Slavers of Jakku

• Started off as an idea for a very short loop based on a picture I'd come across. Was going to become a full-length video (3+ minutes). Ended up a loopable video just over a minute long.

• Sort of an Alternate Scenario. Rey never makes it to Unkar Plutt. Instead, she's caught by Jawa Slavers and BB-8 gets taken apart for scrap. I think this turned out nice, even if it's short. The Rey model, by Dr. Dabblur, is fantastic. I think I animated her movements well and see the lovely Sandcrawler in the background? It's wonderful. I paid to have it ported to SFM by HunterRebel; a really good model porter. Hunter even added flexes for things I didn't think of. 

• Jawas, being junk collectors and tinkerer/mechanics, seem the ideal antagonist for Star Wars machine related situations. So you all will be seeing more of them, and that spiffy Sandcraler, in the future. Did I mention it has an inside section? With a crane?

• Christmas 2023. Woo! I finally found a song for it, so things have taken off. Setup was a bitch to do. 17 girls, which meant 17 machines, gags, etc. By the time I got the 17th set up I was ready to scream. Then I found the song and it made my day. Christmas animations are like a must for me. It was the first I ever posted, so that one is the focus. No real info on it past what's already known yet though. Secrets. I'll share more info as time goes.

Weekly WIP #48 The Wall of Text

• Alrighty. The Poll Results ended with More Machines/Less People and Expressions Closeups being tied. That's not that surprising. Machines were the main focus when I started. I've gotten away from it a bit, trying other things, but always meant to get back to them. So now it's official that I shall. Machines, machines, machines. Same with expressions. I've been told I do them well, so showing that, especially closer, makes sense. The close views on Morinth and Samara were nice, I thought.

• Some views of Judy in her situation below. Maybe she tried to hack into Heat Inc. in the Cyberpunk universe; who knows. She's now the 'product tester' on one of the machines. I'm making a technician, "Tech #9", present for it. Ignore the manual she's holding. It's not the correct texture yet. This is meant to be a progressive animation; it will start out showing the scene and a general movement/animation. Set the mood, so to speak. Then a later one will have it 'progressed' to the 'next level', where the Tech has added upgrades or changed settings on the machine. Then the next animation will 'progress' etc. It was originally going to be one of those "1k Followers, 2k Followers" changing animations for X (Twitter), but eh. For the curious, "Tech #9" is someone's OC they released to the public. I'm making a spin off of it, for my own needs. I've been editing textures and such, like her Heat Inc. work shirt. I'll post more info on her later.

•  Star Wars featuring Rey has been resized again. It was a loop, then going to be a major project, now back to a smaller size as a mini project? I have too many things going again, and more keep popping in, so I'm 'weeding out' projects that I don't want to stop or force. Rey is pretty good as is, just not a large scale. Waiting on the Sandcrawler prop for the background, then it's render time. October 2nd is the date for the Sandcrawler being finished, though that can be sooner. But it will be released ASAP.

• I was going to add a litttle wip trailer video for a new Mass Effect idea I threw together one night as a break, but I think I'll wait til it's more of an actual thing. No point in getting hype/hope up too early. However; I will say it's Indoctrination themed. Or at least my crazy take on it in some sexual machine way. I did post the crappy trailerish thing on my Discord though. So the idea is out. I like it a lot too, so it's gonna be a thing. Probably not til next year though, since so much going already.

• Which leads into Halloween. Hermione is not going to be ready for Halloween. I've hardly touched that one and it has a long way to go. I have issues getting one ready for Halloween. Maybe because it's so close to Christmas or I just need to start it like, real early in the year. At any rate, as I'd said before about it, that's ok. The theme of werewolves works for Harry Potter any time of the year, so a later release is fine. I might try to squeak out a loop for Halloween of something though, but who knows.

• Mainly because of Christmas 2023. I have its theme set and I've been getting it ready. It's going to be an undertaking, for sure. Why, you ask? Well for one it's slatted to have 17 girls so far. On machines. Small ones, but 17 of those as well. Which means 34 animated 'actors'. Yeah, it's kinda big. And no, it actually doesn't have Gwen Tennyson this time. Amazing. I thought she could use a break from it, and the idea I wanted to do needed more than just her. I still need a good song for it. Instrumental this time.

• So, Rey is the next minor project to be released, soonish, then the focus is only on Christmas 2023. If I feel a touch burnt out doing it, like I did last year with Gwen's Santa Claus (shoot me for using that song), I'll poke some other things, which might yield a small loop; but focus focus focus. Christmas is the yearly release. I always want to have something for it. Christmas 2023 is technically a major/big project, but it doesn't fall in the category of subs/free. It's a freebie. So, the next sub only project is still a mystery. Even to me.

Weekly WIP #45

• Some discussions lately about texture editing and camera settings and such made me decide to show those who might not know the 4 different Ambient Occlusion (shadowing) settings in Source Filmmaker. Chelsea, who I recently acquired and was testing, can be seen with all 4. Which is better? That depends on a lot. Camera settings, lighting, the models, the theme, the style and in the end, personal preference. Personally, for her, I like Outline (Top Right). Gives it a real cartoonish look. Most things have either none or Only Ambient Occlusion. Outline can be, and often is, too dark on the models and you get just black smudges. Notice how her teeth/mouth seem most affected by the settings, since there is such a large concentration of lines there per tooth. The Rey preview further down has Ambient Occlusion Only, which for her and the style/theme, works best.

• I made some large changes in how Rey was setup for the scene, after someone pointed out an accidental planetary occurrence (same background planet as Sancus Program) and instead of changing it, just removed it instead. Also, you can probably ignore the KotoR Sandcrawler. I have a nice Sandcrawler being ported to SFM. Should be ported by the time it's needed. I'm having a blast animating this as well, so yeah instead of a loop it most likely will have a longer span with more scenes and variations. I have been releasing a lot of loops lately from my practices anyways.

• Hermione needs to lay off the reading some, or at least be more careful? Some more previews of what will hopefully be my first Halloween release. Still a major WIP for things like the wetness of skins and objects, camera positions and angles, and even general positions of the characters.

• I've bought several models lately or paid for the ports of others. Spent probably $150ish USD to further SFM projects. Nice to be able to do that. Let's me get some 'exclusive/rare' models in a way. I've spent several nights awake working on things too, even if it was just testing models or editing sounds. I'd took a little time off here and there and it seems it's built up nicely, so I am a workaholic at the moment. Making use of it.

• Be sure to check Twitter/'X' for a Cyberpunk Edgerunners: Rebecca practice video.

Weekly WIP #44

• Yeah, I spent the week practicing and doing small things like a little meme video posted to Twitter of Nani from Lilo and Stitch dancing. It was quick and rough, but cute I think and was fun to do. Didn't realize how nice Nani's thighs were on that model. They jiggle further down than any model I've used. It would give her more of an impact motion, so might use her in a holiday project sometime.

• I decided to practice general posing. Never hurts to get better in any aspect. So, I picked a pic I liked and Violet Parr seemed fitting based on size. For another quick throw together, it came out well. Separated the renders, in case anyone wants them.

• I keep thinking that I'm not "official" til I make something Star Wars, so, I am. Jawa Sex Slavers. Another thing based on a picture but changed quiet a lot and it'll be an animated loop. Also, unlike the picture's single angle, it will have a few angles.

• Lastly, I really like Alan13 models. I've raved about them more than once on my Discord. Seeing as how I gave Alan13's Hermione Granger the best wet textures I've ever managed, I really wanna use her in something. Then I recalled that Halloween project last year that was postponed, and then I realized that based on the setting and theme, even if I don't get it finished in time, it can still work as a general release. Anyways, about the animation. As you can see from the book cover I made for it, Hermione is reading up on werewolves and as you can see from the preview of her, well, things are about to get 'hairy', cause it's 'Harry' Potter, and werewolves are h... ok yeah, anyways. The original Halloween idea was with an adult version of Creepy Susie from uh, some cartoon I never watched. Apparently, she was born on Halloween. At any rate, Hermione took over that project. Susie can be used in something else later, maybe.