Hello Crew, so its that time of the month again. This one is a bit longer due to changes coming from Patreon and some process changes on my end.

First, I want to start this off by talking about some changes that Patreon is putting in place. So I had already switched to the Subscription billing model while I was pausing the Patreon, with this you get charged as soon as you sign up and charged again on that same date each month, this only applies to subscriptions made after that change was applied, existing members would continue to be charged on the first of each month. Patreon is forcing everyone onto this by November 2025 and this change is being made due to Apple's Billing Requirements that are now being applied to Patreon. In addition to that, Apple's 30% App Store fee is now going to be applied to all memberships purchased in the Patreon iOS app starting in November 2024.

There are two ways to handle that as a creator, you can choose to either eat the fee so that people that sign up to support you through the iOS app get charged the same as everyone else, but you get less from their membership, or you can choose to charge more for iOS memberships so they pay more and you the creator would earn the same amount as if they supported via Web/Android.

Now I have already decided how I will handle this, I will charge more for memberships through the iOS app, but I would advise that you use Web/Android to actually sign up for a membership so you don't get charged extra for using iOS.

Second, I have realized that I have not necessarily been using the best settings in the app that I use for converting from the .PNG renders to .WEBP for the actual releases. In the past I was using the lossless setting, which when converting the files resulted in a file size decrease of around 33%. As it turns out, I am unable to distinguish the difference between lossless and 100% quality, even compared to the original .PNG. And when using the 100% quality option, the .WEBP files are about 84% smaller then the original .PNG.

So I went through and converted the previous images to use the new settings, I might have missed a few and will deal with those later if I did (stupid Windows Explorer was crashing on me while doing this). As things stand at this moment, we have gone from the PC build (Windows and Linux) being about 1.11GB to being about 437MB. Now I do want to note as well that I haven't done a ton of renders for this release yet, and probably won't have any animations, or they will be very short if there are any. But this release may end up being a smaller total file size for the distributions compared to the previous one, even though it has more content.

This month I mostly focused on creating some of the Daz3d scene files so that I can more easily just load them each up and render them in turn, I think I've said it before, but one of things that really slows down creating the renders is just the time it takes to import some of the assets as well as then posing them. I would say the script it about 3/4th done, not considering a branching path near the start of the update that I have just skipped over writing for the time being because its not high priority.

It's that time again, and I really need to get back into the habit of doing these before the last day of the month (or at least get it typed up and scheduled). This monthly update is going to be pretty short, unlike the last one I don't have a ton to talk about.

This month I spent most of the time working on code related changes, mostly how the codex works and some menu layout changes. The renders done this month were mostly focused on the Summer 2024 extras.

I know I have said this for a while (like the past year or so), but I have been setting aside some of my own money, not just what you all support development with, and I think I am pretty close to pulling the trigger on a GPU for a second rig (or to toss in the server running my Plex server and just toss a Windows or Linux VM on there to run iray server). While there are alternatives like Boost for Daz3D that enable basically the same effect, but without buying the hardware. However, I am a big believer in owning the hardware, especially when it doesn't take much to break even and then after that point you're actually saving money. For example, the card I am potentially considering buying is the RTX A5000, which can be found on eBay for anywhere between $1200 and $1500, closer to $2100 if you buy new from a retailer. Well, Boost for Daz3D charges you $6.52/hr to use a setup that has that same card, using those eBay figures, after about 183 hours (~7.6 days) to 230 hours (~9.6 days) of rendering, you will have broken even on costs (not considering electricity).

Now some of you may be thinking, that is a lot of time rendering, that would take a while to hit wouldn't it? To which I'd say no not really, when rendering animations in the past (and is a reason I don't do too many animations) they can take the better part of a month on my current rig to render, and its not like my current rig is particularly low powered for the GPU (RTX 3080 12GB). And unfortunately during that time I am limited with what I can use my system for, so I often end up needing to start and stop those renders when I want to use my system for stuff, which further makes the renders take longer. But if I can offload those to a second rig then I can more easily just set and forget them, and of course can have my main PC join in as an additional node when I'm not using it. I also won't need to spend quite as much time trying to find ways to speed things up that possibly lower the quality.

So I will possibly be making that purchase closer to the end of the year, potentially as a Christmas present type thing, baring any major changes in my finances, like winning the lottery (in which case I'd buy 4 and that is only half joking).

Hello crew, with us getting back into the swing of things its time for the regular progress updates.

I meant to get this out a few days ago before the month ticked over to July, but I ended up being a bit busy with life finishing out the month.

As I mentioned a week or two ago in the Discord server I have started a new position at my job which grants me a little bit more free time throughout the year since I will have company holidays off, while my old position I still had to work those days, with the exception of one of the three major holidays at the end/start of the year (Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years).

I had some technical difficulties this month between VS Code and GitHub getting de-synced, is probably the best way to describe it, and that took me a while to fix, turns out the best solution was to make a local backup of my build, delete the original copy, use the GitHub app to download the repository, and then overwrite the downloaded copy with the local backup, and so far that has worked without issue.

Speaking of GitHub, while I haven't seen any bug reports made using the previous methods I have used, in the event people run into them, so I have a way of publicly tracking them, I have setup a public GitHub repository to use for making bug reports going forward, it can be found here. I think I do a reasonably good set of test runs so bugs, at least on Windows, will hopefully be few and far between, though we will see just how messy things could get down the road as things branch out more.

Now for what you all are actually here for, the progress report. But before I get into that I do want to mention that this month I decided to change up how I track the work done, before I would just count the lines in VS code of both dialogue and code as one number, this month I decided that going forward I am going to track dialogue and code separately from one another, and also tracking dialogue a bit more accurately when dealing with multi-line dialogue.

On that note, the numbers. This month was a bit light on work as I was still trying to get into the grove of dedicated work again, so only 33 lines of dialogue and 35 lines of code were done this month, though I suppose in someways that is actually probably not too far off from where I usually am for work in that past when life isn't getting in the way, I just admittedly feel like it should be better. I only got 4 renders done this month, which were the Father's Day renders for Captain tier supporters.

I also really need to get to work on renders if I want to try and have this update out by the end of the year. Maybe I'll have July focused on getting some of those done?

Hey crew, getting this out late, planned to get it out the day before Halloween, but I ended up not having the time to do that. Starting this off with by saying this one will be a bit different then other briefings because it covers both September and October due to be not getting one out on time for September.

Starting off as usual with script work. Script work across both months was about par for the course most months, but could have been better, totaling 300 lines of code, 123 in September and 177 in October. This would put us at averaging 4.10 lines per day for September and 5.71 for October. And a month over month change of 4% and 44% percent respectively for total lines and for average lines per day a month over month change of 8% and 39% respectively.

For render work, September wasn't really up there, because that wasn't the focus, script work was generally more important as a focus at the time so only 14 renders in all for September, including the extras for the National Cheeseburger Day 2023 extra, resulting in a -30% month/month change. 

For October, I ended up deciding to try something a bit different. Usually I setup a file that covers a single location in a single scene, so sometimes these files are 3-4 frames while other times they maybe 10-14 frames. It just depends on how many different expressions and poses I need for that location at that scene. Also sometimes I want different camera angles for the same shot so those bring the count up further beyond the number of frames. Only after those are all set do I set the file to render each frame. I decided to instead focus on drafting each of the renders, creating those files with the frames that comprise the images that actually get rendered. So outside of the actual renders for the Halloween 2023 extras for Captain tier supporters I didn't render anything in October. Instead what I can do is this month and December, I'll likely release the update near the end of December, I can load those files and render them each in turn. For the frames that have been made and need to be render, I haven't really kept exact track of them, but its around 40 at this time.

On a related note to renders, and I might have hinted at this in a previous post but I'm to lazy to go back and check. As I have mentioned in the past I do the renders using my personal computer, the same one I use for playing games, watching YouTube, etc. as a result rendering can interfere with my own use of my computer, unsurprisingly this mostly impacts gaming. Several months back I bought myself some older server hardware to use for a Plex server, which I have completed, but an idea came to mind that I should be able to slap a workstation GPU, think something like the Nvidia RTX A4000, in there and use it for rendering Daz3d Iray.

At a basic level, the most important specs for Daz3d are VRAM and Cuda cores. VRAM impacts how large and detailed your scene can be and cuda cores impact how quickly iray can render, clock speed also matters to an extent but most tests I have seen on the daz forums seem to indicate that number of cuda cores matters much more.

To compare the specs of the A4000 to my RTX 3080 12GB. The A4000 is:

While my RTX 3080 12GB is:

So the A4000 has a bit more VRAM, making larger scenes easier, but less cuda cores, and is roughly (in theory) half the power draw. Because they are also much smaller I could in theory slap two inside a server chassis and have more cuda cores then my personal rig with about the same amount of power draw. Only draw back is, the A4000 is kinda expensive, looking at anywhere between 800 and 1000 USD, granted I spent about 800 on my 3080 but its still expensive. So this idea is something that probably won't be done anytime within the next couple of months, but maybe down the road after some combination of more support and/or either a much better paying job or a really good raise.

Now someone had mentioned in the Discord server (https://discord.gg/KCp6u4ekEh), which isn't super active but I do try to respond when people say or ask stuff:

That is something I agree with, and chapters have gotten a bit longer with more recent updates due to me getting in the habit of saying "Screw it, I won't be able to get all I want done in a single release unless I have it be a year between updates."* I hopeful that this 3-4 month release schedule I plan to use going forward (which is something I've said in the past I wanted to do, but I've not been able to stick to it before) will enable me to have longer updates since I won't have as much of an issue with asking myself "Do I want to end this chapter here or try for another few hundred lines for the next good stopping off point?"

*I personally don't like waiting a year for an update, but I'm not looking to change how others due updates so I'm not going to say anything else on that note beyond "Do what works best for you."

On that, that is going to be it for this debriefing, this was probably the longest one I have done to date, most of it though being that idea to potentially help with renders in the future. I will see you all near the end of this month, or early next month, with another debriefing. 

Welcome back crew, it's time for our monthly update, and I'm excited to share some important developments. As I continue to refine my communications, I will be referring to these monthly progress updates as "debriefings" going forward. As I've discussed before, with version 0.6 my goal is to embrace a 3-4 month release cadence. While this might lead to shorter updates on average, the consistency and frequency of our releases will be greatly improved. For this upcoming update, we're aiming for 4-months, with a projected release towards the end of year.

I want to make it clear that the 3-4 month guideline is just that – a guide. If it's necessary to ensure a natural stopping point, we may extend slightly into the following month. My aim is to provide you with a polished update that respects the flow of the story.

Turning our attention to the current month, we've begun diving into scripting for 0.6. While our progress in this area has been solid, I must admit it fell slightly short of my aspirations due to a combination of work commitments and the conclusion of a personal project. The completion of this side endeavor is an achievement, that might be able to be useful for development in the future if I expand it that way, it did impact our scripting efforts. In total, we've managed to draft approximately 118 lines, averaging about 3.81 lines per day. Considering last month saw very little script work, the month-over-month increase is inflated, showing a 5800% surge in both total lines and daily average lines.

Regarding renders, we haven't commenced the rendering process for the upcoming update just yet. Instead, this month saw the completion of some lingering renders for 0.5 part 2 and a collection of character introduction posts, the last time I released one of these character introductions was back in April 2021, so really need to work on those, especially to help drive more consistent posts. In August, we wrapped up 20 renders, marking a 77% decline from the previous month. However, it's important to note again that renders weren't the primary focus in this month.

For those eagerly anticipating the character introduction posts. I've set my sights on sharing these that were completed this month with you throughout September. To establish a rhythm, I'll likely release them every other week for these. Additionally, I'll be allocating time to craft scenes for our other characters – a task that remains high on my to-do list, so long as it doesn't interfere with renders for the update itself.

0.5 Part 2 will become available for Ensign tier supporters on September 8th, it will then become available publicly on September 12th.

Thank you for your continued support, and let's continue our journey forward. Stay tuned for more updates as I work diligently to bring the vision of Andromeda to life.

For anyone curious, I did let ChatGPT right out this debriefing, with some tweaking, partly because I am trying to get this out before the month ticks over and also trying to get something that doesn't sound as dry as my usual updates.