Weekly WIP #59

• Final Fantasy Project: (Unnamed)
• Mass Effect: Sancus Program 2.0
• Misc.

• I was sent a pic on Discord and from that pic I decided to make a short loop with character(s) I've not used before. Aerith and Jessie from Final Fantasy was chosen. The small loop turned out so nice already, and there was a lot of interest/reactions to the WIP postings on Discord, that it's gone from small loop to full project and I personally love it.
• Scarlet, who has basically become the protagonist for Heat Inc./Black Menagerie in the Final Fantasy universe has caught some of the girls for a Menagerie showing. Rather than just have her thugs prep them for transport, Scarlet decides to give them some time to 'blow' off some steam. Hur. Hur. Consider this a prelude project to one later on.

• In another universe, another session of the Sancus Program is about to start. The machine is smaller and less bulky. It's not attached to a console, for one. The project got off to a rocky start though. I have to reset a good bit of the animation already. I broke the flexes without realizing I did and saved over it. Now I know about that though. Learning process.
• Yes, Sancus 2.0 will have Miranda Lawson in it. Other than Kelly Chambers, who I have only a very janky model of but could maybe headhack, Gabriella Daniels, who I have no model of, and maybe EDI, who I do have some nice models of but is slated for something else, no one else would fit the theme. But I mean, it's Miranda Lawesome. So. Yeah. See what I did there?

• Still intend to get past projects spruced up enough for a general release. Seeing how well the start of 2024 has been overall, I really wanna press forward. So those will be fixed and released as they come along between working on the good stuff.

Weekly WIP #55

Hostile Takeover Release

Scarlet attends a meeting at Heat Inc., who had 'devious motives'. She apparently also brought the wrong guard along, having been bought prior, and now finds herself being 'persuaded' into either selling out Shinra Electric Power Company or joining Heat Inc. How long can she hold out?

• Bottom Left = Main Video (4 minutes, 41 seconds), the other 3 are full turn loops (32 seconds each).

• A Lazy Susan, of all things. I thought the idea of a machine on one, with the attached person being turned around for those sitting to watch, was a fun notion. Then decided to just make it a motorized turn table. Like a display rack.

• I really think her motion came out fantastic. I wanted to make it a longer video, with more transitions, an intro, etc., but decided to release it as is. She was a wonderful model to use, so other projects with her are a certainty.

• I let the camera stay on angles longer this time. It felt more 'correct', since the music seemed more subdued, as well as a decent close up of the face.

• I had fun making this animation. I hope you all enjoy it.

• The next large project release will be Subscribers Only (Supporter and Invester Tiers) with some free loops for all.

Weekly WIP #24

• Rendering Hostile Takeover. Release will be next Saturday, the 11th. Full animation and a few loops with the better camera angles.

• The Resident Evil animation was, like a lot of things, meant to be a small loop only, but I like it a lot, so it's going to be a trailer for a larger project instead. Work will begin after Hostile Takeover is released. I've made a trailer for it which will be released soonish.

• Until then, practice, practice, practice when Hostile Takeover isn't rendering. Speaking of, here's more examples of the Black Cat practice session. A gif showing the lighting. I'm getting the hang of that. I think the moonlight turned out really well. One video shows how the scene is arranged. SFM doesn't do mirrors well, if at all, so it's faked. The other video is just expressions practice. I thought her pouty/kissy face was cute. The animations are slower than they would be, but they're just practice. I do want to use Black Cat soon though, since the model is fantastic; just not sure in what yet.

•  A subscriber (Investor Tier) gave me an idea for an interesting machine animation. This will most likely, actually, maybe be just a loop. No major details for that yet though. I've also dove back into my giant folder of 'potential ideas' looking for more positions/scenes to use. I always have several ideas listed for future animations, but it never hurts to have several more.

Weekly WIP #21

• Backgrounds. A lot of small things can add up to very large effects. Take background characters. Even if subtle, small, far off, and not the focus; background characters help bring the scene to life. The more the better, right? I dunno. 23 is how many are in Crossing the Line, and it's been a chore to animated them, even slightly, since there's so many. Getting them in camera angles without taking away from the main focus, Samara, has been a challenge too. Going back and watching Shiala: The Mirage, for example, I feel like too much focus was on the background. I would say I need to balance that, but I don't. I need to focus more on the main. 7 more to go on Crossing, some camera angle adjustments, lights adjusted, and is should be about ready to render, finally.

•  Speaking of background characters; The Board Members of Heat Inc. are also nearly set fully for Hostile Takeover. Far less in number, coming it at just 8. They're a bit closer in view though, so they've needed better animations and more refinement.

•   Having said that, I'm going to either spend less time on the background or just have less characters in it. Sometimes more makes sense, other times not so much. Maybe it will just depend on the scene. I also have new ideas on ways to compose animations and I'm going to try it out on the projects that come after these. Hopefully, it will speed up the process and just make things better all around.

•  I admit I've had trouble staying focused on a specific project right now, bouncing from thing to thing and starting lots of new ones. I started another one just last night. Downside, obviously, is things get finished/released slower. Upside, I have several things to be working on, so, there isn't a lack of things to do.

• For those who are new here or those who didn't notice, I updated the 'about me' bit on the front page to simply read 'working on several projects' rather than a 'main' one. I've stopped projects (Marvel Misadventure), rushed them (Aloy: Breeding Cauldron) and just overly burnt out and screwed up others (Max: A Long Night) because of the 'main' concept, feeling stuck on them even when/if they just aren't clicking for me. Now I just feel like I'm too slow instead of stuck too, so, that's a win.

•  I'm hoping to have something ready for release soon, preferably month's end.

Weekly WIP #20

• The board members are animated in the end scene for Hostile Takeover. Why do I start at the end and go backwards? I once spent 2 weeks setting up a project only to find out the position I based the entire thing on wasn't overly possible with the model I themed it for, thus, it was ruined. Now I animate the end first to be sure it will work.

• Found an interesting little program to mess with. Miranda got to be the preview/test for it. I do love my musical additions, so an effect to go along with it only makes sense. Might use that for loops. Could also perhaps turn it into a new/better screen for the Ramma'Jam.

• Thankfully with all this holiday stuff about to be fully done, things can go back to normal. I don't celebrate holidays, yet they still screw with my schedules.

• See you all in 2023.