Dryad version 0.1 / 1.0 / 2.0

Generally, I don't keep a list of the versions my 3D models have ever gone through, but if I do think back to the most important changes regarding the 3D model of an adult spotted dryad, I would call the current version 2.0. The null version was created in 2020 and was my first attempt to make the main character Faina Shay for my game. I even have screenshots of this Faina saved:

This model had serious disadvantages, the main one being that there was no way to customize the appearance of the dryad, since the hair and clothes were part of the 3D model of the dryad. Well, it was my first time, I didn't understand a lot of things back then, and so this version of Faina Shay was soon abandoned. I didn't even make a skeleton for it, because version 0.1 showed its failure right after creation. It was just a training.

That same year, near its end, version 1.0 was created. It was a full 3D base model for all future dryads, and could be customized by changing hairstyles, antlers, clothing, and skin coloring:

Version 1.0 was able to blink, rotate its eyes, move its fingers, tail, and ears. This was the first serious work, and the first time I worked with a skeleton, creating a weight mapping, animations, and other things that could bring a character to life on screen. The first character to be based on the model v1.0 was Faeena: for her I created hairstyles, clothing, and a set of textures that mimic the coloring of her fur. Faina version 1.0 was successfully created and tested in Unreal Engine 4.

Here, for example, is Faeena with a book (DeviantArt).

In 2022, I created a new concept of nymphaids, fur-covered, deer-like creatures that included satyresses, fauns, and dryads. Thus, the dryads became part of a larger people, acquired their own history, traditions, and rationale for their existence. From this point on, a complete and completely new game universe begins (before that, the history of the dryads was based on very old books I wrote as a student). This necessitated the upgrade of the dryad version 1.0, but the matter stalled as I moved from characters to game locations: the old ones had to be updated and new ones created, all at once, without a trace. Now, after almost three years, the game locations are 90% done, and so I've turned my eyes back to the dryad version 2.0 — a version of a full-fledged dryad in accordance with the new canon, that is, she will be fully covered with fur, have a deer nose and keratinized fingers. It is currently under development, and there are also plans to add some additional bones to the version 1.0 skeleton so that the version 2.0 dryad can open its mouth to yawn or wonder, for example.

The dryad's skeleton is designed to make the dryad as lifelike and mobile as possible, for example, each finger, ears, tail, eyeballs, eyebrows and so on have their own bones:

At the moment the workflow is underway, so expect further updates. Already now, for example, the texture of Faeena's skin is ready: