Finding Old Friends with the NornPose Program
One of my projects that fell by the wayside over the last few months was the creation of a family tree for my Creatures 1 Norns. A spreadsheet does not do a family line any justice in Albia! Then it dawned on me to use one of the lesser known features of NornPose, a program to pose Norns and Grendels in Creatures 1. I often use it to fix body data issues, or to create images of the original breeds in various poses. Yet NornPose can do much more… It has the ability to create images of actual Norns and Grendels! How? It takes a look at the genetic and sprite files created for every Creature, like moniker 8KCT here!
This is a really nifty feature of NornPose that I briefly looked at, but never paid much attention to. The downside is body parts often do not align as nicely as they do within Creatures 1. Fortunately, there is a feature to adjust the positioning of every body part horizontally and/or vertically. I had so much fun going through old genetic monikers and seeing my past Norns again! I plan to get this project back on track so that everyone will be able to understand who is related. I would also be happy to go into more detail about NornPose, if there is any interest. That family tree should blossom soon!
Bonus: Can anyone guess who these two Norns are? They are related to the current Norns, and are actually brother and sister. More hints to follow if there are any guesses! Congratulations to Dylan for correctly guessing in the comments!
Surely that’s gotta be Rafin with those hands, and his pants hiked up to his armpits. I have no idea which would be his sister in that generation though, maybe Izria?
That comment about Rafin’s pants cracked me up! He was actually part of an earlier world, and isn’t related to any of the current Norns. Another reason why I want to get a family tree in the works, since it’s not easy to remember all of these Norns!
Another hint: These two Norns were born right after one another towards the beginning of one generation.
Is it Arnes and Bolga by any chance? (I’ve been catching myself up through everything I missed in the blog, and I’ve just now reached the second generation in the norse world, haha!)
You got them right, Dylan! Nice job! I wish I had something fun to offer up as a prize, since this wasn’t too easy and Arnes and Bolga go back a long ways. This does make me want to get back to fixing the sprites and body data files… Bolga’s tummy looks absolutely ridiculous, though it’s also pretty funny!
Useful feature for those Norns that didn’t get a proper photo in their lifetimes!
Are you compiling the family data by hand ?
Drop me a note if you have any precise needs, I might provide with some automation for the information gathering part.
Thank for that offer, Lone Shee! I actually have a detailed spreadsheet that should help me along. But a family tree program, or something of the sort, is a feature that Creatures never really implemented. It would be awesome if something like that could be developed at some point. Likely you’ll hear from me soon, provided I don’t forget!