Have you used the Pony Creator? What do you think of it?

[Cyan Blue 946]

It's OK at best, It doesn't have the options it needs like a zoom button or something along that lines.

 

I know I use it for now but I don't have time to upload my drawing right now.

 

6/10

[Creamy Arty 6,252]

, this is another, older thread about one's feelings regarding the pony creator. I merged your thread with it, just so you know.

[Frosty Flurry 173]

Pony creator is amazing!

I'm practising how to draw ponies but pony creator is useful in the meantime!

[Arylett Charnoa 4,919]

Could have sworn I already posted in this... but nope. Forums don't say I have.

 

Oh well! Time to post my opinion anyway:

 

I don't like Pony Creator. I hate the way it renders ponies. It looks so... souless and generic, like a puppet shadow of the show style. Some may not be able to see the differences, but I can see them clearly. Something about it hits uncanny valley for me. Which is why I NEVER use it, even when I'm first designing my OC. (Though I'm okay with others just using it as a basis, as long as they can eventually get some better art of their OC.)

 

When drafting my final product though, I prefer Hasbro's Pony Creator on Facebook. Much less souless and more organic, even if it has more limited options. I've had a LOT of fun with that one, that's for sure. :3

[SwigglySwiggly 358]

The pony creator tool helps commissioning artists to draw the oc's that they have been requested to draw (I know from 1st hand experience). I have someone who comes up to me and asks me to draw their oc, but they don't have a picture of their oc, I send them a link to the pony creator tool and they can give me a quick and simple example of their oc. The tool has saved me lots of time when it comes to doing requests.

[Vinyl Scratch (Filly)™ 936]

Pony creator is horrible, seriously. It's good to make a quick reference I guess, but it also encourages people to make alicorns and add ugly clothing to their OCs *shudders*

[Skylar 1,641]

It's good to get a first idea of what your looking for in a character  

 

It's also very easy to put in an art request somewhere and get a nice looking avatar done =] If they want ot use pony creator avatars then *shrugs* so did I for a short time =]  

 

In fact pony creator lead me to find this forum so  

[Rainbow Eclipse 3,927]

I think Pony Creator is awesome. Hay, it's thanks to PC I have my avatar. There's one thing that has to be done to it for it to be perfect. Hav the pony face between the side and the front.

[Klopp 2,050]

I quite despise the pony creator. The quality of the ponies in that thing is terrible, and honestly a ginormous eyesore. It's not a terrible thing for a little bit of fun, but if you want something that's not crap quality, it's a lost cause. It's not a terrible starting point, though. To get a general idea of what you want your OC to look like and such. However, that's only good if you use the options that actually appear in the show itself. There are a bajillion options that are just stupid for a proper pony OC. I often want to send some OCs created in it to the surface of the sun, cause they are so badly designed.

 

The thing that bothers me most about pony creator OCs though is when people use it, download the image, and without even cropping it to get out a bunch of unnecessary white space, they slap it on the internet as a picture, or even as an avatar. (look up for example) I don't mind an pony creator avatar too much, but an unbalanced avatar with loads of empty white space on the left side just bothers me to no end. D:

[Freewave 1,145]

If you could export the code from side view and import it into a frontal view pony it would be a whole lot better. Guess I've never understood why a front view isn't available.

 

TBH if you've ever looked at the MLP characters in some of the official merchandising (coloring books and such) it's not a whole lots better. They use the same stock vectors which look pretty terrible when they have access to a whole lot better ones.

Edited December 7, 2013 by Freewave

[Flagwaver 17]

I am a writer.  My muse is for the written word.  My drawn muse is something akin to a half-retarded baboon with only one hand that was badly mangled in a horrific vacuum accident.

 

With that said, I have done my OC using Pony Creator.  That’s not to say that I haven’t done other things to make him more my own, but it is a good starting place for the character.  I'm also doing some more for various emotes and conversation types for him to be added to.  So, I have no problem with it.

 

[thattom 38]

I got compliments about my OC
and yes it is made with pony creator
it works great especially if you want to create something fast

[UserNotFound 964]

I love the pony creator... Without it i would never have created my OC they have some great ideas and for those of us who lack in drawing, it allows us to create an OC without having to ask a professional and pay money for something that may not turn out how we wanted it to...

 

Of course I don't just leave my OC as a pony creator image, I use various elements to make the images I use as my avatars...

[Pripyat Pony 2,608]

Pony creator is a good thing as a tool to make a stock image of your OC. Personally, I use it for a primary image, then try and get some arts drawn of my OC from the request shops. I'd make some myself, but I don't have fancy art programmes or room to download anything more on my aged computer; and I can't upload hand drawn work cuz I don't have a scanner.

 

One thing that bugs me a little is when people who do have these options sneer at pony creator images. Don't hate on those less fortunate; if you really want to help, then offer up arts for people in a shop! Of course, there are always those noobs who abuse the pony creator and create those hideous images, but there always are those kind of people in any medium. Take Gaiaonline for example; there are plenty of people there who think that a perfect avatar is one with everything but the kitchen sink added, then there are those like me who hate cluttered avatars that are a horrid mish mash of colours.

[Blique 211]

Pony creator is a good thing as a tool to make a stock image of your OC. Personally, I use it for a primary image, then try and get some arts drawn of my OC from the request shops. I'd make some myself, but I don't have fancy art programmes or room to download anything more on my aged computer; and I can't upload hand drawn work cuz I don't have a scanner.

 

MS Paint is always an option though, unless you have a Mac maybe. I found this tutorial back when I was a wee artist, and that's how I did all my art:

 

http://yuliya.deviantart.com/art/Microsoft-Paint-Tutorial-19775603

 

Not that I think everyone should go hone their MS Paint skills to make ponies; just throwing it out there for anyone interested in free art programs that work well. Pixel artwork has a special place in my heart~

[Pripyat Pony 2,608]

@@Blique, Oh, I love MSPaint. I make ponies on a pixel base and handdraw their manes and tails. I have a shop in the Requests Guild doing just that.

[ShadOBabe 18,997]

The biggest thing I see people saying about why they use it is that they can't draw.

Well yeah, and you never will if you just let the generator do all the work for you.

Do you think artists just wake up one morning and BAM, they can draw well?

 

Sit down and try it. The only reason I can think of why someone shouldn't at least try and draw something themselves if they straight up hate drawing. Most people don't hate the act of drawing, they just don't like the work or the fact that they can't churn out professional level art on their first go.

Just lower your expectations, grab yourself some references, and try to have some fun.

Edited December 8, 2013 by ShadOBabe

[Lyrafinish 72]

I love it! Most of my OC's are from there, including my icon!

 

Lot's of known brony commenters use it (Kimi Sparkle, AnY pony, etc)

[Rinkitty 589]

Yes.

 

I think it's much more fun and interesting to draw your own designs from scratch rather than use preset designs made by someone else. It's nice to use if you need a little help with the base of your OC, but I very much prefer drawing.

[Felix 1,363]

It always helps me get my idea out visually. The fact you can do just about anything with your OC in the generators is what makes it so good as a starter. It took a few months, but after I made that image I was able to really get my OC to feel like my own character. I've done so much with him and it honestly feels like he's much, much, more than a generated image now. It will always be the first thing I go to so I can build off of what I made. I'm also a visual learner. I can imagine something but I can't put it down on paper until I actually see it first so that's why I'm so fond of it.

[Stina 53]

I think it can be fun and it has its place and purpose. Like so many have already said, it's great to get a basic reference image of your original character if you don't feel up to drawing it yourself.

 

However, it can be used poorly and abused just like any other tool. And I think if you really want to have a lot of images of your pony, you should take the time to practice drawing yourself! You'll never improve if you rely on things like the pony maker all the time. If you do use the pony maker and don't intend to stop, that's fine. But you shouldn't really expect it to be treated like something you actually do. When someone bakes muffins using a box mix (just add water!) should they be treated like a chef who bakes from scratch? Sure, the muffins were tasty. You followed directions well. But a box mix (or a pony creator) doesn't leave much room for your creativity, uniqueness and skill to flourish and so is not as impressive as the hand-made alternative.

[GONEFOREVER 518]

I just use it because I can't draw a pony.

 

I can draw anything BESIDES a pony, but all my ponies end up looking like sh*t.

 

So yeah, I'll use pony creator any day.

[Treble Bolt 1,122]

It's okay if you want a internet use worthy OC if you can't draw (I.e. me). But some of the design options are stupid and ridiculous if not downright retarded.  If you are going copy the show ponies, at least make them...you know, NORMAL....

 

Other than for those who have clear cut OC's  that they have designed and created (even if it's a crappy drawing) then using this OC creator isn't such a bad thing.  Those who have reason to be there other than pumping out troll worthy OC's should not use it.

[Squeaky Clean 33]

In my opinion, the pony creator is nice, temporarily. After that, you ought to just practice drawing. The more you practice, the better you get, but it doesn't work that way with the pony creator. That's why it's so hated, by the way, because it quite literally takes no skill to use it. With drawings, people have put hard work into their OCs, but with the pony maker, you're just selecting a wide array of designs (both canon and noncanon) and it can get a bit irritating, between people giving their male OCs eyelashes and female muzzles to using the alicorn body type (or just plain creating a nonroyal alicorn OC).

 

It gets to be a bit repetitive when others say that they can't draw. Sure, you might be a bad drawer at the moment, but if you practice, you'll eventually get better. I used to be just plain awful at drawing, but after practicing for quite a bit of time (I never said it wouldn't take a while), I'm drawing portraits. Don't just say you can't do something, because that isn't helping anything but getting yourself de-motivated. 

 

TLDR; Personally, I don't consider it a tool, I consider it to be kind of a joke. If you want to make an OC, practice drawing-- don't rely on some pony maker to do it for you.

Edited December 14, 2013 by xxGhostie

[~Silver Essence~ 2,625]

Love it, because you can make an OC that fits you in terms of imagination or personality like me and swift star.

 

Hate it, because of the cliched OC's we've seen over and over like alicorns and red and black pony's.

 

Overall, it's great, but being as original as possible might require a thinking or two.