Fluttershy and Rarity:
 
Hey folks, welcome to my second ever piece of MLP art I hope you like it because this took me FAR TOO LONG to produce!
 
This piece threw so many curveballs at me while I was making it I’m just glad I finally managed to finish it and and actually get something rendered. While it did take quite a while to make, I have learned a ton of stuff in Blender and my next piece should be far easier to put together.
 
Modelling: Since my first piece I thought I’d try my hand at making a few of my own models: the cuffs and the collar that Rarity is wearing I made these myself and they turned out better than I would have guessed, however ironically due to the DOF filter I ended up applying on the final render you cannot see the details of them.
 
I do plan to release them at some stage so people can use them in their own art, however I’m currently seeking advice on how to convert them so users of SFM can also use them. There isn’t a great deal of decent bondage gear (especially for MLP models) so I plan to change that by making a few of my own to share with people.
 
They also have little heart padlocks on them which I also modelled myself; unfortunately as they are so small you cannot actually see them unless you bring the camera up really close! I also had a go at making procedural generated chain in Blender which is fun to do, if a little tricky to setup without a guide but I’m glad I took the time to make them for restraints. Rest assured Fluttershy has made sure her lover is not going anywhere!
 
SFM assets in Blender: Thanks to a free Blender add on called Blender source tools, this allows Blender to import assets designed for Source Film Maker and use them as the user sees fit.
 
UTTERLLY ESSENTIAL IF YOU PLAN TO USE SFM OR SOURCE ENGINE ASSETS IN BLENDER!!
 
https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Blender_Source_Tools
 
While importing SFM stuff is fairly easy, many assets will need to be altered or changed to work as you would want to in blender. Armature rigs in particular work differently in blender and would likely need to be adjusted before you can pose them easily and stuff like clothing assets would also need to scaled and adjusted to work with your models due to how the software runs the asset conversions.
 
Textures also work differently with SFM; these will also need to be converted before Blender can import them. Another essential piece of software called VTF Edit is needed for this process.
 
https://nemstools.github.io/pages/VTFLib-Download.html
 
VTF Edit is able to convert VTF texture files into something Blender can use such as TARGA, PNG and JPEG. It is painless process if quite time consuming. Every single texture will need to be exported individually and since I use a load of SFM assets it took me a long time to get everything ready. Still a worthwhile investment as I can now use these assets in later projects with textures ready to go!
 
Textures: Blender is initially quite daunting when it comes to textures as its not simply a case of importing a bunch of PNG files and then you are done as you can configure them in a number of ways. You can tell blender to assign textures a number of roles and it is fairly easy to configure them incorrectly. One example I came across was that SFM and blender deals with Alpha (transparency) layers differently and I only figured that out near the end of this project.
 
A happy consequence of this is that I inadvertently came up with a different style of fishnet simply because of the transparency. FS wearing the standard see through variant and Rarity wearing the solid brown/black which made a lovely contrast in my humble opinion. I’m starting to get the hang of things though and I do appreciate the amount of control over the textures that Blender gives you.
 
Importing Models: Importing the models was a doddle and Blender can accept quite a decent amount of model formats; the only real sticking point I came across was models that can only be read by proprietary software such as assets made for the Autodesk suite of software. Yes you can run conversions on some of these but your results may vary, in those rare instances I just chose a different asset and moved on.
 
I pretty much stuck to Free assets found on these websites, and they are excellent for new starters to Blender such as myself!:
 
https://sketchfab.com/  
https://free3d.com/
 
Turbosquid also has some free stuff but the assets I found were generally a bit heavy on the hardware for what they were but your mileage may vary to mine.  
https://www.turbosquid.com/
 
MLP Assets: There are a ton of MLP 3D assets available. Most out there them are geared/designed for Source Film Maker but with Blender source tools and you can import the assets into Blender as long as you convert them before hand.
 
https://ponysfm.com/ Is a good place to start, and this is where I obtained most of the models you see in the piece, such as the toy dolls on the shelves. I have tried my best to credit everybody, but as a lot of assets borrow elements or adapted from other models there is a lot of crossover. DeviantArt also has a ton of resources to find and use.
 
There are a ton of creative people out there and I’m more than happy to credit their works wherever possible:
 
BeardeddoomGuy:
 
Starlight and Sunset  
https://ponysfm.com/v6-sunset-starlight-dl
 
Enhanced Luna  
https://www.deviantart.com/beardeddoomguy/art/DL-Enhanced-Overhaul-Princess-Luna-730330001
 
New Overhaul Princess Celestia  
https://www.deviantart.com/beardeddoomguy/art/DL-New-Overhual-Princess-Celestia-635289298
 
New Overhaul Cadence  
https://www.deviantart.com/beardeddoomguy/art/DL-New-Overhual-Princess-Cadence-668003527
 
New Spike:  
https://ponysfm.com/spike-the-dragon-4e88c63d-ebba-4766-9573-cd3e54860aec
 
Jimmythepony:
 
Sunset and Starlight V6  
https://ponysfm.com/v6-sunset-starlight-dl
 
Kindkeep3r:
 
Detective Rarity (I used the hat from this asset!)  
https://www.deviantart.com/kindkeep3r/art/DL-Detective-Rarity-641008705
 
Poninnahka
 
One of the earliest (yet comprehensive) SFM packs made available for SFM
 
Female Pony Models  
https://ponysfm.com/poninnahka-s-female-pony-models
 
Pika-Robo:
 
Adult CMC’s Revamped:  
https://ponysfm.com/revamped-adult-cutie-mark-crusaders
 
Sindroom:
 
Daybreaker Enhanced:  
https://www.deviantart.com/sindroom/art/SFM-Gmod-Enhanced-Daybreaker-1-1-747358078
 
Nightmare Moon Advanced:  
https://www.deviantart.com/sindroom/art/SFM-Gmod-Enhanced-Nightmare-Moon-713854574
 
Fleur De Lis  
https://www.deviantart.com/sindroom/art/SFM-Gmod-Fleur-De-Lis-758165358
 
WhiteSkyLine:
 
Trixie Babysitter Enhanced  
https://ponysfm.com/revamped-enhanced-trixie-babysitter
 
….and of course last but not least both the Fluttershy and Rarity models are from the NexGen Anthro Pack (Blender Version still under development):
 
https://sfmlab.com/project/28473/
 
Blender Version can be obtained from the official NexGen discord:  
discord.gg/vwM3HX6
 
Lighting:  
This is an area where I definitely need more practice with; its more luck that I managed to make a decent lighting setup but I admit this is a current weakness I wish to remedy in future works. Any tips anybody can provide I would very much appreciate :)
 
Special Thanks to hunterz263 for general advice and basically putting up with me sending WIPs on his Discord for the last month or so.
 
I wish to improve my artwork so any criticisms and critique is welcome. Thankyou for reading!