Building PRISM + Progress & Performance

(Don't forget to check out the https://trello.com/b/kJ9cIAi5/echoes-of-the-cataclysm-project-management for detailed progress!)

Rendering Evolution

The transition to Blender's Eevee rendering engine hit a major milestone:

52 high-quality 4K resolution renders completed in under 2 hours!

While Eevee presents unique lighting challenges compared to path-based rendering, these skills will improve with time and practice.

Scene Development

This scene has come at a reasonably slow pace, as the transition to Blender was a long and tedious (but very necessary) process. Characters/assets/scenes/poses had to be exported & imported, textures had to be recreated, character-specific traits had to be manually generated (such as the Psion glow-eyes), and some things just had to be recreated from scratch. And that doesn't discount the many hours dedicated to education and learning Blender! So while this first scene in Blender has been at a slow pace, the road ahead is bright, exciting, and full of infinite possibilities!

Chapter 1 Scene 5 has reached final development stages: - 5 establishing shots rendered - 52 main scene shots rendered - Remaining shots awaiting final pose and setup (including the PRISM facility, see below) - Character textures enhanced for Eevee compatibility (skin, hair, and eyes)

PRISM Facility Development

A major milestone has been reached with the completion of the PRISM (Psychic Research Institute for Study and Mediation) building exterior: - Imposing concrete pyramid design - Glass-capped summit - Architecture reflecting its evolution from Psion fortress to government research facility

Looking Ahead

Focus remains on: - Completing Scene 5's final shots, music, and sound effects - Interior PRISM facility development (incredibly difficult and large-scale!) - Further education and refinement of the Eevee workflow

Fast render times open up exciting new doors - imagine seeing these characters come alive through animation!

Don't forget to check out the progress on the https://trello.com/b/kJ9cIAi5/echoes-of-the-cataclysm-project-management board.

Hi everyone! I'm excited to share the progress on Echoes of the Cataclysm.

(Also don't forget to check out the Trello board!) What is "Echoes of the Cataclysm"?

Echoes of the Cataclysm is a mature visual novel exploring autonomy, and power in the world that's been transformed by psychic abilities. It's set in the dystopian city of Neo Angeles 2069, where the entire world has been affected by the "Cataclysm" event. The event has killed much of the population and has left a small percentage of the remaining population with differing types of psychic abilities.

Navigate a web of relationships, dark conspiracies, and experience the new society through our main character as he must confront his beliefs about power, trust, and the lengths he'll go to protect those he loves. He'll uncover unexpected truths and form intimate connections while a divided society still echoes with the catastrophic events of the past.

Each character brings their own psychic abilities, motivations, and potential for both romance and betrayal.

Dive into the world of survival, power, and unexpected intimacy where psychic forces have reshaped humanity.

Workflow Migration

One of the biggest recent decisions was transitioning from Daz3D to Blender for nearly everything, including modeling, posing, animating, and rendering. While this means converting our existing character models, the benefits have been remarkable:

Significantly faster and more intuitive interface (in the eyes of the beholder!)

More responsive timeline for character animations

Dramatically improved rendering speeds

Higher quality skin textures and materials

Here's a before/after example of the improved character fidelity with the protagonist (not final image):

Daz3d (first image)

Blender (second image)

It's not 1-to-1, and that's okay! But you have to admit that it looks less cartoonish! At least... that's the way I like it. ✌️ Current Development Focus

While you can see the progress on the Trello board, currently there are 3 scenes fully rendered (currently done in Daz3d). All future work will be completed in Blender.

The migration to Blender will require additional effort upfront; however, in the long-run, this switch is absolutely paramount for the ambitious work ahead. What's Next

Converting remaining character models to Blender (converting as needed)

Finishing out the poses and renders for Scene 4 of Chapter 1

Implementing enhanced skin shaders and materials

Looking Ahead

While the workflow migration adds some additional work to the timeline, the improved quality and workflow efficiency make this a worthwhile investment. Our Trello board will be updated constantly with progress on both technical development and character conversions.

I look forward to sharing more character reveals with the enhanced visual quality in future updates!

Don't forget to check out the progress on the Trello progress board.