Tuesday, I took a break from Black Cat Cafe to poke at and test a Chun-Li model. Not sure if I'd talked about her before. Perhaps, perhaps not. At any rate, she's an amazing model by @Source_Guru, one of my favorite model creators. A lot of my best models are from them. You all have been seeing their name in the credits and will continue to do so for a long time.

    So Chun-Li has legs. Everyone knows this. It's probably the #1 thing about her, right? So I set her up in a nice position (Sancus 2 style pose) for a little animation. Meant to be just a loop, it's already full length for her theme song from Street Fighter 6? I think 6.

    She's not synced to the music. I just ran with the animation and some variations on the speed/style as it goes a long, then thought "Hey, let's throw her theme song in here...." and just extended it to fit. I'd thought about various outfits, and I might still do that, but this was the one I liked most. I also nearly did the tied big toe thing, but eh. I don't get that concept, personally, so it's not a thing I care about doing. I might add that into something later though.

    I know, I know. "But Zjera....you need to focus! Stick to something! FINISH AND RELEASE SOMETHING!"

    I am. This is all I worked on this week, and it will be ready by next Saturday. It's already in the final stages for pre-render checks; smoothing things, fixing lights a bit more, etc. As I've always said; sometimes things just go so well they pop out quick. This was one.

    Small quick video showing some examples of the machine power levels and motions in Black Cat Cafe. Vaginal 1-5 and Anal 1 only so far. The anal ones, the spins that is, seem to go odd when the dildo moves around as well. Trying to figure out why. I might have to just make them all spin together instead of the interesting way shown in vaginal 1-4. Vaginal 5 is when Anal 1 kicks in. Anal 1-5 Vaginal stays the same. At level 5. So there's still 9 levels basically in total.
    The overlays of the power level/name plate area will be visible throughout, in that faded see through aspect. The camera will be different per segment, so it's not going to always hinder any kind of view. The odd jumps in things like lighting is due to the examples being reset on a camera that is the same for all motions. The lights are set for the angles they were meant to be on, so they pop around. Also that's why Vaginal 4 shows her side and not the machine. That specific angle didn't show the machine at all, so it's not really moving there. No need to animate what isn't seen, after all. Later segments will show that though so it will be then.
    Still coming up with names for the donators. Some are 'serious' style names. Others are just fun for fun sake. Should any of you be on the Discord and want a name added to the list of potential, feel free to let me know. I did the same thing, in a way, with Pound-Her's names.
    Also, that's a music example as well. The intro has its own, the credits probably will too, but that's the main music picked for this one.

    January van Sant's animation is coming along as well, though not much to report on it this week. The drummer is still being a bitch, but most everything else is cooperating. She has some nice wiggles, expressions and breathing animations, pre-refinement. Not sure where to put a third 'band member'. Maybe just an over-the-shoulder style angle long enough for concept. Probably that.

    Hope you enjoy the little example video.

    Finally sorted a side project and so far, I love working on it. It goes back to what I was meant to be doing with fully musically synced animations. This is a true Ramma'Jam, akin to Poison Ivy or Ashley Graham, but with a new twist.
    Instead of the machine just playing music into the girl via pistoned dildos, this is an interactive band style Ramma'Jam. Meaning, instruments like drums, keyboards and guitars are hooked up to it. What is played upon them is 'played' in the machine.
    Rock Band: Sybian Edition?
    Basically.

    I chose January van Sant for a few reasons.
    #1 She is an excellent model.
    #2 I thought she was cute.
    #3 I've not used her before.
    #4 I liked that her outfit (Tropical variant, no other style yet available on the model) was a nice rocker look, which sparked the rock band idea. Sort of.

    I had the idea for a Ramma'Jam like this a long time ago. Probably even mentioned it before in a Weekly. Finally doing something with the theme.

    Also, to be fully transparent about things, I've been pretty down lately and it's hindered my SFMing. Burnout, annoyance, whatever factor you wanna attribute to it. Maybe all. This project, being strictly an 'I want to make this' has already rekindled my love for making these things. Also, as I've said before, I've been wanting to get back to the full sync Black Menageries anyways. I strayed from them for the sake of longer and more indepth projects and while some work better and should be like that, it's not suppose to be the focus style. Some of you might have even been hanging on for the off chance I would do more Black Menageries styles, as I should be doing really.

    I am now.

    Preview pics are, of course, early WIPs. The ball gag's design is meant to be a cartoonish skull. It's a custom texture and it's a bit too large right now. There's no actual scene/background yet, etc. etc. I do, however, have a good portion of her motions animated and one of the instruments has someone playing it. I'm pretty pleased with how that bit has already turned out too, even without refinement. Some lighting is being set, so on and so forth.

    Black Cat Cafe is still going too, so no worries about it stopping. It's coming along well overall, although slowly. With January van Sant's project kicking my interest in again my interest in that project has increased more as well. A couple things need revamped on it, like the UI overlay for the machine levels/powers. Knocking a few settings off. 10 isn't needed to show increases. I'm thinking more like 6-8. Probably 6.

   Last, I teased another project last Weekly. The upright front view of 'girl unknown'. Well, that was Aurore Cassel from Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty. It was meant to be a project designed purely to kick me back in gear and give me the 'go go' to my 'mojo?' or something. You get what I mean, right?

    Anyways...

    It's still on the table, even though it was going off track already. Not sure what it is about the Cyberpunk 2077 projects. They love being difficult. Some reworks with this newfound drive should get it back on course.

    But yeah. Nothing currently going is being stopped. I have a literal passion project going which is giving me a needed boost.

    Things are looking up.

    A somewhat slow week; another section of Cafe though. Machine level 4 for 20 seconds. It's the 'resigned to her fate' reaction, when she realizes she's in it for the long haul. Not every level or length of time will be represented. The concept of each level being faster/harder should suffice, so I can skip like level 6, as an example.

    Having some issue sorting a smaller side project. I think I might just hammer a full sync single song Black Menagerie out. Or something semi silly. So many tested or started projects that are just in limbo. A few keep popping back in my head though.

    Black Cat Cafe (top 2 previews) has its 3rd machine segment nearly finished. I say 'nearly' because after they're all 'nearly' I have to bake the jiggle bone and adjust them all accordingly. If I do that early and then want to change something about the general animation, those adjustments are lost when I reenable the jiggle bones. So basically, everything gets finished to like 90%, then sits til the end to be completed.
    An example of what I mean is those chains at her ankles. In earlier WIP on this they were connected to thigh straps instead, which are now gone. That caused a slight adjustment to her leg position in all segments.
    Still not 100% sure of what music to use for Cafe. As I said on the Discord, I don't want to 'waste' a lot of music on a single project, not that I can't reuse music and will eventually though, and I'm not sure I have anything I can loop for an extended length that wouldn't become annoying.

    In other news, I've started a new Black Menagerie (bottom 2 previews) project as a 'side' project when not working on Cafe. Not sure why, but the parts meant to glow are coming out muted and dull. (The bars at the ankles for example). It's an odd issue I've not ran into before. As you can see it Cafe previews, it's not an issue there. The dildo bits meant to glow are glowing just fine. Maybe it's a general lighting issue.
    Who is the girl? Secret for now, but it isn't someone used before, and I might not have even chatted about having her at all anywhere. I've had her a while though and came across a really nice pic someone did with the model and an idea came to me.

    Some other very minor things have gone on; like who will be in Christmas 2025 (it's not even July!). As said before, I always want to be sure to get Christmas released on time, so I start early. The who and general what is decided. Music though, ugh. I hate trying to find Christmas ones I like and are useful.
    OC Character I've hired to have created was pretty close to finish. A few issue to solve, so she has more time to be worked on, but that's an exciting prospect. I might be able to sort something to introduce her later this year.
    A few more things I'm not thinking of right off, but minor anyways. Probably just testing things.

    Ever wonder what your character is doing during a loading queue? Do they just stand there? Do they idle like a Mortal Kombat character ready to fight? Do they talk to each other? Do they find themselves in interesting situations?

    Let's assume the last one....

    Just a little creation I thought would be fun to do. I don't play Marvel Rivals, so I don't know how accurate she is to the aesthetic of the game. I'm personally not overly fond of her though. Can't like them all though, right?

    A couple of quick QAs.

    Hope you enjoy.