Introducing Bayonetta

Conception: Er... this is a bit different. Originally this was supposed to be Ada Wong after I added her to my model base file, but I couldn't quite get it to work. The idea was for Ada to be kissing the barrel of her gun. As I continued trying to get the pose to work it seemed like there were some limitations in trying to fulfil my conception. So I switched focus to Bayonetta instead and decided to change the intended pose.

Method: Load model into XPS, open Material editor to cross reference.
Open Blender to import model into model base file. Use Material editor to assist texture assignments when setting up nodes, repeat until finished. Remove doubles and smooth meshes.
Load pose in XPS, tinker for desired effect; save pose.
Switch to Blender, import saved pose, render.

Commentary: This would be the second of xXKammyXx's models I've added to my model base file (or model library) in Blender. And I have to say, they're remarkably clean. What I mean by this is that there are hardly any doubles which needed removing. I think there was only 1 double on this Bayonetta model. Plus, the textures are named so they are closely associated with the mesh. With some models, the textures are just letters and numbers which makes double checking imperative for accuracy when setting up for rendering. There was a peculiarity with this model though, the render group assignments in Blender didn't match those in XPS. That has me confused. Also, there were a couple of meshes in Blender which had no obvious reference point in XPS. Seems like one of those Blender quirks.

Usual shenanigans in XPS for posing. Though I have finally discovered the hot keys which enable slightly quicker posing rather than being completely reliant upon the sliders. I did wonder how elDM did it from their video. Now I know how it's done. That aside, Bayonetta is a little awkward to pose because of her peculiar proportions - couldn't quite get the angles I wanted on some of the joints. Ah well... What this meant was I abandoned the original concept and used something simpler. At some point I'll return to the idea and try and pose the model more carefully. This is merely an announcement, as it were, that I've added Bayonetta to my model library in Blender for ease of use. Perhaps there'll be others I'll show along the way when it occurs for me to do so.

I do like how Bayonetta turned out for this. The cloth node set up works really well for her; not so much for Catherine (which I think I'll revert back to the original basic node for colour fidelity purposes).

On a completely random note, would love to play Bayonetta 2 having played Bayonetta on the 360. As such, I'm not entirely sure of the behaviour of her wings in this model and essentially left them as they were. 

Credits:
Bayonetta model via xXKammyXx
Pose by BubbleCloud
Node set ups:
Skin node set up by Hiddenus
General (including hair) node set up by DragonLord720
Eye node set up by Hypster83
Cloth node set up by DragonLord720
Tools:
Blender 2.78c
XNALara Posing Studio 11.8
Assets/Copyright:
Platinum Games

12th August 2017