Hanging Out With the Finny Set

I put a bit of effort into finding the right mermaid outfit. There are only a few shops that cater to merfolk: Merwings in Silver Lake and Emerald Evers' Shop By the Sea being the most notable that I have found. Nora Wayne's Mermaid Hangout has a huge tank with fish and a number of poseballs for you to swim in, as well as merfolk product vendors.

I wanted something that looked fairly realistic, if that term can be applied to something like a mermaid. But I didn't like the shape of the tail fins on most of the selections. The one that I liked was the "Mer Luminous - Fleshy" at Merwings, which I bought, along with an AO and a shell top to keep a PG rating.


It's amazing what you can find on the bottom. Although there are vast expanses of empty seabed, there are a few places with underwater landscaping. And there is the occasional surprise, such as houses I've come across sitting on the bottom in several places. You have to wonder...


The animations that came with the Franimation AO that I got were all right, but I decided to design my own, thinking that I might be able to do a better job. I wanted a slow as well as a fast swim, and a heads-down diving anim instead of just dropping tail-first when you hit the PAGE DOWN button. With the dive anim, you can jump up out of the water and then dive right back in to surprise the sailors on that boat you snuck up on.

I found out that the positions of the shins and feet are critical when making a mermaid animation, at least with the tail I have. If your ankles are too close together or too far apart, the tail skirt and "boots" don't match up correctly. Even the animations I purchased have some matching problems that way. I need to experiment to see if the "boots" can't be eliminated somehow and the "skirt" made longer. I assume there is a reason it's designed the way it is.

I'm still in the process of refining the animations. I'd like to make a fairly complete set, including a variety of sitting poses and maybe a couple of different swimming styles. When I get it like I want it, I'll put it up for sale. So if you're a homo piscipeni, keep tuned to this blog.