gofile - https://gofile.io/d/7cK40e
gofile(poll animations) - https://gofile.io/d/G134wZ

It's been a little while since my last proper release, hasn't it? Sorry about that. November was break time, and I ended up going hard on these sets that it took some time to get them done. Fairly high effort stuff, here, though inconsistent effort all the same. Pretty dense in content, too. Think it's the longest thing I've released, if one combines all three, anyway.

I did plan for a fourth character, but there wasn't time(or will) to do one. Also wasn't even sure who to do, really. Tossed a few characters around, but none of them stuck. Anyway, hope everyone is doing well. I'll be on a Holiday break until the end of the year where I'll be back with a year end sort of thing. Reflect back on my content for the year, maybe have a survey, my top 5/10 animations, etc. etc. Got the year end bonus in mind now, should be kinda fun. It'll be something that's well recognized, I think. 

Regardless, Merry Christmas!

Well, every season is rambling season when it comes to me, though this year has been more sparse on that for one reason or another. I'm gonna try to have more next year, though I will try to avoid bombarding everyone multiple times a week. But I digress, let's get rambling.

Christmas content is coming along. Second set is almost done - I'll hopefully have it finished today or tomorrow. Regardless, there is a third set planned, so my work is not yet done. But getting closer. But it's not all been a focus on Christmas stuff. I've got other things brewing in the background, as well as various distractions that have popped up from random moods and/or experimentation. One such experimentation is with hair. Again. Though rather than trying to do particle hair as I had been, I've started using hair cards. It's been... okay. I was trying to do a 'realistic' Franziska von Karma model with a semi-custom hair, and it went okay. Still could use a lot of work, but it's better than my past attempts at least.

But this sort of technique did have some use elsewhere. Notably in cleaning up some low quality/low poly hairs. Also not perfect, but I was able to sort of improve Lulu's hair and braids. No longer are her braids just tubes with a low quality tube. Now they look sorta like braids.

This was mostly spurred on by me quickly throwing together a 'Gallica' hair for my banner. Not that you can really see the hair or face, but I was trying a technique that sort of worked, but I figured there had to be a better/easier way, and there was.

But yeah, fake Gallica. So yeah, I've been having some fun with that. Not exactly high quality efforts, but it's fun to learn new things. Still barely scratching the surface with Blender, but baby steps.
Beyond that, I've been in a 3D anime mood. While it won't be featured for Christmas, I have been toying around with a few things. Namely some sort of 'sweat drops' for anime stuff. And I ended up with a pretty decent looking one, using some good ol' Ryza to demonstrate.

And, because I can't help myself sometimes, I may or may not have started on something. A new set for her, though I may throw in some other characters from her games(like Klaudia or Lila again). But that won't be for a while.

I have to say that it already looks better than all the previous Ryza stuff I've done. While I haven't changed any of the shaders or the like, a little bit of color correction and volumetrics go a long way.
Beyond Ryza, I was toying with the Xenoblade gals too using the same 'wet' particles. Though I didn't do too much special with them.

Just a pretty typical hotsprings shot of them, nothing fancy.
Additionally, beyond my dips into anime style stuff, there's some other things I may be toying around with.

But anyway, last thing I've got for you is some memery. Though it's just some 'selfies' for anyone to use if they feel like it. I forgot I did a Nanami selfie a while back, until I randomly stumbled upon someone who used it. So, you know, have at it.

Luna.

Iris.

Ryza.

And jumpscare. x)

Anyway, hope you all have a good week - poll animations will be going up this weekend, hopefully. Have made decent progress on them thus far. There won't be a new poll to vote on, just because of the holidays and all that, but I'll hopefully have a bonus to throw in at the end of the year. Hope everyone has a good Christmas and a happy holidays. May you blessed with good gifts.

gofile - https://gofile.io/d/raUMtg
Gonna call it today, since my brain is mush and I don't feel like posting it on a weekend.

The results are honestly quite close. And while Xingcai does beat Ivy by five points, they're both effectively 200 points so I'm gonna count them both as winners and do two for each, and then one for the Dark Elf. Follows my Halloween loser poll anyway with 100 points a piece getting an animation, so it works out.

Anyway, I've been... sluggish the past few days. Haven't made a ton of progress on my upcoming stuff, but I have one set - the Yuffie set - effectively done. Second set is putting along. And then I would like to have a third set, but haven't started yet. I'll hopefully get a second wind soon enough. Usually happens as things progress. That's what happened last Christmas. It was originally just gonna be Aerith, and I had more or less finished it when all of a sudden I decided on doing Marie... then Miyoshino... then Queen Jayne... just one of those things. As for who it will be this year... well, there may be some surprises still in store, but the second set may see a visit from Krampus instead of Santa.

I may end up doing a ramble next week to sort of clear the mind, but not sure on that yet. I've been having a lot of random ideas, so I may just babble about them to get them off the mind in a form of meditation. We'll see. x)

Hey-yo. Just a quick little update, since I've been a bit too lazy this month. Asuka and the next poll will probably be delayed a day or two. Been focusing on the next sets, so Asuka's been a bit slow to come together. As for the next sets proper, can't give any ETA, since I've got nothing properly finished yet. It will probably all be released closer to Christmas, but not 100% sure on that. Will have more info on that as I go through the week, I guess. The set I'm currently working on is pretty big already, so I'll need to move on at some point or it'll be feature creeped to oblivion. x)

Anyway, see ya in a couple days with the poll.