PixelFigs Virtual Gaming Miniatures is Relaunching in 3D on July 4th!

Howdy, all! Development and sculpting has begun on the big ol' relaunch of my PixelFigs line of virtual gaming miniatures. The relaunch will consist of a heck of a lot of figures and will be fully custom-sculpted in 3D and rendered into 2D PNGs for your virtual tabletop games! The original 2D painted PixelFigs are still for sale on the Roll20 Marketplace, but they'll be pulled once the relaunch happens, so if you like the creatures I've already made, grab 'em now before they vanish forever! If you're interested in ongoing development news before you can buy them on Roll20, head over to PixelFigs.com and bookmark away. I'll be posting sneak peeks from time to time as things move forward to the July 4th launch date. I can't wait to show you everything I'm working on for this, and I also can't wait to see them all in the Roll20 Marketplace. See you in July! --Fred

Here's a peek at the base model for the PixelFigs Half-Orc! The final model will be painted, textured, posed in an action stance and will appear in several PC armor styles for various classes. I used this metallic material just because it looks neat and shows the forms quite well, but the figures won't be "pewter"--they'll look like sculpted models in your games. (The painting is gonna be super fun.) Alrighty--back to work. I have a LOT of figures to create between now and July 4, my intended release date.

Actually a set of pewter colored miniatures would be cool too. For that old school, unpainted feel.

It would be very easy to do. I'll keep my eyes open to more requests like this. A variant set of "pewter" virtual minis...hmmm... :-)

Man, if I could make money Zbrushing monsters to pose into tokens, I'd probably quit my job and do that all day.

Here's a bump in the interest of a progress update! Can't wait for these to be available.

Sounds good to me! I need to start assembling them anyhow. I'll get a half-Orc male warrior in plate up in a little over a week and post it here along with some info on the format for the sets.

Testing out possible paint / hair / injuries / renders for the PixelFigs Half-Orc. Why all the attention to a full character when they'll only be seen from the top down? I have a very good answer for that, I promise--you'll like it...!

Okay, Ironhead--here's a peek at the Half Orc Male Warrior. More peeks coming soon as I assemble the various armors around the racial models...! My goal is to make your virtual game tables as cool looking as I can make them. That's how I start every day working on my PixelFigs. Fingers crossed I can accomplish that goal with every set. (Image deleted and resculpted--scroll down!!)

Fred, you said you plan to offer the base models with several variants of armor when these are finalized for release, correct? I really like the half-orc, itself, but this armor doesn't do it for me. I still can't wait to see more of what you have in store, though :)

Ironhead said: Fred, you said you plan to offer the base models with several variants of armor when these are finalized for release, correct? I really like the half-orc, itself, but this armor doesn't do it for me. I still can't wait to see more of what you have in store, though :) Yeah, there will be variations, repurposing, armor pieces switched, color changes and resculpts constantly, so if I don't get you with one set, I'll get you with another!

Also, I'll still be washing back and forth over these figures as the set comes together, so the current Half-Orc Warrior I may not look the same at launch...!

VIDEO TURNAROUND HERE: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=1020181829940" rel="nofollow">https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=1020181829940</a>... Sometimes, when you’re alone in your studio and ruminate over a project, you close off possibilities accidentally because you can’t see the forest for the trees. That happened to me with PixelFigs’ design principles. I had an idea in my head about what would sell, what others might like. I showed some samples to my inner circle of trust and got mixed responses. Responses, that, frankly, mirrored some misgivings I had about the direction the designs were going. When that happens, you really have to stop, look at your project, and remember what you love about it—then do that. So that’s what I did. This is the re-tooling of the PixelFigs Half-Orc Fighter (Male). I’m much happier with him than with the earlier version I posted a week ago. So, I’ll be resculpting the other PixelFigs that were done in the old style and moving them into this vein. I’m much, much happier with this look.

I'm really interested in seeing the new versions of the old PixelFig monsters, too. There were some mobs in there that hadn't been attempted by other artists and they should be very cool in this style.

Ironhead said: I'm really interested in seeing the new versions of the old PixelFig monsters, too. There were some mobs in there that hadn't been attempted by other artists and they should be very cool in this style. Yep, I have a spreadsheet of all the race / character class combos that PF will eventually have--there are 352 of them. There are also 350 or so monsters in the Monster Manual SRD that are public domain and eligible for me to sculpt without causing the dreaded Cease and Desist letters from copyright holders. I originally thought I'd make it through all of the character class combos first, but I think I'll probably end up switching back and forth--plenty of work to be done, so it might be better to keep it fresh by switching categories...! Here are some raw, unposed stills of the Half-Orc Fighter and his sword / shield combo:

Looking good, Fred! Can't wait to see more.

How about a Half-Orc Sorcerer?

I like this one. When I first saw "Half-Orc" again, I was like, meh, but as I scrolled down I was pleasantly surprised. Nice work yet again, Fred :)

Ironhead said: I like this one. When I first saw "Half-Orc" again, I was like, meh, but as I scrolled down I was pleasantly surprised. Nice work yet again, Fred :) Thanks! They're ridiculously fun to do. Yeah, each set will contain 1 race and 1 sex with 2 poses each with different weapons. SO, you'll get: Half-Orc Barbarian, Bard, Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Monk, Paladin, Ranger, Rogue, Sorcerer and Wizard (11 characters) with two weapons and poses each (for instance, Barbarian with 2-handed axe and Barbarian with 2-handed mace), so 22 figures. Each of these racial sets will have a racial theme to the armors, so the Human Barbarian won't look exactly like the Dwarf Barbarian or the Half-Orc Barbarian. Also included will be a special element exclusive to PixelFigs for EVERY figure that I'll discuss soon that will really set them apart from what you can get elsewhere, so there will be a lot of content in each release that will satisfy what I'd like to see if I were on the other side of the Marketplace looking to add cool-looking stuff to my game. :-)

Fred, how about a look at the half-orc wizard you posted on FB for the Roll20 crowd?

Ironhead said: Fred, how about a look at the half-orc wizard you posted on FB for the Roll20 crowd? Been outta town--but sure! Here's the Half-Orc Male Wizard!

Just over a month until launch day! Here's the PixelFigs Half-Orc Paladin (Male)! Raw render from ZBrush, unposed and zero post-processing--but you get the idea, right? :-D

And the PixelFigs Half-Orc Fighter makes his debut on a virtual tabletop ( Roll20 )! Posed and rendered and ready to go, he's bursting through a dungeon door and into a corridor supplied by my pal Greg Taylor , the creator of Dungeon Arts virtual tabletop maps and map-like accessories! Every PixelFig gets a test run on a set of tiles--from dark dungeons to sunny vales to city streets to ensure that the figures aren't too dark, too light or have other unwanted artifacts that need to be hammered out before they go up for sale. After months of sculpting them, it sure is nice to see them finally on a virtual game board where they belong! Launch Day is just under a month away! LOTS of work to do between now and then, but I'm completely excited and dedicated to making them the best they can be! Wheeee! Where are my virtual dice, dangit???

I'm proud to introduce the PixelFigs® PixelCardz™! Because PixelFigs are sculpted from scratch in 3D, I'm able to show multiple views of the same figure. This means that, instead of just the traditional top-down or portrait miniatures that most artists who make virtual miniatures provide, I can show you the ENTIRE hero / villain / monster as your **characters** will see them! EVERY one of the PixelFigs will have its own PixelCardz, so no matter what pose, weapon or variant I make, you will have an up-front view of that miniature to use as the Game Master or Player in the EXACT same pose and using the EXACT same weapons and gear as the miniature it's attached to! Introducing a new monster, hero, villain or NPC? Just throw the appropriate PixelCardz on the virtual game table just before introducing the actual miniatures on the board to really bring that dramatic moment to the table! I want your game table to be the most DRAMATIC it can be, and I think that seeing the miniatures on your table in this fashion goes a long way to helping make that a reality. Consider this a "Sneak Peek" of a beta-state PixelCardz card. I'll be doing some tweaking of the design elements over the next weeks, but what you'll see will be very, very close to this. I won't rest until PixelFigs is synonymous with EPIC VIRTUAL TABLETOP GAMING. See you in July when the first set launches! -Fred Lang