, hence the blue eyes. Then the roans, which are born with white hairs intermingled with the regular coat pattern. I made two.

Grays! Because aside from the cremelo there are no white horses.  :wink: Two shades of dappled gray and a light one because your little prince or princess will want a white horse. The fourth recolor is either a chestnut flea-bitten or a pale leopard appaloosa- which are totally different things but in the medium of spotchy paint on a simple rocking horse would look too alike.

More popular 'wackier' western shades. A blanket appaloosa with spots and a leopard appaloosa- this is also called the dalmatian look and is common in a few european breeds. In fact, in the Baroque Era there was a  fad among nobilty and royality to own a spotted horse. And such coats are found on cave drawings, so this isn't a look limited to the Nez Perce. And then your pintos or paints or piebald/skewbalds.

And last of all two duns- which might be mistaken for buckskins or roans, but notice the primative markings like the dorsal stripe and the banding around the legs.

Everything has been Compressorized, found in the children's section. Two tiles. Needs an adult or teen to place the toddler.

Requires at least Freetime.

Polycount is 1975.

Download the Mesh

iCad Wood Recolors

Painted Recolors

Now, coming soon to a forum near you will be "Game of Toddler Toys", where I've changed out the heads and tails to make other animals. A stag is almost completed, and I've resoluved to make canines, felines, elephants, and a few other animals so the tots of noble houses grow up with their proper heraldric family sigil animal. And Sam Gamgee wants to give his kids an oliphant.